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New Play Sounding Series

Sarah Shippobotham in Can I Say Yes to That Dress? 2023 Sarah Shippobotham in Can I Say Yes to That Dress? 2023 Todd Collins Photography

New Voices, New Ideas, New Plays

Since its inception in 1994, SLAC's New Play Sounding Series (NPSS) has nurtured emerging and established playwrights alike in the development of their new work. The NPSS creates a constructive, low risk arena for artists to navigate the challenges that come with writing and developing new plays. Through the NPSS, SLAC has provided professional resources for the artistic development of over 100 new plays. The development of new scripts is always done with the longterm goal of readying the play for full production. Nearly 50 percent of the plays read in the NPSS have gone on to be fully produced as part of SLAC's regular season, published for the professional market, and/or produced at other regional theatres in Utah and around the country. 

Not only does the NPSS provide support for playwrights and create additional working opportunities for local theatre artists, it also affords our audiences the opportunity to witness plays in their earliest stages, giving access to the creative process of new play development. By engaging in the discussions following each reading, and providing constructive feedback on what they've just seen, our audiences plays a key role in shaping these new works while the playwrights gain a deeper understanding of how their work is reaching an audience.

SLAC thanks the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation and the Salt Lake County's Zoo, Arts, and Parks program whose support allows our growing audiences to attend the New Play Sounding Series at no cost.

The Mission of the New Play Sounding Series

  • To foster relationships with emerging and established playwrights, both locally and nationally.
  • To create a constructive, low-risk arena in which to explore new creative voices and investigate works of interest in greater depth.
  • To involve the audience in the process of play creation, exploration, and selection.
  • To provide additional working opportunities for local theatre artists.

New Play Sounding Series History

*Indicates a play that went on to be fully produced at SLAC

2023/2024

2022/2023

2021/2022

2020/2021

Please note: the 20/21 season NPSS plays were presented in a digital-only format as the New Play Sounding Series Festival. The three works presented for the festival were:

2019/2020

2018/2019

2017/2018

2016/2017

2015/2016

2014/2015

2013/2014

2012/2013

2011/2012

2010/2011

2009/2010

2008/2009

  • She Was My Brother by Julie Jensen
  • Mammoth by Eric Roberson
  • Sunlight by Sharr White
  • Charm by Kathleen Cahill*

2007/2008

  • The Towering Dead by Mike Dorrell
  • The Rant by Andrew Case
  • A Slight Discomfort by Jeff Metcalf*
  • Civil Disobedience by Carter W. Lewis
  • 14 by John Cameron

2006/2007

  • The Receptionist by Adam Bock
  • Bunbury by Tom Jacobson
  • In Corrections by Doris Baizley and Susan Raffanti
  • The Cancer Diaries by Jeff Metcalf*
    (Retitled A Slight Discomfort)

2005/2006

  • The Thugs by Adam Bock 
    (Premiered at SoHo Rep in NYC in 2006, Obie Award winner)
  • Sexsting by Doris Baizley and Susan Raffanti*
    (World Premiere at Salt Lake Acting Company, 2007; produced by Skylight Theatre, LA, 2013)
  • Dark Yellow by Julia Jordan
    (Produced at Studio Dante, NYC, 2006)
  • The O'Conner Girls by Katie Forgette

2004/2005

  • The Land SouthwardN by Darcy Hogan
  • Roundup by Kurt Proctor
  • Art for Art's Sake by Mike Dorrell
  • The Overwhelming by J. T. Rogers*

2003/2004

  • Touch of Rapture by Mary Fengar Gail
  • A Crooked Man by Richard Kalinoski
  • Rounding Third by Richard Dresser*
  • Swimming in the Shallows by Adam Bock*

2002/2003

  • Frankincense by John Rafter Lee
  • Lily and Dash by Mike Dorrell
  • Madagascar by J.T. Rogers*
  • The Goshute Play by Julie Jensen

