Long Beach Playhouse New Works Festival

This year, the Long Beach Playhouse celebrates its 34th New Works Festival, a national competition for plays which have never been produced. Scripts are submitted and read by members of the New Works committee. The committee ultimately selects two plays which are presented as staged readings. There is one local winner from California, and a non-local winner with no location restrictions.

This year’s staged readings will be presented on March 29 and 30. Following the readings, a moderated talkback session allows the audience to ask questions of the actors, director, and if attending, the playwright. The winners also receive a written critique from Cecilia Fannon, a professional theater critic. Playwrights receive a copy of the recorded reading and a $100 cash prize.

2024 New Works

Playwrights, Directors and Actors

If I Could Turn Back Time by Gerry Rodriguez

Rodriguez is a poet and playwright from Mission, TX. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and works as a Lecturer in English Composition and Rhetoric. She is the founder of the Rio Grande Valley Playwrights Circle which provides workshop opportunities for local playwrights. Her published work has appeared in Chaotic Merge Magazine, decomp journal, and others. Forthcoming poems will be published in Southwestern American Literature.

Directed by: Brandon Ferruccio

Cast:
Jose Orozco - Julio/Sharona
Karina Rodriguez - Angela
Alli Ramirez - Elva
Stephen Saatjian - Luis
Sonia Aguirre - Gabriela
Marina Portillo - Carmen
Geo Herrera - Matthew
Michael Marmont - Father Philip
Gabriel Myers Prunty - Stage Directions/Narrator

Tickets: Free