Fall 2026 Festival…

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.

Presented by Provincetown Dramatic Arts and produced by Margaret Van Sant.

In partnership with The Red Room, WOMR, and Helltown Players.

Sponsored by Provincetown Visitors Services Board Tourism Fund, the Mass Cultural Council, Harbor Hotel, Provincetown Dental Arts and Dr. Scott A. Allegretti, D.D.S., Bay State Cruises, and Cape Air.

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
Venues:
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 (1st Reading)
Valerie Stack Dodge - Kate Beston Barnes (2nd Reading)

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
Venues:
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
Venues:
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
Lacey Waite - Meghan (1st Reading)
Susanna Creel - Meghan (2nd Reading)

Starkweather

by Jim Dalglish
Directed by: Jim Dalglish
Dramaturge: CQ Quintana
Saturday, Oct. 3 at 7pm and Sunday, Oct. 18 at 2pm
Venues:
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
Mark Roderick - Mark (1st Reading)
Ian Ryan - Mark (2nd Reading)
Missy Potash - Abbey

Bios…

In order of last name…

John Dennis Anderson

John Dennis Anderson
Playwright / Henry Beston / Outermost Writers
A native Texan living on Cape Cod, John is a performance studies scholar and Professor Emeritus in the Dept. of Communication Studies at Emerson College, where he taught for 27 years. His play Isherwood was part of the first year’s Truro Playwright Collective reading series, and his play A Cultivated Friendship, co-authored with Karen Vuranch, was part of last year’s. He is a member of the board of the Open University of Wellfleet and a trustee of the Helltown Players. His website is jdanderson.org.

Don Collins
Thomas & Marvin Thompson / Along the River Road
Don Collins is currently the owner of The John Randall Guesthouse and Cottages in Provincetown. Prior to managing this inn he was a national cheerleading choreographer and owner of several cheerleading companies. After the sale of his companies he chose to make his new home Provincetown. Acting credits include all previous readings of Along the River Road and Prom Queens by Dana McCoy.

Susanna Creel
Meghan / Big Bear
Susanna Creel has been involved in theater since the 2nd grade, being in school productions at any chance she got and then moving into the world of community theater. Over the years she has had the chance to play some wonderful roles. Wednesday, The Addams Family musical (CDG) Phoebe D'Ysquith, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (APA) Emily, Our Town (ETC), Alice Murphy, Bright Star (Tilden Arts) and Hodel, Fiddler on the Roof (CCftA). When not doing theater Susanna is either at her massage therapy practice in Chatham or traveling somewhere in Europe. Many thanks to Sue Lumenello and the cast for all their efforts and everyone who makes the O'Neill Festival possible, getting to read and be a part of new works is incredible special.

Jim Dalglish
Playwright / Director / Edge & Starkweather
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, five 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. 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. Read more about Jim at www.jimdalglish.com.

Valerie Stack Dodge

Valerie Stack Dodge
Kate Beston Barnes / Outermost Writers
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.

Spencer Keasy
Caleb / Big Bear
Spencer Keasey received his Master of Arts in Teaching at the University of Pittsburgh in 1992. Since then, he’s had several careers, including as a high school English teacher, mediator, and conflict resolution specialist for the Pittsburgh Public School District; a fitness instructor and athletic director at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association; an educational grant coordinator in Newport, Vermont; a consultant for the state’s Department of Education; and the Men’s Health Project manager for the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, where he spent four years as the HIV Outreach Coordinator and an HIV testing counselor. For the past 13 years, he has acted as the director of Bakker Gallery & Auctions, a unique business specializing in historic Provincetown art. Spencer has called Provincetown his year-round home for over 21 years and continues to explore his creative side as a musician, artist, actor, and writer. His Provincetown theater credits include Two Boys in a Bed on a Cold Winter’s Night, Poor Superman, Edward II, The Normal Heart, and Venus in Fur. He published his first book, A Nice Guy Like Me: A Memoir, last year and is currently working on his next. He lives a charmed life with his husband and cats.

Susan Lumenello
Playwright / Big Bear
Susan Lumenello’s Dreamsville premiered at the Cotuit Center for the Arts’ Black Box Theatre (2024) and produced again at the Academy of Performing Arts (2026); The Sherlock Problem at the Cape Cod Theatre Company (2022); the one-act A Period Piece at the Academy of Performing Arts (2023; radio play, WOMR, 2024). Short plays include Stacy & Tommy (Boston Theatre Marathon, 2025); Buzz (BTM, 2015); Meltdown (BTM, 2023); The Boulder (Cape Playhouse, 2023); Pink & Green (Artists Exchange, 2020). Staged readings: Kissing in Public, AMT Theater, NYC (2024); Easy to Love, Provincetown Theater (2010). She is a Dramatists Guild member.