2001/2002

  • Ancient Lights by Shelagh Stephenson
  • Wait! by Julie Jensen*
    (Retitled from NO SMALL ACTORS, had its world premiere at The Salt Lake Acting Company, April 8, 2003.)
  • 10 Ten-Minute Plays by SLAC Playwrights Group

2000/2001

  • Seeing the Elephant by J. T. Rogers*
    (Received its world premiere at The Salt Lake Acting Company, April 2, 2002)
  • No Small Actors by Julie Jensen
    (SLAC commissioned play, week-long workshop November of 2000, culminating in reading of first draft)
  • Cabbies, Cowboys, and the Tree of the Weeping Virgin by Utah Writers*
    (Received its world premiere at The Salt Lake Acting Company, January 22, 2002. A book containing all of the commissioned pieces was published by SLAC and given as a gift to audience members.)

1999/2000

  • Absence by Wendy Hammond
    (Previous draft entitled The Hole; premiered at Purple Rose Theatre in Michigan, in 1999)
  • Red Herring by Michael Hollinger
    (world premiere, Philadelphia Theatre Company, March 2000.)
  • Cheat by Julie Jensen
    (world premiere at Women’s Project in New York in October of 2002.)
  • A Loss of Appetite by David Kranes*

1998/1999

  • Bash, Iphigenia in Orem, Media Redux by Neil LaBute
    (Produced Off-Broadway in 1999 with Calista Flockhart)
  • Winding Sheet by Eric Samuelsen
  • The Lively Lad by Quincy Long
    (Workshop production, A.S.K. Common Ground Festival, L.A., 1999)
  • Outrage by Nate Briggs

1997/1998

  • Two-Headed by Julie Jensen*
    (Salt Lake Acting Company, world premiere, 2000; workshop production, A.S.K. Common Ground Festival, L.A., 1999, Produced by The Women’s Project in New York, in 2000.)
  • Under Western Skies by Al Brown
    (T.C.G / N.E.A. Playwright in Residence at SLAC, 1998)
  • Bob and May Are Getting Married by Carl Sanders
    (Produced in Seattle in 2000 at One World Theatre, published by Rain City Press under the title THE PERFECT STRANGER)
  • Drift by Jon Tuttle
    (produced by Trustus Theatre, North Carolina, 1998)

1996/1997

  • Reno Bangs by Al Brown
  • Tiny Island by Michael Hollinger
    (produced by Arden Theatre, Philadelphia, 1998)
  • A Birch in Winter by Aaron Shaheen
  • Mother College by Richard Kalinoski

1995/1996

  • Victor and the Virgin by Thomas G. Dunn
  • Molly Delicious by Craig Wright
    (produced by Philadelphia Festival of New Plays 1997; Arden Theatre, Philadelphia 1997, Published by Dramatic Publishing)
  • Rose Colored Glass by Susan Bigelow-Marsh
    (produced by Jewish Repertory Theatre, 1997)
  • One Last Dance by Al Brown*
    (produced by Salt Lake Acting Company, 1997)
  • Paparazzi! by Gib Johnson
  • The Big Slam by Bill Corbett
    (produced by Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington D.C., 1997; A Contemporary Theatre, Seattle, 1997, Published by Dramatist Play Service)

1994/1995

  • Winter of the Deer by David Kranes*
    (world premiere by Salt Lake Acting Company 1996)
  • The Lost Vegas Series by Julie Jensen
    (produced by Zebra Crossing Theatre, Chicago 1997, winning the Jefferson Award; and in London 1998)
  • Daddy's Gone Home to Mother in Heaven by Gary Stewart
  • Napoleon's China by Ann Haskell, Sherry Kramer and Rebecca Newton*
    (produced by Salt Lake Acting Company 1996)
  • Voir Dire by Joe Sutton
    (produced by Seattle Repertory Theatre, 1996)
  • The Big Numbers by Craig Wright
  • Incorruptible by Michael Hollinger*
    (produced by Salt Lake Acting Company, 1996; Arden Theatre, Philadelphia, 1996; Artist’s Repertory Theatre, Portland, Oregon 1998)
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