Announcing The 2018 National Showcase Of New Plays

National New Play Network, an alliance of professional theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, is pleased to announce the 17th annual National Showcase of New Plays . NNPN and B Street Theatre will host the National Showcase of New Plays from December 7-9, presenting readings of six production-ready new plays to more than 150 NNPN Core and Associate Members, Affiliated Artists, independent theater-makers, and invited guests.

During two rounds of reading, adjudicators narrowed the pool of 70 submissions to 12 Finalists. From there, a committee of NNPN Artistic Leaders and Affiliated Artists selected the six plays that will be featured in Sacramento this December. They are:

Alabaster by Audrey Cefaly (nominated by Florida Repertory Theatre)
A noted photographer sets out to explore the topography of "scars." Her journey lands her in the mysterious realm of an undiscovered folk artist hiding away on a small farm in North Alabama. This intimate portrait explores the meaning and purpose of art and the struggle of the lost and tortured souls that seek to create it.

Amerikin by Chisa Hutchinson (City Theatre Company)
A man takes an ancestry test as part of his initiation into a white supremacist group and gets an unsettling surprise.

Rastus and Hattie by Lisa Langford (Cleveland Public Theatre)
Needra and Marlene enjoy a perfect post-racial friendship until two problematic Black robots (and a glitch in the time-space continuum) make them confront their ideas about race and the value of the past.

Mothers by Anna Moench (2018 MFA Playwrights' Workshop)
Three moms, a stay-at-home dad, and a nanny watch their kids play at Mommy-Baby Meetup. One mom is the queen bee and one is here to shake things up. The dad just wants to fit in, and the nanny doesn't say a word. When catastrophe comes, the five of them have to figure out how to survive a war and each other. Mothers examines the primal heartache of raising children in a disintegrating world.

Strange Men by Will Snider (Affiliated Artist)
Haamid lives a modest life running a restaurant in a small market town in Uganda. A member of the minority Indian population, he is estranged from his family for reasons he prefers not to discuss. At night he cooks elaborate dinners that he eats alone. When an openly gay Peace Corps volunteer comes to town looking for more than a good meal, Haamid's comfortable routine is broken, and his life is put in danger. Strange Men explores the limits of good intentions and the uneven stakes for Americans living abroad and the people whose lives they touch.

Bleeding Hearts by Steve Yockey (Affiliated Artist)
Sloane isn't sure why exactly her husband Timothy brought home a probably dangerous drifter with a knife, but she definitely doesn't like it. Of course, it's hard to focus when her wealthy neighbor keeps dropping by to steal anything that's not nailed down. And then things get violent. Bleeding Hearts is a breakneck, dark farce about the disappearing middle class that examines how easily people can forget to put themselves in each others' shoes.

The 2018 Finalists
Boycott Esther by Emily Acker (Azuka Theatre)
A Dark Wood by Eric Coble (Affiliated Artist)
Moonlight on the Bayou by Lindsey Ferrentino (Actor's Express)
Cottontail by Andrew Rosendorf (Affiliated Artist)
Nightbird by R. Eric Thomas (InterAct Theatre Company)
The Abuelas by Stephanie Alison Walker (Affiliated Artist)

Established in 2002, the National Showcase of New Plays is an annual three-day event that highlights unproduced plays from across the country. The Showcase creates a unique and invaluable opportunity for production-ready new plays to be viewed by NNPN's Core and Associate Members' artistic and literary leaders, as well as literary agents, publishers, and independent producers invited from around the country.

More than 90% of the plays featured in Showcase has received a production within the next three seasons, many of them supported as NNPN Rolling World Premieres.