Jane E. Macdonald
Joanna / Big Bear & Mrs. Cook / Starkweather
Jane is from Providence, RI, where she and thousands of high school students were treated to Trinity Square’s professional theatre productions through their outreach program “Project Discovery.” She later appeared in three musicals with the Trinity Repertory. Ms. Macdonald has appeared Off- and Off- Off Broadway as well as in several residential theatres. Her most recent appearance was at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, Cathrine Rush’s “Chilmark.” Ms.Macdonald is the founding General Manager of the Deaf West Theatre Company (DWTC), then in residence at The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles. Staged productions (pre-ADA) were presented in pure ASL. Non-signing attendees were provided headsets, to access the spoken interpretation by unseen hearing actors. In a DTWC adaptation of “0ne Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" she played Nurse Ratched, head of an all-hearing staff in a hospital for only Deaf patients. Subsequently, Ms. Macdonald voiced for Tony Award winner Phyllis Frelich's national tour of “Lolly Foster’s Daredevil Airshow.” She has appeared on various stages on Cape Cod, including as a longtime member of Edward Gorey’s Aubergine Company. (Floreat Batfrog!) A retired teacher, "Ms. Mac" has been devoted to the development of new plays, retired and is delighted to be included in Margaret VanSant’s O’Neil Company readings of these plays by Jim Daiglish’s and Susan Lamanello.

Diego Martinez
J. / Starkweather
Diego is originally from El Salvador and has called Cape Cod home for the past three years. His professional life has centered around working with people, communication, and creating meaningful connections. Although this is his first experience participating in theater, Diego has always been curious about people, their stories, and the different perspectives that shape how we see the world. He enjoys learning, engaging in thoughtful conversation, and stepping outside his comfort zone. He is excited to be part of this production and to explore storytelling, creativity, and the collaborative experience of bringing a play to life.

Karen McPherson

Karen McPherson
Elizabeth Coatsworth / Outermost Writers
Karen washed ashore to Chatham in 1996 and has been living the dream ever since, working at many of the MANY theatres on Cape Cod. In the last year she played Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol at Harwich Junior Theatre, and earlier in the year was Marilyn in Ripcord at Barnstable Comedy Club. She has played Daisy Werthan in Driving Miss Daisy several times at the Academy of Performing Arts, Cotuit Center for the Arts, and the Barnstable Comedy Club. She has MANY favorite roles and performances in the last 29 years!

Wil Moser
Tom / Edge & Starkweather
Wil is thrilled to make his return to the O’Neill festival again this year! Film credits include: When Henry Met Henry; CatShark; Tommy: The Documentary; Sucking Wind. Awards include: 2026 ACTF Musical Theatre Standby; 2014 IRNE Award; 2018 Cape Cod Rising Star. Education: The Hartt School (Actor Training). Recent theatre credits include: The Drowsy Chaperone (Robert Martin), Newsies (Jack) and Tommy (Tommy) at CCftA, Grease (Danny) at the Academy Playhouse, Little Devils with the Helltown Players; and Next to Normal (Gabe) at ETC. Wil has been acting on the east coast for most of his life, is a self-proclaimed “cool dude,” and is forever grateful for his loving parents, the cast and crew, and you for supporting local theatre. wilmoser.com and @wilmoser

Racine Oxtoby
Katy & Kathryn Dileo / Along the River Road
Racine is a lifelong Truro resident who enjoys writing plays based on historical events. Her play “Lara: A Love Story,” about the affair of Boris Pasternak and Olga Ivinskaya and the creation of Doctor Zhivago, was included in last spring's O'Neill Festival of New Works. She is a member of the Truro Playwrights Collective and she has written for Provincetown Theater’s 24-Hour Theater Festival on multiple occasions. She is also a local actress, having appeared in “Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol,” “Almost, Maine,” “Casa Valentina,” and the upcoming "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe," all at the Provincetown Theater. As her day job, Racine is the Outreach Coordinator at the Wellfleet Public Library.

