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The O'Neill Festival of New Works 2026

Saturday, April 18, 2026 2:00 PM
Sunday, April 26, 2026 7:00 PM

WOMR 494 Commercial Street Provincetown, MA, 02657 United States (map)

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The O’Neill Festival of New Works

a festival for dramatists created by

Provincetown Dramatic Arts

The O'Neill Festival of New Works returns for its third year, once again devoted to the development of new dramatic works by Cape Cod playwrights.

The festival is produced by Margaret Van Sant, Producing Artistic Director of Provincetown Dramatic Arts, and named after Eugene O'Neill, the Nobel Prize–winning dramatist who launched his career in Provincetown with the original Provincetown Players.

A New Theatrical Approach on the Outer Cape

Inspired by the creative community that fueled O'Neill more than a century ago, this year's festival will workshop new works by three Outer Cape playwrights. Each play will be presented as a staged reading the first weekend; playwrights will revise based on audience feedback during the week, then present new versions the second weekend. Each playwright works with a director and dramaturge throughout the process, and all public presentations are followed by audience discussions led by the dramaturges.

Staged Readings with Talkbacks

All performances are staged readings — actors perform with scripts in hand and minimal blocking, bringing the plays to life while keeping the focus on the writing. Each reading is followed by an audience discussion led by the dramaturge, giving audiences a rare chance to participate in the development of new work. Between weekends, playwrights incorporate audience feedback and present revised versions at their second reading.

Tickets

Admission is pay-what-you-can. You may reserve tickets in advance at or pay at the door. Massachusetts Cultural Council Card to Culture members are admitted free of charge on a walk-up basis — no reservations required.

Festival Schedule (by play)

Lara: A Love Story

by Racine Oxtoby
Directed by: Joshua Quiñones
Dramaturge: John Dennis Anderson

In 1949, while Boris Pasternak was writing Doctor Zhivago, his mistress Olga Ivinskaya was arrested by the KGB and sent to a gulag to force him to stop writing. She never turned against him, and Doctor Zhivago became his masterpiece. This play views the novel's creation through the lens of Boris and Olga's extraordinary relationship.

Sat., April 18 at 2pm
Sun., April 26 at 7pm
WOMR – Davis Room (second floor)

Actors / Characters

Joe MacDougall - Boris Pasternak
Vanessa Rose - Olga Ivinskaya
Susanna Creel - Sofia
John Shuman - Ilya
Paige O’Connor - Irina
Valerie Stack Dodge - Yulia
Kazz Felix - Volkov / Sergio D’Angelo
Nathan Butera - Kozlov
Alston Brown - Stage Directions

Purchase Tickets

A Fool's Errand, A Farce for the Newlywed and the Newly Divorced

by John Hanright
Directed by: Jim Dalglish
Dramaturge: Jim Dalglish

Newlyweds Angel and Ricardo are looking to spice up their relationship. But when a mysterious love poem and an old flame enter the picture, their marriage becomes a love knot. Will they save their relationship, or will it all be a fool's errand?

Sat., April 18 at 7pm
Sat., April 25 at 2pm
WOMR – Davis Room (second floor)

Actors / Characters

Patrick Riviere - Angel
PaulE Halley - Ricardo
Nic Jones - Beau
Ian Ryan - Santiago
Miranda Daniloff Mancusi - Mrs. Welker (April 18th reading)
Janet Geist Moore - Mrs. Welker (April 25 reading)
Fred Biddle - Clement

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Brand New Planet / Thank God It’s Friday

Two New Comedies by Susan Lumenello
Directed by: Judith Partelow
Dramaturge: Lynda Sturner

Brand New Planet — A routine alien abduction goes sideways when a bumbling space courier takes the wrong person. What begins as antagonism evolves into friendship, then something more, as two damaged creatures confront a lethal threat together.
Thank God It's Friday — When 50-something Jennie swipes right for her first date with a woman, she's nervous, excited, and hopeful — until the sudden appearance of a work colleague sends her clinging to the closet door.

