Conneticut's Eugene O鈥橬eill Theater Center has revealed its summer conference programming, as well as a formal expansion of its developmental programming for the fall and winter seasons.
The 35th National Puppetry Conference will kick-start the summer schedule. During the conference, artists from across the globe will gather to create new work, develop their skills, and push beyond their artistic comfort zones. Audiences will be invited to a small number of performances, as well as the conference鈥檚 virtual masterclasses, which will be led by Roshina Ratnam, Liz Hara, Chamindika Wanduragala, and Noel MacNeal. These masterclasses will be available for both live-streaming and on-demand viewing.
The National Playwrights Conference will develop four plays this summer, chosen from over 1,600 submissions and 95 finalists. The years development playwrights are Haruna Lee, Phan茅sia Pharel, Tony Meneses, and Eleanor Burgess.
The National Music Theater Conference will develop musicals by two teams: Zack Zadek and Sammi Cannold, and Ari Afsar and Rehana Lew Mirza. The two pairs were chosen from a pool of approximately 420 applicants.
In late 2025 and early 2026, both the National Playwrights Conference and the National Music Theater Conference will host Incubators of additional new work. 鈥婽hese Incubators will be five-day dramaturgical intensives that focus primarily on narrative, text, and storytelling. The two plays and two musicals selected for these Incubators will be announced at a later date.
The Cabaret and Performance Conference will conclude the eight-week summer season with 10 nights of performances, featuring Eden Espinosa, Steve Ross, John Lloyd Young, Natalie Douglas, Latrice Royale, Karen Akers, and the talented Cabaret Fellows and Junior Fellows who will spend the conference honing their skills. This year, the O鈥橬eill welcomes a new Director of the Junior Cabaret Fellows program, Jeremiah Downes.
The O鈥橬eill will once again welcome an assemblage of arts critics and cultural journalists for the National Critics Institute. Throughout their time on campus, they will work alongside creative professionals at the O'Neill to gain insight into their specialized area of arts and culture, and examine arts journalism from various perspectives.
Summer offerings will also include free and pay-what-you-can events, including the Young Playwrights Festival (YPF). Beginning May 18, the YPF will feature five short plays written by middle and high school students. Additionally, new work by the students of the National Theater Institute鈥檚 Theatermakers Summer Intensive will be showcased every Monday for six straight weeks beginning June 16. Later in the season, the O鈥橬eill鈥檚 Family Day activities will return June 26, centered on a performance of Don Quixote Takes New York by Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company.
The final event of the summer will be the O鈥橬eill鈥檚 gala fundraiser, Beech Party. The annual event, this year titled Sunset on the Sound, will feature cocktails, a seated dinner, live performances, and an auction, all to raise funds for the O鈥橬eill鈥檚 year-round programming.
Alongside its summer calendar and relaunched Incubator program, the O鈥橬eill will host a number of developmental residencies. Over the next 10-months, residency projects will include The Ghost Writer, adapted by from the novel by Philip Roth by Daniel Goldfarb and Tom Kitt; Redemption Center by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman; the 2025 Jim Henson Foundation Residency of Parched by Dorothy James and Andy Manjuck; and Goats and Monkeys by 2025 NPC Artist in Residence Adam Rapp.
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