Great Plains Theatre Commons (GPTC) has selected 10 playwrights to participate in the 21st annual New Play Festival’s 2026 PlayLab program. Hosted by Metropolitan Community College, this year’s convening is taking place Sunday, May 24 – Saturday, May 30.
GPTC Managing Director, Quinn Metal Corbin, spoke with Mike Hogan on KIOS-FM’s “Live & Local” about the festival. Quinn explained that as part of their commitment to make their beloved art form accessible to everyone, all of their programming is free, and all of their artists are paid.
The selected playwrights were chosen from a pool of more than 750 anonymous submissions. Each of the playwrights will work on their projects with a creative team, including a director, designer, dramaturg, and cast composed of local and national talent. Each lab will culminate in a free staged reading, after which the playwrights will receive feedback from other top national playwrights, dramaturgs, designers, and public audiences. All public events at the Festival are free and open to the public.
Founded in 2006, GPTC offers year-round creative arts development programs to community members and local artists. The mission of the Great Plains Theatre Commons is to strengthen community by supporting the creation and sharing of diverse new stories.
More information about the festival and GPTC shows can be found at http://gptcplays.com/.
This year’s selected playwrights and projects include:
Aster Aguilar, TRANSITION (or The Electrolysis Play)
Claire Crowley, The Scouts of America Don’t Sell Cookies, B*tch
Brynne Frauenhoffer, Disillusioned
Chandler Hubbard, Headless Nebraska
Kandace James, This is How You Capture the Light
Alexis Elisa Macedo, Untitled Superhero Play
Daria Miyeko Marinelli, Beautiful Blessed Child
Eric Schabla, Escape Velocity
Megan Tabaque, The Rink at the End of the World
Sharifa Yazmeen, Bone by Bone
