Contrary to what we noted about last month’s slate, which did seem to mark a dip in the number of world premieres nationwide, August is ramping up again. (Putting out a call for submissions on social media probably didn’t hurt.) To reiterate: If you or someone you know are producing a world premiere on a U.S. stage any time in the future, don’t hesitate to let us know at at@tcg.org and rwkendt@tcg.org. (And if you’re a TCG member theatre, don’t forget to enter all your show info, all year round, here.)
Northeast
Theatre about architecture, anyone? Brendan George’s The Vessel, a Tollbooth Co. production running through Aug. 23 at 59E59 in New York City, is a comedy inspired by the infamous 150-foot interactive art installation at Hudson Yards. Peter Charney directs.
Jeffrey Sweet’s A Change of Position, based on characters created by Michael Kosarowich, follows a teenage girl whose trailer-park mom makes ends meet as a sex worker. Directed by James Glossman, it runs at New Jersey Repertory in Long Branch, Aug. 1-23.
This month’s prize for most eye-catching title surely goes to Phanésia Pharel’s Dead Girl’s Quinceañera, which has its Aug. 5-29 premiere at Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts (in a co-production with Chicago’s Goodman Theatre and Connecticut’s Hartford Stage). Described as “a darkly hilarious take on true-crime obsession, teenage bravado, and what happens when girls decide to stop waiting for answers,” it’s directed by Melia Bensussen.
Disruption, Andrew Stein’s thriller about a tech entrepreneur pitching his latest world-beating algorithm to his friends, has a starry cast and direction by Hersh Ellis. Produced by Jack DePalma, it’s at New York City’s Signature Theatre, Aug. 2-Sept. 27.
In Kyle Bass’s The Civilities, at Franklin Stage Company in Franklin, New York, Aug. 7-23, a young Black grad student meets up with an elderly Confederate poet and uncovers some unsettling truths. Direction is by Gilbert McCauley.
Isla is the latest musical theatre piece from Hit the Lights Co.!, led by Samantha Blain, and it tells the story of three Cuban women who make the fateful trek to Miami in the 1960s. It runs at WP Theater in New York City, Aug. 8-29.
A thriller set among some desperate characters on the outskirts of Las Vegas, Tom Kelly’s The Bathroom Attendant runs at 124 Bank Street Theater in New York City, Aug. 13-30, presented by SparkPlug Productions.
Lindsay Joelle’s Dalloway: First Love, billed as a “stand-alone prequel” to Virginia Woolf’s groundbreaking novel Mrs. Dalloway, runs at Gloucester Stage Company in Massachusetts, Aug. 13-29, with direction by Rebecca Bradshaw.
In benevolent by Sophie McIntosh, four inmates in a grim reformatory for “fallen” girls forge connections, in a Good Apples Collective production directed by Nina Goodheart. It runs at IATI Main Theater in New York City, Aug. 14-Sept. 5.
A U.S. immigration official facing his first day on the job is the lead character of Neil Berg and Bill Nabel’s new musical Flying Toward the Sun, running at Penguin Rep Theater in Stony Point, New York, Aug. 14-Sept. 6.
New York City can’t get enough of Ivanov, it seems: Not long after spring’s production by New American Ensemble comes a new 100-minute adaptation, The Real Ivanov, penned and directed by Chekhov scholar Laura Strausfeld. It runs Aug. 17-Sept. 19 at Lynn F. Angelson Theater.
Kendal Hartse’s dance-theatre piece Cowboy tells the story of the spinal fracture that almost ended her career as a Broadway hoofer. Directed by Austin Regan, this Harlow Radical production runs at Royal Family Performing Arts Space in New York City, Aug. 22-24.
Billed as “a demonic comedy about having pain in the ‘wrong’ places,” Laura O’Neill’s the moon rituals runs at the Tank in New York City, Aug. 24-Sept. 4, in a staging co-produced by Thalia Sablon and Murmuration Theatre Company. It’s co-directed by Sablon and Kelleen Moriarty.
South
Susan Swavely reimagines the legend of Helen of Troy as the story of a mail-order bride in the American West in Helen of the West, running at Atlanta’s Essential Theatre, Aug. 7-23, under Peter Hardy’s direction.
Six strangers at a misty roadside inn are the dramatis personae of Elliott Kashner’s comedic mystery The Inn, a co-production of Spotlighters Theatre and the Baltimore Playwrights Festival, that runs at Spotlighters’ Baltimore space, Aug. 7-16. Lanoree Blake directs.
