AUSTIN, TEXAS: The Terrence McNally Foundation, in partnership with Texas Performing Arts, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and Rattlestick Theater, has announced the Terrence McNally Festival, a pop-up festival that will run Jan. 29-31, 2027, in Austin. The three-day festival will bring together distinguished theatre artists, emerging playwrights, and leading scholars for a weekend of performances, new play readings, and academic exploration.
Rooted in McNally’s lifelong commitment to nurturing new voices in the American theatre, the festival will honor his body of work while championing the next generation. According to the organizers, the festival marks a significant expansion of the Terrence McNally Foundation’s commitment to supporting playwrights and fostering meaningful artistic collaboration.
“At a time when so many of our beloved theatre festivals have ceased to be, we could not be more proud to partner to present a festival that celebrates Terrence McNally’s profound impact on the American theatre while championing the new voices shaping its future,” said Terrence McNally Foundation’s executive director Santino DeAngelo in a statement. “It feels especially meaningful to host this festival in Texas, where Terrence grew up and first discovered his love of theatre. We look forward to an extraordinary weekend of bold new plays, lively conversations, and unforgettable performances that celebrate Terrence’s remarkable legacy and the artists who continue to carry it forward.”
Under the leadership of artistic director Liz Frankel and artistic producer Kate Eminger, the festival will feature readings of five new plays. They include Girl Time by Eliza Frakes and directed by Sarah Hughes, which explores the surreality of class, femininity, and privilege; The Seahorse by Kate Fodor, directed by Rattlestick artistic director Will Davis, about a seahorse mascot for the Tidal Wave football team and a bookworm mascot for a library; a new adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels by Zack Fine and Bradley Michalakis; You Can Tell a Tree By Its Fruit by comfort ifeoma katchy, about a Black shoemaker in Reconstruction-era Texas who returns home after an unfair imprisonment determined to rebuild his business; and The Daisies by Tony Meneses and directed by Danny Sharro, about a beloved local radio station going out of business.
“The Terrence McNally Foundation has been a recent energizing force in new-play development, and I am honored to help them expand south,” said Frankel in a statement. “The five scripts we have selected are smart, brave, original, and theatrical, and I can’t wait to share them with an audience.”
David Kornhaber will lead an academic symposium on Jan. 30, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., examining McNally’s contributions to American drama. Speakers will include Brian Herrera (Princeton University), Charlotte M. Canning (University of Texas at Austin), Jordan Schildcrout (SUNY Purchase), Lawrence Switzky (University of Toronto), Bess Rowen (Villanova University), and Benjamin Gillespie (Santa Clara University). The symposium will be at the Harry Ransom Center, home to the Terrence McNally Papers, an extensive collection documenting the playwright’s life and career, and attendees can get an inside look at his manuscripts, correspondence, and other material with Eric Colleary, the center’s theatre and performing arts curator.
Austin’s Rude Mechs will also be presenting a special production of McNally’s groundbreaking 1998 play Corpus Christi on Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. It reimagines the story of the New Testament through Joshua, a Christ figure born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, in the early 1950s. Set apart from the other boys because he is gay, Joshua leaves Corpus Christi in search of acceptance and finds a group of disciples drawn to his message of love, tolerance, and compassion.
Born in St. Petersburg, Florida, and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, McNally maintained a lifelong connection to Texas. According to Rattlestick Theater associate artistic director, and this festival’s artistic producer, Kate Eminger, Rattlestick’s artistic leadership has strong ties to UT Austin and St. Edward’s University.
“Rattlestick is thrilled to deepen its partnership with the Terrence McNally Foundation and champion new play development across the country,” Eminger said in a statement. “The city’s rich and expansive theatre landscape serves as a source of inspiration as Rattlestick prepares to reopen its newly renovated, flexible theater space, reaffirming its identity as a bespoke development theatre dedicated to well-resourced productions with long process-driven timelines.”
