Sixth Annual Festival of New Ten-Minute Plays Takes Place Friday, September 4
The Sharon Playhouse continues its 2026 season with the sixth annual Writers Playground, a celebration of new plays and local playwrights, on Friday, September 4 at 7:00 PM in the Bobbie Olsen Theater.
This year, Writers Playground takes on a newly imagined format, focusing the spotlight on the playwright and inviting audiences inside the process of developing new work. Six original ten-minute plays will be presented as readings by a repertory company of six local actors, followed by brief moderated audience conversations designed to give the playwrights valuable feedback as their work continues to evolve.
“It all starts with the writer and the words,” said Sharon Playhouse Artistic Director Carl Andress. “I’ve spent much of the last 30 years directing new plays, and there is something incredibly exciting about being in the room when a piece of theater is still being discovered. You hear the words out loud for the first time, find what works, what surprises you, what may need another look. With Writers Playground this year, we want to invite our audience into that process.”
More than 60 plays were submitted for consideration this year, all by writers living within 50 miles of the Sharon Playhouse. Scripts were read blind by a committee of readers, who evaluated the submissions without knowing the identities of the playwrights before the six finalists were selected.
The 2026 Writers Playground selections are:
Best Wine With Lemon Muffins by Charlene A. Donaghy
Priscilla, Priscilla by Hank Kimmel
Loud Mary by Mary Forsell
Love Underground by Daniel Janoff
Salt by Merideth Maddox
Dating in the Workplace and Other Acts of Courage by Liam Castellan
Rather than the more fully staged presentations of previous Writers Playground festivals, this year’s plays will be presented simply, with actors at music stands, allowing the writing itself to take center stage. Following each reading, Andress will lead a brief audience talkback centered around three prompts: “I like,” “I noticed,” and “I wonder”—encouraging responses that are curious, constructive, and useful to the playwrights.
“New work needs an audience,” Andress continued. “A playwright can spend months alone with a script, but the moment it is spoken by actors in front of other people, you begin to learn entirely new things about it. We’re not asking audiences to come see six finished products. We’re asking them to join us on the playground—to listen, respond, and be part of that wonderful moment when something new is beginning to take shape.”
Carl Andress and Michael Kevin Baldwin serve as Festival Supervisors, with the readings directed and moderated by Andress. Mallory Jane Weiss returns as Dramaturg, working with the six playwrights throughout the development process. A repertory company of local actors will perform all six readings. The cast of local Playhouse favorites include: Michael Kevin Baldwin (Annie, Shear Madness), Marinell Crippen (Our Town, Steel Magnolias), Dana Domenick (The Mousetrap), Reid Sinclair (The Mousetrap) and Joe McGrann (Arsenic & Old Lace).
Admission to Writers Playground is offered on a suggested donation basis, reflecting the developmental nature of the evening. Reservations are now available at the sharonplayhouse.org
Funny, moving, surprising, and intentionally still in development, Writers Playground offers audiences a rare behind-the-scenes look at where theater begins: with a writer, a blank page, and the words that bring a new story to life.
The 2026 season continues with the beloved musical Come From Away (September 11-27) and concludes in December with the 6th Annual Holiday YouthStage Production, a new adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (December 11–20), adapted and directed by Andrus Nichols and Drew Ledbetter.
The Sharon Playhouse urges all ticket buyers to be cautious of third-party ticket sellers. The safest and only reliable source for tickets is SharonPlayhouse.org. Tickets are available now.
Writers Playground is produced by The Branches – Bill Suter’s Legacy, National Iron Bank, and Oblong Books in association with Michael and Carol Lynch.
The Sharon Playhouse, led by Carl Andress (Artistic Director), Meghan Flanagan (Managing Director) and Michael Kevin Baldwin (Education and Community Director), is a professional, regional, nonprofit theater producing high-quality performances with Broadway-caliber actors as well as talented local community members. Its mission is to entertain the community of Northwest Connecticut and beyond, while also serving as a teaching theater to encourage aspiring actors and other theater artists of all ages to develop their craft.