Sun., April 19 at 2pm
Sat., April 25 at 7pm
(Both plays will be read each night)
WOMR – Davis Room (second floor)

Actors / Characters

Brand New Planet:
Mike McCartney - Stelling
Joanne Callum Powers - Judy Briggs
Fred Carpenter - The Interrogator
Thank God It’s Friday:
Joanne Callum Powers - Jennie
Celeste Howe - Meredith
Christine Ernst - Alison

PUrchase Tickets

Festival Schedule (Sequential)

Saturday, April 18 at 2pm — Lara: A Love Story by Racine Oxtoby
Saturday, April 18 at 7pm — A Fool's Errand by John Hanright
Sunday, April 19 at 2pm — Brand New Planet / Thank God It’s Friday by Susan Lumenello
Saturday, April 25 at 2pm — A Fool's Errand by John Hanright
Saturday, April 25 at 7pm — Brand New Planet / Thank God It’s Friday by Susan Lumenello
Sunday, April 26 at 7pm — Lara: A Love Story by Racine Oxtoby

Creative TeamsBiographies

John Dennis Anderson (Dramaturge)
John is a performance studies scholar and Professor Emeritus in the Dept. of Communication Studies at Emerson College. A native Texan now living on Cape Cod, he holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Since 1994, Anderson has presented Chautauqua performances as Henry James, William Faulkner, Washington Irving, Robert Frost, Ernest Hemingway, and other writers. Truro Playwright Collective has presented readings of four of his plays including Gellhorn v. Hemingway: In Love and War (which he will perform with co-author Jarice Hanson on May 12 at the Snow Library in Orleans with a grant from the Wellfleet Cultural Council). He is a Trustee of the Helltown Players. His website is jdanderson.org.

Jim Dalglish (Director / Dramaturg)
Jim is a playwright, director, filmmaker, and producer with more than 30 plays and films to his credit. These works have been produced and screened around the world and have won awards in New York, Boston, London, and Dublin. A few of his plays have been anthologized in best play collections. Jim has directed more than two dozen theatrical productions, six of which he also independently produced. He has been employed by a variety of theaters in New England as a managing director, marketing director, and box office manager. Jim has a master’s degree in creative writing/ playwriting from Brown University. His thesis advisor was Paula Vogel. He works as the Director of User Experience Research & Strategy at OHO Interactive, where his clients include Harvard University, Yale University, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont, CIEE, and others. Jim is also the Founder/President of Helltown Players, the Cape’s newest theatre collaborative. When he isn’t busy writing, directing, or producing plays and films, he and his husband Rob Phelps enjoy sailing Delphina – their 17-foot O’Day Daysailer – along the sheltered harbors of New England. For more about Jim and to read and download his plays: www.jimdalglish.com

John Hanright (Playwright)
John is thrilled to be in this year’s O’Neill Festival of New Works! A Fool’s Errand has been a labor of love (pun intended), two years and five drafts in the making. In addition to writing, John is an actor, an ESL teacher, and a published author/poet. A Fool’s Errand has received previous staged reading at the Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans and the Cotuit Center for the Arts. John wishes to thank everyone who has been involved with this project, Margaret and Jim, and as always, his family and friends for all their support.

Susan Lumenello (Playwright)
Susan’s Dreamsville was produced at the Cotuit (MA) Center for the Arts’ Black Box Theatre (2024) and the Academy of Performing Arts (Orleans, MA) in 2026. The Sherlock Problem was produced at the Cape Cod Theatre Company (2022), and the one-act A Period Piece at the Academy of Performing Arts (2023). Short plays: Stacy and Tommy (Boston Theatre Marathon, 2025); Buzz (BTM, 2015); Meltdown (BTM, 2023); Pink and Green (Artists Exchange, 2020). Staged readings: Kissing in Public (AMT Theatre, New York City, 2025) and Easy to Love (Provincetown Theatre, 2017). She is a Dramatists Guild member. A monologue from Dreamsville will be published in 2026 in Best Women’s Stage Monologues (Smith & Kraus).

