Cape Girardeau, MO – The 2023 Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, which honors new American plays that provide dynamic performance opportunities for college-aged actors, will be held in person at the Dobbins Conservatory of Theatre and Dance on the River Campus of Southeast Missouri State University from May 28-June 3, 2023.

The festival will feature staged readings of five Official Selection full-length plays and ten Official Selection short plays, as well as workshops and seminars on playwriting and new play development. Featured guest speakers include Molly Smith, Artistic Director of Arena Stage; DG member Adam Szymkowicz; and director and casting director Laura Alcalá Baker.

At the conclusion of the festival, one full-length play will be selected for the festival’s top prize and will receive its world premiere in the 2023-2024 Dobbins Conservatory Mainstage Season and will be considered for publication by Concord Theatricals, the world’s most significant theatrical company, comprising the catalogs of R&H Theatricals, Samuel French, Tams-Witmark, and The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection. 

The winner in 2022 was The Winterguard Play by DG member Avery Deutsch. The winning play received its world premiere at Rust Flexible Theatre - River Campus Cultural Arts Center, March 1 - 5, 2023.

For more information on the festival, visit SMSU’s website.

2023 FULL-LENGTH OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

Insignificant Bugs by Keiko Green
The Light Keepers by Lindsay Partain
Power Play by Rachel Greene
Our Play by Jessica Moss
The Lost Girls by C Meaker

2023 SHORT PLAY OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

SUNDAY, MAY 28 at 7 pm
Seriously, Really, Our Parents Are What!? by Adam Szudrich
Lookout by Jim Moss
Stars and Stripes by Matt Morse
Out of Body/On a Train by Erin Moughon
tequila sunrise by Emma Swain

SATURDAY, JUNE 3 at 2 pm
Arms Length Romance (a Duologue) by John Busser
Maybe for a Minute by Tori Rice
Exophilia by Keith Whalen
Road Trip by James McLindon
Young Women of Valor by Shara Feit

2023 FULL-LENGTH FINALISTS

After this Episode by Brianna Barrett
Alone Together by Walter Dodd
The Golden Door by Lia Romeo
let's talk about anything else by Anthony Anello
The Marginals by Kate Brennan
Misfits & Mustangs by John Mabey
N0 D@Y BU+ +0d@y by Jan Rosenberg
No Entrance by Courtney Taylor
Once on Rumspringa by Ellis Abigail Stump
Passive Shooter by J.S. Puller
rosaline by Ryan Stevens
They Played in Peoria by Maggie Lou Rader
A Wife in the Shadows by Julius Galacki