Arkansas Repertory Theatre artistic director Steve H. Broadnax III writes and directs The Remarkable Resignation of Dr. Joycelyn Elders, about President Clinton’s short-termed, plain-spoken Surgeon General, who was and remains a local hero in Arkansas (and a Broadnax family friend). That runs at the Little Rock theatre Aug. 11-29.
Emiliana: A Revolution Cabaret, at Houston’s Ground Floor Theatre Aug. 13-29, follows the double life of a young woman through the lens of Mexico’s Golden Age of film. Jessica Peña Torres wrote and stars, with direction by Mateo Hernandez.
Featuring prominent “explicit content” warnings, Preston Crowder’s comedy Bocking follows what ensues when two children innocently repeat the scandalous things they’ve overheard at home. Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb, it runs at Baltimore Center Stage, Aug. 14-Sept. 6.
Falling Down the Mountain of Great Storms is a new play about a young Cajun woman who “breaks through the catastrophes.” With a script by Greg Romero, music by Mike Vernusky, and direction by Molly Fonseca, it’s a Broad Theatre production at the Rosette in Austin, Texas, Aug. 14-29.
In Lemonade: A Fresh Pressed Musical, middle schoolers compete viciously over territory in the world of lemonade and cookie stands. Jesse Corbin wrote the book, music, and lyrics, and Marlo Hunter directs, at Trustus Theatre in Columbia, South Carolina, Aug. 15-30.
Holy Chicken Sandwich, Kira Rockwell’s biting satire of Chick-fil-A, runs at Atlanta’s Horizon Theatre Company, Aug. 21-Sept. 20. Lisa Adler directs.
Mary Glen Fredrick’s anti-capitalist fable fire work completes its rolling premiere cycle at the Vortex in Austin, Aug. 28-Sept. 19 (previous productions were in 2025 at Kansas City, Missouri’s Unicorn Theatre and Washington, D.C.’s Theater Alliance). Direction is by Bonnie Cullum.
West
The world premiere production of Freak The Mighty, a new musical adapted from the popular Rodman Philbrick YA novel, first bowed at Cleveland Play House in June, but we missed it in that month’s column, so we’re giving it a nod for its current run at its co-producing theatre, Seattle Rep, where it runs through Sept. 6. Book & lyrics are by Anthony Drewe, music by Ryan Fielding Garrett, and direction by Michael Barakiva.
Traditional Japanese ghost stories promise a summertime chill in Kaidan, a presentation of Za Trans-Pacific Productions, directed by Mimi Katano, at various Seattle locations, Aug. 1-29.
504: The Musical revisits a landmark 1977 protest in which disabled activists occupied a San Francisco building for nearly a month, leading to enforcement of major disability-rights legislation. With book & lyrics by Abbie Goldberg, music by Mason McDowell, and direction by Ben Ranaan, it runs at Denver’s Phamaly Theatre Company, Aug. 6-23.
Sean T.C. O’Malley’s The Queen’s Will tells the true story of the trumped-up 1918 forgery trial of Princess Theresa Owana Kaʻōhelelani Laʻanui Wilcox Belliveau, which had grave consequences for the territory of Hawai‘i. It runs at Kumu Kahua Theatre in Honolulu, Aug. 20-Sept. 20.
In Blood/Sucker, running at Seattle’s Washington Ensemble Theatre Aug. 28-Sept. 21, playwright Anamaria Guerzon tells a vampire-adjacent contemporary high school drama through the filter of Filipino mythology. Direction is by Sophia Franzella.
Midwest
Explorasaurus: A Dinosaur Adventure is a new Theatre for the Very Young offering (i.e., ages 0-5) at Stages Theatre Company in Hopkins, Minnesota. Written by Jim Hibbeler, with music by Matt Ouren and direction by Melanie Salmon-Peterson, it runs Aug. 5-23.
Neo-Futurists artistic director Ryn Hardiman has created an experimental theatre piece based on their own experience with gender-affirming surgery, and it’s called The Complex Whole So Formed. With direction by Anna Gelman, it runs at the company’s theatre in Chicago, Aug. 6-29.
In Windows by Matt Schutz, a would-be pro soccer player sits on the couch and makes up stories about her neighbors. A production of Chicago’s LGBTQ+ theatre, PrideArts, it runs Aug. 8-23 at Hoover-Leppen Theatre, with direction by Taylor Pasche.