Racine Oxtoby (Playwright)
Racine is a member of the Truro Playwright Collective, through which her plays How Do You Like Your Love? and Lara: A Love Story premiered as staged readings. Her play Funtimes in Babylon, about the Fatty Arbuckle scandal, was staged as a reading at Provincetown Theater in 2023. She has written for Provincetown Theater’s 24-Hour Play Festival five times. She is also a local actress, having recently appeared in Provincetown Theater’s productions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Almost, Maine, Casa Valentina, and Mae West's The Drag. As her day job, Racine is the outreach coordinator at the Wellfleet Public Library and a DJ on WOMR

Judith Partelow (Director)
Professional Actress: Member of AEA, SAG/AFTRA; Theatre, Film, TV and Voiceover actress. Playwright: A Woman’s Heart; Neighbors (collaboration). Published Poet: Chapbooks: A Woman’s Heart, and Carry Me Back, A Woman’s Life in Poetry. Latest 2024 collection: Passion & Provocation, Selected Poems by Judith Partelow (Amazon, B&N, Atmosphere Press). Director: Colour My World (More Little Devils 2025); Neighbors: Staged Readings, on Cape Cod (2022-2025); A Woman’s Heart: Written, directed, acted in productions from Provincetown to Cotuit (2017-2019); One World, Three Voices: Cultural Center of Cape Cod (2019); First Dance, PTC (2010); A Child’s Christmas in Wales & The Gift of the Magi, PTC (2009); Sleeping Indoors, PTC (Fundraiser for the Homeless 2008); Not to Be, PTC (2007); Reflections for a Warm Day, Yarmouth Cultural Center (2007); West Kerry: PTC (2007); Wrinkles, by Jacqueline Loring, Yarmouth Sr. Center (2007); The Last Thing, Tennessee Williams Festival, PTC (2007); Robert Mapplethorpe’s Flowers, Provincetown Fringe Festival and Off-Broadway, by Gregory Fletcher (2004); Snow Queen, HJT (1993); The Lantern (1991); Working: Provincetown Theatreworks (1991); and in the 1980’s: The Telephone Play, APA; The Fisherman and His Wife, APA; Home for Christmas, APA; Evening in Spoon River, Cape Cod Tour; Seascape, PTC; Yearbook, Riverview School; Beauty and the Beast, APA.

Joshua Quiñones (he/him) (Director)
Joshua is a Provincetown-based actor and director. He is an emerging talent in Outer Cape reading series having recently appeared as Franz in Appropriate (Provincetown Theater) and having directed readings of Lonely Planet (Provincetown Theater) and Agonies and Ecstasies (Truro Playwright Collective, co-director). Acting credits include A Tale of Two Cities (Trinity Rep), Night Out (Brown University), and Spring Awakening (Company Carolina). Assistant directing credits include The Glass Menagerie, Deathtrap, and Into the Woods at Cushing Academy. Instagram: @joshuabradley

Lynda Sturner (Dramaturge)
Lynda Sturner is an actress, playwright, director and producer. Acting roles include: Broadway 1964 : Oliver, Off Broadway 1970: The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds. In Provincetown: Anna Christie, The Food Chain, A Perfect Ganesh, The Allergist’s Wife, Wit, Ryan Landry’s The Gulls; and GAMMA RAYS. AWARDS: Best Actress : 2009 Gamma Rays; Best Actress the Dublin International Gay Theater Festival for her play Super-Lubricated co-written with Jim Dalglish. Audience choice award at the Edward Albee Last Frontier Festival, Kaplan Prize, and Cape Cod Award A Talented Woman written with Jim Dalglish. She produced The Direct Line Play and previously served as Artistic Director of the Provincetown Rep and Playwright’s Forum NYC. She was past president and founding member of The League of Professional Theater Women, NYC and proud Trustee of Helltown Players. Thank you, Ted Traum.

Margaret Van Sant (Artistic Director Provincetown Dramatic Arts)
Margaret Van Sant is a playwright, theater director, festival organizer, educator, and the Artistic Director of Provincetown Dramatic Arts (PDA). PDA produces the annual O’Neill Festival of New Works that focuses on the development of scripts by Cape based playwrights. Van Sant also wrote “Goody, the Witch of Eastham”, “Pulse”, presented with the four plays in “Quickies” in Provincetown and Dublin, “The Test”, read at Theater J in Washington, DC, and “The Pennimans”, a historical play about a whaling family developed for radio broadcast on WOMR. Van Sant has directed at Virginia Stage Company, Long Wharf Theater, Arena Stage, Yale University National Conference on Portuguese Theater, Berkshire Theater Festival, Provincetown Theater, and Payomet Center for the Performing Arts. She is a member of the Stage Directors and Chorographers Society and a Trustee of Helltown Players.

