Colorado is the home of the Durango PlayFest, the prestigious new play development workshop, and I’m thrilled that my play “Circle Forward” was selected as one of four new plays that will headline its 6th annual festival, June 25-30, 2024. PlayFest's mission is to bring well-known and emerging playwrights, well-known actors and directors to Durango to incubate new plays, hold free events for the community, and culminate the week with staged readings for local audiences.

Directing “Circle Forward” will be Pesha Rudnick. A full cast list will be announced in early June.

Here’s the synopsis of “Circle Forward”: Seventeen years after the loss of her young husband from cancer, Mia meets a teenager who believes he is the reincarnation of her late husband. When the teen and his mom come to Mia's house for lunch, his uncanny memories force Mia to face her doubts, her past, and the whole truth.

The festival's full schedule and ticket information will be posted at durangoplayfest.org in late April. For more information, visit www.durangoplayfest.org.

Take a look at the BROADWAYWORLD press release HERE.

South Dakota State University Department of Theatre and Dance produced “The Escape Thingy” in February and the crowds loved it! Directed by Artistic Director W. James Wood, the production featured an all-student cast (Israel Caldron, Blake Fabre, Jacob Stevens, Alex Gales, and Peyten Wiese) and design team. I was delighted to be in attendance to see the wonderful collaboration. Thanks, Brookings, for welcoming me!

While it wasn’t selected to be a part of the festival, my play “Circle Forward” was a finalist for the Local Theater Company’s “Lab” New Play Festival. With hundreds of plays submitted to this prestigious reading series, being a finalist is quite an honor.

Here’s the synopsis for “Circle Forward:” Seventeen years after the loss of her young husband from cancer, Mia meets a teenager, Ethan, who believes he is the reincarnation of her late husband. When Ethan and his mom Lexi come to Mia's house for lunch, Mia must face her doubts, her past, and the whole truth.

A big thank you to Local Lab for the consideration and selection as a finalist!

I had the pleasure of directing Brian Delate’s one-man show “Guardian Angels” and this weekend it will be at Actors Studio in New York City. Saturday and Sunday shows are sold out but you can still get on the waitlist, or grab a ticket to Friday night’s performance, and possibly Thursday night’s too.

Tickets are FREE but you need to reserve them here. Actors Studio is located at 432 West 44th Street, Ground Floor, between 9th & 10th Avenues, New York, NY 10036. Running time is one hour, shows start at 7:00 pm Thursday Feb 1, Friday Feb 2, and Saturday Feb 3, with a Sunday matinee at 2:00 on the 4th.

About the show:
“Guardian Angels” reveals how the angels on earth and beyond can guide and direct us. In 1973 a profound event, in the form of a dream transformed Brian Delate’s life. Was it a “close encounter”? An Out-of-Body Experience? Or a visit from “The Great Beyond”? You decide. Brian served in the Vietnam war. The path after coming home was destructive, but real life guardian angels intervened to guide him in a life-affirming direction. The dream came later but its impact would alter his thinking and behavior forever.

And from the theater:
WAITLIST: If a particular date is “sold out”, we encourage you to join the waitlist — since cancellations are prevalent and seating often becomes available.

I had the privilege of directing Brian Delate’s one man show “Guardian Angels” this year, which was presented first at the Whitefire Theater, then at The Road Theatre in Los Angeles, to sold-out crowds. He got a wonderful review by John Lavitt in The HollywoodTimes, who was kind enough to mention my work as a director:

“At the Road Theatre, Delate’s performance is taken to the next level of excellence with the help of Deb Hiett’s precise direction. When it comes to solo shows, the role of a director is a careful balancing of unleashing and containing. While some aspects of a performer need to be brought out, others need to be quieted so this can happen.

Hiett helps Delate bring forth the significance of his message by focusing on his body and respecting moments of silence. By helping Delate get in touch with his physicality while not being worried about gaps, the direction allows the actor to expand the range of his expression while making it more precise.”

Brian’s show is heading for a limited run at the Actors Studio in New York City in February, 2024. Congrats, Brian!

I am over the moon excited to have my play Circle Forward selected for the Gulfshore Playhouse New Works Festival this September. I’ve had the pleasure of working with this extraordinary LORT-D theater before, when they produced the world premiere of my play Miss Keller Has No Second Book in 2018.

With the talented folks they are assembling (including director Jeffrey Binder), I can’t wait to bring my play to the table. The week’s workshop will conclude with a reading that is open to the public on Saturday Sept 16, followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Synopsis of Circle Forward: Seventeen years after the loss of her young husband from cancer, Mia meets a teenager, Ethan, who believes he is the reincarnation of her late husband. When Ethan and his mom Lexi come to Mia's house for lunch, Mia must face her doubts, her past, and the whole truth.

More info about the festival here in the BroadwayWorld press release. For Gulfshore Playhouse tickets, click here.

Please join me for the first reading of my new musical “The Sunny Survival Caravan!” on Sunday May 21 at 2:00 p.m. at Atwater Village Theatre 3269 Casitas Ave, in Los Angeles. Tickets are FREE but you’re encouraged to R.S.V.P. through THIS LINK. The reading is part of the “First Peek” Reading Series by the L.A.-based Playwrights Union.

SYNOPSIS of “The Sunny Survival Caravan!”:
Fifteen years after the collapse of civilization, a misfit traveling band of musicians perform their relentlessly cheerful nostalgia show as they travel from settlement to settlement, throughout a decimated not-so-united states, sometime in the post-apocalyptic, climate-ravaged, accordion-filled future.

Darla, Gabriela, Razz, Chester, and Banger have managed to tour what's left of the former United States for over a year – no small feat in these difficult times. Their optimistic message and varied song stylings are wildly popular, and they’ve even rigged up an old stationary bicycle to an old battery to have some amplification and lighting, thanks to some strings of old patio and Christmas lights. When the newest and youngest member of the band, Evvie, joins them, she challenges their determination to perform only the most upbeat odes to nostalgia.

By the show’s hopeful end, we see that the healing power of music can lift us up by gathering us all together, even during the darkest times.

Cast to be announced soon. Please come out and support new theater!