Second Stage Theater has announced the return of its Next Stage Festival. The Broadway and Off-Broadway institution launched the festival in 2023 with four programs to support early-career playwrights, including the continuation of the Lark Playwrights Workshop. The festival will also feature staged readings and a world-premiere production.
The Lark Playwrights Workshop will mentor five early-career playwrights through a series of private sessions. The workshop will be led by mentors David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph and May Adrales.
Presentations of new works will take place from Jan. 27 to March 9, 2025, on the Irene Diamond Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center. A reading of the new musical “Inside Voices” will bow on January 27, 2025, directed by Michael Mayer. The centerpiece of the festival will be the world premiere of “On the Evolutionary Function of Shame” by D.A. Mindell, running Feb. 12 to March 9, 2025. Additionally, the Judith Champion Reading Series will feature one-night-only readings of new plays by Keiko Green, Jay Stull and Aurora Real de Asua in early February.
The Next Stage Festival is made possible in part by the New American Voices Fund, which was established in 2016 by a lead gift from David Stone.