Will Oxtoby (Stage Manager)
Will is a stage manager returning for his third season with the O’Neill Festival of New Works. His recent credits include Portraiture (Helltown Players) and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Provincetown Theater). Other work includes stagehand roles with the Academy Playhouse (The Secret Garden, Stage Kiss, Company) and Peregrine Theatre Ensemble (Hedwig and the Angry Inch). With experience both on stage and behind the scenes, he enjoys supporting live theater in all its forms.

Actors

Alston Brown (Stage Directions - Lara: A Love Story)
Alston is an actor, writer, director, and producer originally from Atlanta, GA and a proud Cape washashore. He has appeared in and contributed to numerous productions in NYC and across the country, including Trinity Rep, Naked Angels, The Wild Project, New Dramatists, Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, Provincetown Theater, Mason Street Warehouse, Sleeping Weasel, and Salvage Art Productions. He has produced films that have appeared at Tribeca Film Festival, SXSW, and Baltimore Film Festival. Film/TV credits include Observe and Report, The Enemy Within, Little Sister, High Tide, Applesauce. Alston is a graduate of the Brown/Trinity MFA Program.

Nathan Butera (Kozlov- Lara: A Love Story)
Nathan first stepped on a Cape Cod stage in 2010 as Howie Newsom in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town directed by David Drake. More recent appearances were as Randy in John Cariani's Almost, Maine, Richard in Stephen Karam’s The Humans, and Mr. Allen Grayson in Mae West’s The Drag. Every winter with his husband Frank, Nathan produces the popular 24-Hour Plays at the Provincetown Theater. In addition to theatrical endeavors, Nathan is a filmmaker, with an MFA from NYU. He produced the local television series Oﬀseason, streaming on Amazon, and played Dean in the indie feature Bear City 2. Nathan is a Realtor in Provincetown at Gibson’s Sotheby’s International Realty.

Joanne Callum Powers (Jennie - Thank God It’s Friday • Judy Biggs - Brand New Planet)
Joanne is a theater artist whose work as a playwright, actor, director, and choreographer has found its way onto many stages. Joanne’s plays, My Marbles Are Perfectly Fine and The Couch, have been produced by Cape Rep Theater and the Cape Cod Theater Company. Her play Miss Delta Township premiered at Cape Rep Theater in 2021, under the direction of Mo Hanlon. Miss Delta Township was an award nominee at the International Dublin Gay Theater Festival. The show traveled to the Nomadic Theater Company of Newton and New Jersey Rep and to Cotuit Center of the Arts. As a dancer, Joanne performed with Marta Renzi and Company in the films Mountain View and you little wild heart for PBS. Ms Powers directed the dance program at Cape Cod Community College, where she premiered over 25 full stage productions. Collaborating with the Extremes Dance Theater, she directed and wrote It’s a War Out There, To Reveal, and Grow Up and Act Your Age, among others. Joanne lives in Brewster.

Fred Carpenter (The Interrogator - Brand New Planet)

Susanna Creel (Sofia - Lara: A Love Story)
Susanna is literally just a girl. She loves doing theater, frolicking in fields, traveling the world, and eating an array of sweet treats. You may have seen Susanna in some local theater productions, including: the mistress in Evita (CCtfA), Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof (CCtfA), or Alice in Bright Star (Tilden Arts). When not practicing for her theatre roles, Susanna is a certified massage therapist based in Chatham. A big thanks to Racine for making me a part of her creative journey.

Christine Ernst (Alison - Thank God It’s Friday)
Christine is a writer, performer, and frequent speaker, focusing on the connection of wellness, personal narrative, and community. Writing and performing as the Fat Ass Cancer Bitch since 2011, she produces a weekly video podcast, In the Cozy Writing Cottage, and writes an annual 90-minute one- woman show of new work, performed all over Cape Cod. She founded and facilitates the online women's writing gym "What's Your Story, Morning Glory," now in its 17th year. Also a maker, Christine has owned Spoon & Hammer Studio since 2006, where she hammers words and poetry into jewelry made from reclaimed metals. She believes that the story will save us all. Visit her website, www.cozywritingcottage.com, for more information.