Will Oxtoby
Stage Manager / Crew
Will Oxtoby is returning for his fourth time as stage manager of the O’Neill Festival. He enjoys supporting community theater on the Cape, having experience both on stage and behind the scenes. Recent stage management credits include Fifth of July and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Provincetown Theater, as well as Portraiture with Helltown Players. He will also stage-manage the upcoming Mortal Thoughts at the Academy Playhouse later this fall. Other work includes serving as both cast and crew for Hedwig and the Angry Inch with Peregrine Theatre Ensemble.

Judith Partelow
Annie / Big Bear & Annabelle Labranche & Claire St. John / Along the River Road
Judith Partelow’s career includes theatre/film actress, reviewer, poet. She offers poetry readings/workshops. She’s directed/produced plays and staged readings of films for Provincetown Film Festivals. She taught drama at Harlem Prep School, as well as theaters/conservatories on Cape Cod. Her full-length play of her poetry, A Woman’s Heart, was performed for the International Women’s Theatre Festival in Ptwn and other venues. She created the play NEIGHBORS, addressing racism. She’s a member of the board of the Cape Cod Writers Center, a founding member of Helltown Players, member of SAG/ AFTRA, and AEA for 47 years. and member of the Philanthropic Educational Organization that raises money for women to further their education. Her compilation of poems: Passion & Provocation, is available on Amazon, etc. or here, personally signed.

Missy Potash
Abbey / Edge
Missy Potash is thrilled to be sharing the stage with these two talented men, and is so excited to play the role of Abbey in this dark and beguiling work of Jim's. Missy studied at both The American Academy of Dramatic Arts & The Edge Dance Studio, in Los Angeles. Some of her favorite past roles include, Gloria Stavers (Dreamsville/Cotuit & APA), The Wicked Witch of The West (The Wizard of OZ/APA), Echo (Eleemosynary/Cotuit), Meg (Crimes of The Heart/APA), Sally Bowles (Cabaret/Theater Under The Stairs), Blanche Dubois (A Streetcar Named Desire/APA). You can catch her playing the scrappy Oramel "OG" Howland in Men On Boats, currently running until Oct. 11th at Cotuit Center for the Arts. She blows kisses to her Potash Pack: Sawyer, Shepard, Arlo & Ben. Couldn't and wouldn't do it without you!

Candace Perry
Playwright / Along the River Road
Candace Perry is a writer, teacher, and social justice activist who holds the audacious hope that theater can change the world. Over fifty of her short plays have been produced in the US and Ireland; her five full length plays have had readings, workshops and productions in New York and Cape Cod theaters; and a dozen of her short plays have been produced online. Her short stories have been published in Ms. Magazine, The Sun, Best of THE SUN, Cape Cod Review, Cape Cod Women, Roanoke Review, and Summer Home Review. She was commissioned by the Four Square Theater Collaborative to develop her play, Along the River Road, and is delighted to have the opportunity with the O’Neill Festival to develop the play further. More info at www.candaceperryplaywright.info.

Joshua Quiñones (he/him)
Director / Outermost Writers
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

CQ Quintana (Pronouns: any/all)
Dramaturge
CQ Quintana is a queer nonbinary writer, writing consultant, and developmental editor with Cuban blood and New Orleans roots based on Canarsee and Munsee Lenape land in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. CQ is the recipient of grants and fellowships from NYSCA, MacDowell, Van Lier New Voices, Queer|Art, Lambda Literary, and beyond. Their plays and musicals have been produced nationwide with Audible, INTAR, Diversionary Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The Kennedy Center, and television writing credits include AMC’s Orphan: Black Echoes, Fox’s Alert: Missing Persons Unit (Seasons 2 and 3), and ABC’s The Baker and the Beauty. CQ has helped countless writers develop, clarify, and strengthen creative projects through one-on-one consultation, including mentorships through Stage the Change, Miranda Family Foundation, Latinx Playwrights Circle, and YoungArts, and has taught writing workshops for the MFA Dramatic Writing Program at Carnegie Mellon University, Fordham University, Smith College, Great Plains Theatre Commons, Tulane University, Seton Hall's Latino Institute, and 92Y’s Unterberg Poetry Center. CQ holds an MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University, serves as the 2026-2028 WP Theater Playwrights’ Lab leader, and is a member of the Writers’ Guild of America East’s Pipeline Committee for Scripted Television. For more, visit cquintana.com or Prosebuds, a monthly Substack celebrating the multi-genre writing community.

