{"id":88843,"date":"2026-05-14T08:11:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/?p=88843"},"modified":"2026-05-14T08:16:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:16:41","slug":"theater-news-with-12-plays-debuting-the-new-works-festival-lets-you-see-artists-crafting-productions-of-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/eat-see-do-2\/do\/theater-news-with-12-plays-debuting-the-new-works-festival-lets-you-see-artists-crafting-productions-of-the-future","title":{"rendered":"Theater News: With 12 plays debuting, the New Works Festival lets you see artists crafting productions of the future\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to Theater News, a regular column by longtime reviewer Anita W. Harris. Look for it most Thursdays. Or\u00a0sign up<\/a>\u00a0for our Eat. See. Do. newsletter to get it in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Long Beach Shakespeare Company is ushering in what it describes as \u201cbold new voices\u201d in its New Works Festival beginning this weekend at the Helen Borgers Theatre in Bixby Knolls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three of the festival\u2019s 12 new plays will debut this weekend, with the rest on weekends in June and September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach weekend invites audiences into an intimate theatrical experience where new scripts are brought to life through staged readings and workshop-style presentations \u2014 offering a rare glimpse into the creative process as it unfolds in real time,\u201d the theater says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Holly Leveque, artistic director of Long Beach Shakespeare Company, said the purpose of the festival is to provide a platform for both emerging and established playwrights to develop original work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy championing new work, we honor the legacy of theater as a living, evolving art form \u2014 where today\u2019s creations become tomorrow\u2019s unforgettable stories,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Works Festival will be the theater\u2019s fourth annual since 2023, when Leveque became the theater\u2019s artistic director and wanted to add the festival and a poetry series to the theater\u2019s regular season of Shakespeare plays and radio shows. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Holly Leveque
Courtesy photo<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

This weekend\u2019s new festival plays feature a high school reunion, a futuristic brain rewiring and a true story of a bloody clash between labor and big business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHold On\u201d<\/strong> by Robert Weibezahl is about long-buried truths emerging as two long-estranged friends reconnect in a classroom down the hall from their 25th high school reunion. Directed by Cameron Kauffman, the show runs Friday, May 15 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 17 at 1 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA Wire in Mind\u201d<\/strong> by Michael J.M. Canas and directed by Rose Kim is set in the future, about a family installing a home-recording device to help with their father\u2019s progressing Alzheimer\u2019s disease. But then a daughter begins to rewire her father\u2019s memories to keep him alive… The show runs Saturday, May 16 at 2 p.m. and Sunday, May 17 at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLudlow Massacre\u201d<\/strong> by Darren Andrew Nash is based on a true story of \u201cone of the bloodiest clashes between labor and big business in North American history,\u201d the theater says. A reporter embeds with striking miners and becomes involved in a dangerous dispute with the rich and powerful, including John D. Rockefeller, Jr.\u00a0 Directed by Benjamin Pohlmeier, the show will run Saturday, May 16 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 17 at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Works Festival will then continue June 5-7 and September 18-20, with four or more new plays on each of those weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Promo poster for Long Beach Shakespeare Company’s 2026 New Works Festival.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAudiences can expect a diverse lineup of original plays spanning genres, styles and perspectives\u2014from intimate character studies to bold, imaginative storytelling,\u201d the theater says. \u201cThe festival offers a unique opportunity to witness the birth of future productions, connecting audiences directly with the artists shaping the future of theater.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long Beach Shakespeare Company\u2019s New Works Festival shows will run at the Helen Borgers Theatre, 4250 Atlantic Ave. Tickets are $30 or $20 for students. For tickets and information, call the box office at 562-997-1494 or visit <\/em>LBShakespeare.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The festival offers a “rare glimpse into the creative process as it unfolds in real time.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":88845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32367],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32310],"class_list":["post-88843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-do","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88843"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88850,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88843\/revisions\/88850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88843"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=88843"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=88843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}