Fall 2023

AACT NewPlayFest 2024
World Premieres
AACT NewPlayFest continues its success with producing
original plays as world premieres across the country. All
winning plays are available for production through Dramatic
Publishing Company, following each play’s NewPlayFest
premiere.
Here are the winning plays of the 2024 cycle.
Criminal Mischief, by William Cameron
Freddy’s in love with Angie and she’s in love with him. The
problem? Angie’s married to Spencer, Freddy’s older brother.
This sets off a series of comical yet criminal misadventures,
putting the whole family in the sights of Detective Lieutenant
Alice Ford, who’s got issues of her own. Criminal Mischief takes
a humorous look at love and sex, family and forgiveness, crime
and punishment.
William Cameron is a playwright,
director, actor, and
educator. His plays have
been performed around the
country, including Theatre
40 in Los Angeles, the Harold
Clurman Theatre in New
York City, and the Curious
Theatre Company in Denver.
Bill’s plays include Violet
Sharp, a prize-winning drama
of the Lindbergh kidnapping
(Concord Theatricals); Truth
Be Told (Stanley Drama
Award, 2020), a drama confronting the mass shooting epidemic;
and Every Livin’ Soul (Winner, Dayton Playhouse FutureFest
2022), a tale of Depression-era crime and punishment. In
his 31-year tenure as Professor of Theatre and Communication
Arts at Washington & Jefferson College, he founded the Pennsylvania
school’s first academic theatre program and directed
over 40 student productions.
The Sauk, Jonesville, Michigan
February 2-11, 2024
The Red Flags, by Catherine Castellani
Happily married Philip and Chloe want all their friends
and family to be as well-coupled as they are, especially Phil’s
psychotic little brother Ric and Chloe’s commitment-shy best
friend Gabrielle. The match begins on a breezy note, but the
darker reasons that Ric and Gabrielle have resisted coupledom
won’t be going away. Despite Philip and Chloe’s belated horror
that they started this at all, Ric and Gabrielle go down a road
of mutual fascination, culminating in a proposal that courts all
kinds of bad luck.
Catherine Castellani’s plays
include Level Up, Possession,
2Y20M, In Search of Lost
Time, The Red Flags, The
Mongoose and the Cobra,
Windsor Terrace, and The
Bigsley Project. Her work
has been developed by
HB Studios, The Valdez/
Last Frontier Theatre
Conference, Dixon Place,
Naked Angels Tuesdays@9,
The Nora Salon, Bloom, and
Centenary Stage. Her 10-minute plays have been produced
nationwide, including at Actors Theatre of Louisville, City
Theatre (Miami), The ArtsCenter (Carrboro, NC), and The
Public Theater (New York City). Catherine is a two-time
Fellow of the MacDowell Colony, and one-time Ucross
Foundation resident. catherinecastellani.com
Verona Area Community Theater, Verona, Wisconsin
February 8-17, 2024
I Thought I Knew You, by Philip Kaplan
Cody has exploded a van in Louisville, killing himself and
five other people. Jen, his sister, returns to the family home to
comfort her devastated parents, and encounters Cody’s ghost—
or is it only a delusion? What happened to Cody? Who’s to
blame, and does it matter? How does a family move forward
from tragedy?
continued on page 32
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AACT SPOTLIGHT