Kazz Felix (Volkov/Sergio D’Angelo - Lara: A Love Story)
Kazz is an actor, writer and bartender living in Wellfleet, Cape Cod. He is originally from Washington, DC, where he performed as a standup comedian at many clubs throughout the city. With a passion for theater and all performance arts, Kazz is excited to be a part of the Cape Cod theatrical community.

Celeste Howe (Meredith - Thank God It’s Friday)
Celeste lives in West Barnstable and is a professional singer and actress. She is also a vocal and acting coach. Her most recent theatrical roles include Showtune at The Chatham Drama Guild, Rona in Spelling Bee at The Harwich Junior Theatre, Senora Leonata in Much Ado About Nothing, and Abigail Adams in 1776, both presented at the Cotuit Center for the Arts. Celeste enjoys connecting with small audiences and has performed many one-woman cabaret shows in New York City, Boston, and Newport, She has also created and performed her own “Sunnyside Jazzaret” shows at Amari restaurant in Sandwich. Recently, Celeste finished her 7th Season with the Cape Repertory Theatre’s Summer Broadway Review at the Sea Pines Inn in Brewster. She is currently co-writing her second musical and looks forward to debuting her new work on Cape Cod. Please contact Celeste at 508.362.8964 or at seahowe@earthlink.net to inquire about private vocal/acting lessons or receive announcements of upcoming performances and events!

Joe MacDougall (Boris Pasternak - Lara: A Love Story)
Joe is a New York- and Cape Cod-based actor who has been in numerous plays and films, including The Normal Heart, The Maids, Accidentally Like A Martyr, The Lonely Planet, Salome, Take Me Out, The Elephant Man, The Lion In Winter, Caesar and Cleopatra, Angels in America Parts 1 and 2, and others. Films and television include The Ninth Step, Dear Melissa, Dive Shop, Chrissy Judy, Cocktail Hour, Discovery ID Pandora’s Box. His original play Temporary Land Masses was a 2025 finalist for the ETC Kaplan Playwright Competition.

Mike McCartney (Stelling - Brand New Planet)
Mike is excited to be making his PTown debut in a piece by the fabulously talented Susan Lumenello. When not onstage, Mike can usually be found haunting the stacks of the Eldredge Public Library in Chatham. You may also have seen him at the Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans, where he has played Professor Marvel (The Wizard of Oz), The Baker (Into the Woods), Judas (Godspell), and Walter Hobbes (Elf), among other roles!

Paige O’Connor (Irina - Lara: A Love Story)
Paige is an actor and writer. She is a graduate of NYU’S Tisch School of the Arts, having trained with the New Studio On Broadway, and The Second City Chicago’s Comedy Studies program. Paige enjoys exploring multiple mediums, including theater, sketch comedy, playwriting, piano bar, teaching, and whatever comes next! paigeoconnor.com

Vanessa Rose (Olga Ivinskaya - Lara: A Love Story)
Vanessa is an actress from Wellfleet. Some local credits include playing Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie and Clare in Something Cloudy, Something Clear at the Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown, and Jen in The Cake and Karen Weston in August: Osage County, at the Provincetown Theater. Best credit ever has been welcoming a son, Angelo, this past August.

John Shuman (Ilya - Lara: A Love Story)
John has been acting in theatre on and off Broadway and throughout the country. Since arriving on Cape Cod, he has been teaching for Open University of Wellfleet and Winter Wednesdays, giving readings of his written work -memoir and opinion- while appearing at the Provincetown Theatre (Lady Hamlet) and the Cape Playhouse (Waitress). He has also appeared in performances of the solo play Underneath the Lintel across the Outer Cape. In his free time, he can be found swimming or visiting his adopted whale- Jeremy- on the tip of Great Island.

Valerie Stack Dodge (Yulia - Lara: A Love Story)
Valerie has had a versatile career in theater; working as an actor, singer, choreographer, director, playwright, and teacher. She has recently become a full-time resident of Cape Cod where she has performed in Wabash Avenue After Dark at the Chatham Drama Guild, A Christmas Carol at The Academy Playhouse, and in readings with the Truro Playwright Collective. Valerie is also a member of the Cranberry Shores Chorus, which performs throughout the Cape. She earned her BFA in Theater from The Boston Conservatory, where she later became a member of the faculty.