Courtesy of Confluence New Play Festival
Six brand-new plays will premiere this month, albeit without the bells and whistles of a full staging. But in the case of the Confluence New Play Festival, that pared-down approach is the point.
Across two weekends, March 18-20 and March 25-27, local actors and directors will work with playwrights from the Confluence Regional Writers Project to rehearse and prepare a new work in a single day. Then, from behind their music stands, these groups of actors will perform the new plays in front of audiences for the very first time.
“It’s going to be a feast of local talent,” says Nancy Bell, who leads the project. Bell is also the author of six Shakespeare in the Streets adaptations and current Program Director of Theatre at Saint Louis University. “That’s one of the most exciting things about this festival, I think. They get to come together with new plays, which is still not something that lots of St. Louis actors get a whole lot of opportunities to do… There’s just nothing like working on a new play and being the first person to bring it to life.”
The Confluence Regional Writers program began in 2018 as a way to highlight the wealth of playwriting talent that the Midwest has to offer. As in many branches of the arts, opportunity and funding tend to dwell along the coasts, leaving stories and voices from our region overlooked.
Each year, the program accepts a handful of writers from Missouri and Illinois, who then attend monthly writing workshops together, led by Bell. The program culminates in the festival, which this year features writers from both the 2021 and 2020 cohort, which did not perform last year due to COVID-19.
“Because of [industry focus on New York and Los Angeles], the kind of plays that get produced nationally tend to really skew towards the concerns of the people in those locales,” says Bell. “We really feel like there's a whole lot more to America. Those are wonderful plays and wonderful places, and they're very important voices, but there is so much more to our country than those two cities. And we want to make sure that we give a voice to those playwrights.”
This year, those playwrights include Courtney Bailey, Delaney Piggins, and Rob Maesaka from St. Louis; Myah Gary from Carbondale; and Elizabeth Archer and Melda Beaty from Chicago. Each will work alongside local directors–among them The Rep’s Hana Sharif and Adena Varner and St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s Adam Flores and Sam Hayes–to bring their works to life.
Courtney Bailey, Melda Beaty, Delaney Piggins, Elizabeth Archer, Myah Gary, and Rob Maesaka. Courtesy of Confluence New Play Festival.
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“We work hard to make each cohort diverse in gender expression, race, socioeconomic background, geography, age–they're all emerging playwrights, but we in no way want to limit it just to 20 year olds. We want all different kinds of voices, contrasting voices, people who come from really different points of view,” Bell says. “The more different they can be, the better, because it makes for a really interesting and lively and challenging program. These playwrights spend a lot of time together, writing alongside each other. They're a part of each other's development process for a full year. They influence each other a lot, and I've been really inspired and proud of the incredible exchange of experience that goes on.”
In addition to the exchange among themselves, the writers also get the unique chance to hear directly from audiences about their work. Talkbacks with the actors and the playwright after each performance provide valuable feedback, also giving patrons the rare opportunity to respond directly to work, communicating what resonated with them or what did not, what they found effective or confusing, all in direct conversation with the playwright.
The readings will take place at the new rehearsal hall at 3333 Washington in Grand Center on March 18-20 and March 25-27. Tickets are $10 per reading or $30 for a Festival pass. Each reading begins at 7:30 p.m. The festival’s plays include Brontë Sister House Party by Courtney Bailey, Can’t Unsee by Elizabeth Archer, FEEBLEMINDED by Melda Beaty, Feminine Energy by Myah Gary, HOMES by Delaney Piggins, and Tolstoy’s Resurrection by Rob Maesaka.
“What I'm looking forward to the most is being able to witness and be a small part of six incredible artists getting to see their work be born for the first time, by a group of people who really care about it and want to make it the very best it can possibly be, and deliver that to an audience that is really eager to hear it. That is a really magical thing to witness.” says Bell. “I want people to start thinking of St. Louis as a really important place for new plays, a place where new plays are welcomed and encouraged, funded and supported.”
