The South Carolina New Play Festival will feature a wide range of musicals, plays, town halls, an outdoor variety stage.

Schedule of Events:

Thursday, August 8, 2024

7pm: The Josh White Project

By Donnetta Lavinia Grays
Directed by Tamilla Woodard

The Josh White Project was commissioned by the SC New Play Festival and the presentation of excerpts will precede a public town hall on the impact of Greenville, SC on Josh White’s life and legacy. Josh White was a prominent blues and folk musician who rose to fame in the 1930s and 1940s performing with legends such as Billie Holiday, Woody Guthrie, and Lead Belly, and on Broadway and in Hollywood. He was a key figure in the civil rights movement before his career was negatively impacted by the House Un-American Activities Commission. Donnetta Lavinia Grays is an award-winning playwright and actor, whose work has been seen on Broadway and at theaters across the country.

Town Hall Panelists Include: Gene Berger, Ruth Ann Butler, Mary Duckett, and David Sims

Location: Centre Stage

Friday, August 9, 2024

10am-6pm: Insider Sessions

Location: Greenville One Center

7 PM: All the World's A Stage

By Adam Gwon
Directed by Jonathan Silverstein, Music Direction by Andrea Grody

All the World’s a Stage tells the story of closeted Math teacher Ricky Alleman and the high school senior who cajoles him into coaching her for the 1996 State Thespian Competition with a monologue from "Angels in America". Soon, Ricky has trouble navigating his carefully compartmentalized life, between his outspoken new boyfriend and the conservative Principal of the High School where he teaches. All the World’s a Stage is a funny and heart-wrenching new musical about being true to yourself in a polarized world. Adam Gwon made his off-Broadway debut in 2009 with Ordinary Days at Roundabout Theatre Company; a 2018 revival by the Keen Company was nominated for a Drama League Award for Best Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical.

All The World’s a Stage is a commission by the KEEN Company.

Location: Gunter Theatre at the Peace Center

Saturday, August 10, 2024

2 PM: A Trip Around the Sun

By Jake Brasch
Directed by Shelley Butler

Trip Around the Sun is a dark comedy about a couple of Parrotheads in Florida planning the remaining time they have left on Earth. Jake Brasch (he/they) is a queer sober clown from Colorado and a graduating playwriting fellow at The Juilliard School. The World Premiere of his play The Reservoir, also directed by Shelley Butler, will be presented in 2025 as a co-production between the Denver Center, Alliance Theatre, and Geffen Playhouse.

Location: The Warehouse Theatre

3pm-8pm: Outdoor Variety Stage

3:00 NYC YoYo Show

3:30 Street Circus

4:30 Real McCoy

5:30 NYC YoYo Show

6:00 Real McCoy

7:00 Street Circus

Location: Falls Park

7PM: The Dark Lady

By Sophie Boyce and Veronica Mansour
Directed by Sarna Lapine, Music Direction by Anessa Marie

The Dark Lady is an electrifying synth-pop spectacle that uplifts the story of Emilia Bassano: a woman theorized by some to be the true, uncredited author of Shakespeare's works. Audacious and joyful with an effervescent wit, The Dark Lady brings this "what if" scenario to life in a gleefully subversive celebration of theatre. Sophie Boyce is the winner of the Eugene O'Neill National Musical Theatre Conference, a finalist for the Kleban Prize, Write Out Loud and the Stiles & Drewe Song Prize. Veronica Mansour is a 2024 Richard Rodgers Award Winner and Jonathan Larson Grant winner, was recently nominated for a Marvin Hamlisch International Music Award and was selected as one of four writers for DreamWorks Theatricals, MTI & NBCUniversal Emerging Writers Program.

Location: Greenville Theatre

Sunday, August 11, 2024

3pm-8pm: Outdoor Variety Stage

3:00 Real McCoy

4:00 Street Circus

5:00 NYC YoYo Show

5:30 Street Circus

6:30 Real McCoy

7:30 NYC YoYo Show

Location: Falls Park

3 PM: A Trip Around the Sun

By Jake Brasch
Directed by Shelley Butler

Trip Around the Sun is a dark comedy about a couple of Parrotheads in Florida planning the remaining time they have left on Earth. Jake Brasch (he/they) is a queer sober clown from Colorado and a graduating playwriting fellow at The Juilliard School. The World Premiere of his play The Reservoir, also directed by Shelley Butler, will be presented in 2025 as a co-production between the Denver Center, Alliance Theatre, and Geffen Playhouse.

Location: The Warehouse Theatre

3 PM: Stuntboy

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Melvin Tunstall III and Greg Borowsky
Directed by Banji Aborisade, Music Direction by Nick Wilders

Stuntboy follows the middle-schooler, Portico Reeves, whose superpower is making sure his parents and two best friends stay safe from bullies. He lives in the biggest apartment building on the block, a building with fifty doors, all of which would be swell except for the secret that Portico’s parents are about to divorce. All this stress gives Portico “the frets”, which his mom calls anxiety. Plus, like all superheroes, Portico has an arch-nemesis determined to prove that there is nothing super about Portico at all. Melvin Tunstall’s show Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical won the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Family Show in 2018. Greg Borowsky is a songwriter and producer from South Africa behind some of South Africa’s biggest SAMA (SA Grammy) winning artists and is the co-writer and producer of the official “20 Years of Freedom” song for the South African Government.

Stuntboy is a commission by TheatreworksUSA. Based on the book Stunt Boy in the Meantime © Jason Reynolds and Raúl the Third, 202. Used with permission of Pippin Properties, Inc.

Location: South Carolina Children's Theatre

7 PM: Broadway Cabaret Phillip Boykin

This once-in-a-lifetime event is a combination of a cabaret-style performance paired with a behind-the-scenes interview with Broadway celebrity and Greenville native, Phillip Boykin. Phillip to share backstage stories from working on the Broadway productions of Hadestown, The Music Man, Porgy and Bess and sing songs from his illisutrious in an intimate cabaret setting.

Boykin was nominated for the Tony Award, as well as the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for his role as Crown in the Broadway revival of Porgy and Bess. Boykin was also featured in On the Town, in the Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George where he made Broadway history as the first African-American Boatman/Lee Randolph in the production, Boykin played the role of Tonton Julian in the Revival of Once on This Island, which opened on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre, in 2022,he was featured in the Hugh Jackman led Broadway revival of The Music Man as Olin Britt and a Traveling Salesman and he is currently starring in the Broadway production of Hadestown as Hades. He is the founder and director of "The NYGospel Brothers", a gospel quartet that travels around the world spreading the good news and he was seen in the films Freedom starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Top Five starring Chris Rock, and Easter Mysteries an oratorio-musical written by John O’Boyle. In 2019, he was inducted into the South Carolina Theatre Association Hall of Fame following a performance of the Once on this Island tour in his hometown of Greenville, South Carolina.

Location: Greenville One Center

Fest Date: August 8 - 11, 2024

Locations:
Centre Stage - 501 River Street Greenville, SC 29601
Greenville One Center - 2 West Washington Street Greenville, SC 29601
Gunter Theatre - 300 South Main Street Greenville, SC 29601
Falls Park - 601 South Main Street Greenville, SC 29601
The Warehouse Theatre, 37 Augusta Street, Greenville, SC 29601
Greenville Theatre, 444 College St., Greenville, SC 29601
South Carolina Childrens Theatre - 153 Augusta Street Greenville, SC 29601

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