Four Cape Cod playwrights, nine staged readings, and two weekends of new theater in the making — September 26 - October 4 at Red Room.

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 all performances at Red Room in Provincetown.

Founded by Margaret Van Sant, Producing Artistic Director of Provincetown Dramatic Arts, the festival is named after Eugene O'Neill — the Nobel Prize–winning dramatist who launched his career here with the original Provincetown Players more than a century ago. It continues a long tradition of Provincetown serving as a creative incubator for American theater.

"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 Van Sant.

Inspired by the Best

Van Sant has spent years attending and working with some of the country's most established play development festivals, and she drew direct inspiration from one in particular.

"One I am fond of is the highly successful O'Neill Theater Conference in Eugene O'Neill's home town, Waterford, Connecticut. I thought Provincetown should have a festival dedicated to play development because the Outer Cape is a continually active cauldron of the arts, with creative playwrights continually producing exciting new works," she says. "The Festival is a way to bring national attention to local playwrights and assist them in developing excellent and challenging scripts that will make for spellbinding full productions. Last year was so successful that several of those scripts will soon be seeing productions on the Cape, and we encourage people to see those scripts in full production."

How the Festival Works

All performances are staged readings — actors perform with scripts in hand and minimal blocking, keeping the focus squarely 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 that feedback and present revised versions at their second reading.

"Because there is no financial investment in production values, the playwrights are free to experiment and take chances with rewrites as the weekend progresses, having the ultimate freedom to explore their plays without the hindrance of a financial burden," says Van Sant.

Working with Dramaturges

A defining feature of the festival is the pairing of each playwright with a dramaturge. Theaters and playwrights have used dramaturges since the 1700s — they're often called the scientists of the theater world, examining a play's thematic underpinnings, writing style, historical background, setting, and broader context. This year's festival features two dramaturges with regional and national prominence: Don Wilding and CQ Quintana.

The directors reflect the same caliber, blending Cape Cod favorites with talent from further afield: Margaret Van Sant, .

This Year's Plays

Along the River Road
by Candace Perry
Directed by Margaret Van Sant
Dramaturge: CQ Quintana
Sat., Sept. 26 at 7pm / Sun., Oct. 4 at 7pm
Red Room, Provincetown

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.

Tickets: Along the River Road »

Outermost Writers: Beston and Coatsworth
by John Dennis Anderson
Directed by Joshua Quinones
Dramaturges: Don Wilding and CQ Quintana
Sat., Sept. 26 at 2pm / Sun., Oct. 4 at 2pm
Red Room, Provincetown

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.

Tickets: Outermost Writers: Beston and Coatsworth »

Big Bear
by Susan Lumenello
Directed by Margaret Van Sant
Dramaturge: CQ Quintana
Sun., Sept. 27 at 7pm / Sat., Oct. 3 at 2pm
Red Room, Provincetown

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..

Tickets: Big Bear »

Starkweather
by Jim Dalglish
Dramaturge: CQ Quintana
Sun., Sept. 27 at 2pm / Sat., Oct. 3 at 7pm
Red Room, Provincetown

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.

Tickets: Starkweather »

Edge
by Jim Dalglish
Dramaturge: CQ Quintana
Mon., 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.

Tickets: Edge »

Festival Schedule

Saturday, Sept. 26 at 2pm — Outermost Writers: Beston and Coatsworth by John Dennis Anderson
Saturday, Sept. 26 at 7pm — Along the River Road by Candace Perry
Sunday, Sept. 27 at 2pm — Starkweather by Jim Dalglish
Sunday, Sept. 27 at 7pm — Big Bear by Susan Lumenello
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