O’Neill Festival of New Works (Fall 2026)
Four Cape Cod playwrights, nine staged readings, and two weekends of new theater in the making — September 26 - October 18 at Red Room and WOMR.
The O'Neill Festival of New Works is back. Provincetown Dramatic Arts will present its fourth annual celebration of new plays by Cape Cod's most promising writers from September 26 through October 4, with performances at Red Room and WOMR in Provincetown.
How the Festival Works
“In the O’Neill Festival of New Works, our goal is to celebrate the rich theatrical history of Provincetown and Cape Cod by providing the resources to help playwrights workshop and refine their plays and musicals,” says Margaret Van Sant. Each festival offers a rare opportunity for the playwrights to work with a dramaturge on the development of the play. The public performances will be script in hand, with minimal blocking, followed by an audience discussion lead by the dramaturges.
During the workshop week, Playwrights will have the opportunity to take advantage of the audience feedback to re-write and refine scenes and present their fresh takes for their second readings on the final weekend. The audience response is a vital element in the development of the scripts.
This Year's Plays…
Outermost Writers: Beston and Coatsworth
by John Dennis Anderson
Directed by Joshua Quinones
Dramaturges: Don Wilding and CQ Quintana
Sunday, Oct. 4 at 2pm and Saturday, Oct. 17 at 2pm
Venue:
Red Room, Provincetown (Oct.4)
Davis Space at WOMR, Provincetown (Oct. 17)
This collage for performance of the writings of Henry Beston (author of “The Outermost House”), his wife Elizabeth Coatsworth (a prolific children’s writer), and their poet daughter Kate Beston Barnes reveals the deep conflicts and enduring love in a marriage of true minds.
Cast:
John Dennis Anderson - Henry Beston
Karen McPherson - Elizabeth Coatsworth
Laura Scribner - Kate Beston Barnes
Along the River Road
by Candace Perry
Directed by Margaret Van Sant
Dramaturge: CQ Quintana
Sunday, Oct. 4 at 7pm and Sunday, October 18 at 7pm
Venue:
Red Room, Provincetown (Oct. 4)
Davis Space at WOMR, Provincetown (Oct. 18)
An 1811 Louisiana slave revolt that ended up with the heads of the leaders on pikes along the River Road. Two hundred plus years later, the country still wants to erase the horrors of slavery, but a woman comes along, determined to tell the American story.
Cast:
Sallie Tighe - Lizzie & Beth Sanders
Don Collins - Thomas & Marvin Thompson
Judith Partelow - Annabelle Labranche & Claire St. John
Racine Oxtaby - Katy & Kathryn Dileo
Big Bear
by Susan Lumenello
Directed by Margaret Van Sant
Dramaturge: CQ Quintana
Saturday, Oct. 3 at 2pm and Saturday, October 17 at 7pm
Venue:
Red Room, Provincetown (Oct. 3)
Davis Space at WOMR, Provincetown (Oct. 17)
It’s not always pretty when an awful person tries to become a better one. In the comedy Big Bear, an arrogant, high-powered businesswoman decides that psychedelics will kickstart the transformation, but the trip takes her to surprising places – professionally, personally, and permanently.
Cast:
Jane Macdonald - Joanna
Spencer Keasey - Caleb
Judith Partelow - Annie
TBA - Meghan
Starkweather
by Jim Dalglish
Directed by: (TBA)
Dramaturge: CQ Quintana
Saturday, Oct. 3 at 7pm and Sunday, Oct. 18 at 2pm
Venue:
Red Room, Provincetown (Oct. 3)
Davis Space at WOMR, Provincetown (Oct. 18)
A charming young con man wanders into Starkweather - a prairie town in the very center of both North America and nowhere. He meets his match when he breaks into the home of a woman “of mature years” with god on her side.
BONUS!
Edge — the prequel to Starkweather, read on its own in the first week of the festival — has now been added as the play’s first act. Come see how this new opening expands and deepens an already riveting play.
Cast:
Jane Macdonald - Mrs. Cook
Diego Martinez - J.
Wil Moser - Tom
Ian Ryan - Mark
Missy Potash - Abbey
Edge
One-act Prequel to Starkweather
by Jim Dalglish
Dramaturge: CQ Quintana
Monday, Sept. 28 at 7pm
Red Room, Provincetown
Mark and Tom live alone on a remote farm on the windswept plains of North Dakota, where nothing ever happens. Until a pink Continental drives up the gravel road. The rapacious traveling saleswoman behind the wheel has a plan.
Cast:
Wil Moser - Tom
Mark Roderick - Mark
Missy Potash - Abbey
Festival Schedule
Monday, Sept. 28 at 7pm — Edge by Jim Dalglish
Saturday, Oct. 3 at 2pm — Big Bear by Susan Lumenello
Saturday, Oct. 3 at 7pm — Starkweather by Jim Dalglish
Sunday, Oct. 4 at 2pm — Outermost Writers: Beston and Coatsworth by John Dennis Anderson
Sunday, Oct. 4 at 7pm - Along the River Road by Candace Perry
Saturday, Oct. 17 at 2pm — Outermost Writers: Beston and Coatsworth by John Dennis Anderson
Saturday, Oct. 17 at 7pm — Big Bear by Susan Lumenello
Sunday, Oct. 18 at 2pm — Starkweather by Jim Dalglish
Sunday, Oct. 18 at 7pm - Along the River Road by Candace Perry
Tickets
You may reserve tickets in advance or pay at the door. Tickets are on sale now!
Tickets: Students and Seniors: $20.00
General Admission: $30.00
MCC Card to Culture: at the door
About Provincetown Dramatic Arts
Provincetown Dramatic Arts is a project of the Provincetown Community Compact.
Sponsors
The O'Neill Festival of New Works is sponsored by Provincetown Visitors Services Board Tourism Fund, Red Room, WOMR Radio, the Mass Cultural Council, Harbor Hotel, Provincetown Dental Arts and Dr. Scott A. Allegretti, D.D.S., Bay State Cruises, and Cape Air.
Poster illustration of Eugene O’Neill used with permission of the artist, Bill Evaul.