Mark Roderick
Mark / Edge
Mark Roderick is a local artist and carpenter who sometimes acts, mostly comedy but sometimes seriously. He works as the technical director at The Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans and also designs sets alongside Nicholas Dorr. Recently Mar has played Tom in The Glass Menagerie, the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz and Reverend Witherspoon in 1776. He is thrilled to be participating in this festival today celebrating the love of theater on Cape Cod, it’s a real pleasure to be onstage with his friends. Coming up in the Fall Mark will be playing Max in The Play That Goes Wrong at The Chatham Drama Guild and he has a special Halloween double feature murder mystery event happening at three locations the last week of October.

Ian Ryan

Ian Ryan
Mark / Edge
Ian Ryan is an actor, director, and playwright with more than twenty-five performances to his credit. He has appeared in regional theaters since finding his voice in 2002, and has since endeavored to make art where he lives. He has written, directed, and produced plays, and served in theater in positions from stagehand to president of a theater board. In addition to deliberately integrating art into his everyday life, he uses his legal, finance, and business management background to create safe and sustainable environments for other artists to thrive.

Laura Scribner
Kate Beston Barnes / Outermost Writers
Laura is a washashore from New York City, recently seen at the Provincetown Theater in Almost Maine, Angels in America, Part 1 Millennium Approaches, Casa Valentina, The Humans, and The Lady Hamlet. Television credits include all the Law & Orders, All My Children, One Life to Live, As The World Turns, and Guiding Light. When not at the theater Laura is a Realtor with Gibson Sotheby's International Realty in Provincetown.

Sallie Tighe
Lizzie & Beth Sanders / Along the River Road
Sallie Tighe’s passion for acting began 20 years ago and she has been performing from Woods Hole to Provincetown in readings, plays, dramas, comedies, and musicals, ever since. Sallie is honored to once again portray Beth Sanders, thank you Candace. Sallie is grateful to have the privilege of working with a cast of talented actors, and a distinguished director. Sallie thanks her family and all her many supporters of the arts!

Margaret Van Sant
Artistic Director / Director / Big Bear & Along the River Road
Margaret is a playwright, theater director, festival organizer, educator, and the Artistic Director of Provincetown Dramatic Arts. She is the founder of the O’Neill Festival of New Works, a program to assist Cape playwrights in refining their scripts into strong and focused scripts. Two of her scripts, Portraiture and Goody - the Witch of Eastham were finalists for the Kaplan Playwriting award and Portraiture was produced at the Cape Museum of Fine Arts, Cotuit Center for the Arts, and the Art House. She has directed classic and contemporary theater. At Long Wharf Theater she managed the Stage II program of new script development, and at the PTC she established the Playwright’s Lab and the Provincetown Playwright’s Festival. She has directed at Virginia Stage Company, Long Wharf Theater, Arena Stage, Yale University (National Conference on Portuguese Theater), Yale Cabaret, Berkshire Theater Festival, University of Massachusetts/ Dartmouth, City Studio Theater, and PTC. For the past five years she has taken a play by a Cape playwright to the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival. She is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College.

Lacey Waite
Meghan / Big Bear
Lacey Waite is thrilled to be a part of the O’Neill festival , and happy to be back on stage. Lacey spent her 20s in the Provincetown theatre acene and has since been running a business and raising her three children . Lacey looks forward to many more opportunities to get back into the theatre that she loves .

Don Wilding
Dramaturg / Outermost Writers
Since the start of the millennium, Don Wilding has been telling stories of Cape Cod Outer Beach history through lectures, video, and the written word. Don is the author of six books on Cape Cod history, including “Henry Beston’s Cape Cod: How ‘The Outermost House’ Inspired a National Seashore.” He also co-founded and served as director for the nonprofit Henry Beston Society for 18 years, and wrote, designed, and edited the magazine tribute, “On Its Solitary Dune,” for Eastham’s 350th Anniversary. He was also a co-curator for exhibits on “The Outermost House” for the Eastham Historical Society and the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History. Don was an award-winning newspaper editor, writer, and designer in Massachusetts for 36 years. A longtime history walk leader for the Harwich Conservation Trust, Don was recognized as one of their "Conservationists of the Year" in 2023. A frequent public speaker since 2001, the longtime South Dennis resident has also been an instructor of Cape Cod history courses for the Open University of Wellfleet and Nauset Community Education.