Studio Theatre is pleased to announce the plays for the inaugural New Pages, New Stages festival. The plays represent an exciting variety of drama, comedy, thriller, and more, and come from a diverse array of professional playwrights.
Inspired by the now-defunct Page to Stage program at the Kennedy Center, Studio Theatre leadership conceived the festival to help support the development of new theatrical work in the DC region. Page to Stage was only one of many national incubators of new work that did not return after the pandemic, leaving a vacuum of support for new artists in DC’s otherwise robust arts community. In order to begin rebuilding that support, Studio invited four other DC theaters — Arena Stage, Theater Alliance, Theater J, and Solas Nua — to collaborate on this new event. Each of the five participating DC theaters chose one or two works-in-progress to present at the festival, which will feature professional readings of each new play.
“Washington, DC is one of the country’s powerhouse theater cities,” noted Studio Artistic Director David Muse. “Part of my impulse in developing New Pages, New Stages was to showcase the range and depth of new writing on DC-area stages. By producing readings from four other theaters, large and small, I also hope to capture something of the excitement of the Kennedy Center’s former Page to Stage Festival. These six plays — with writers from DC, Dublin, and around the US — are a testament to the varied and vibrant new work on offer in the District.”
Studio and all of the participating theaters also welcome an opportunity to introduce audiences to these rising playwrights and vibrant new works.
The festival will take place January 23-25, 2026 at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St NW, Washington, DC, with readings at 5pm and 8pm each day, and include other activities and celebrations of new art and artists. Tickets will go on sale to the public on January 9 at studiotheatre.org.
The plays and playwrights selected by each theater are:
Studio Theatre
Dead Girl’s Quinceañera, by Phanésia Pharel: Maria’s three best friends race against time to discover WHY she went missing at her Quinceañera, WHERE she is now, and WHAT they still don’t know about their best friend in this comic thriller about secrets, sisterhood, and solving crime.
the stranger, by Sam Walsh: Roy is OK alone. Has been for a long time. His niece shows up, time starts to stutter, and Roy ends up face-to-face with the ghosts that stand between his past and his present.
Theater J
Do You Think I’m Annoying? by Jesse Jae Hoon: Do You Think I’m Annoying? is a coming-of-age cyclone following two international adoptees as they navigate birth family search, their tumultuous friendship, and the paralyzing fear of being alone.
Theater Alliance
Familial Comforts, by Seshat Yon’shea Walker: Sisters Sissi and Tasha prep for the family’s Labor Day picnic, the first after Grandmother G’s passing. In the shadow of everything G meant to each of them, the sisters navigate their expectations of each other and their future.
Solas Nua
If We Got Some More Cocaine I Could Show You How I Love You, by John O’Donovan: A comic and compelling romantic drama that cocks an eye at a changing Ireland and asks why progress hasn’t rescued everyone yet.
Arena Stage
Aya, by Fernanda Coppel: Luis Diaz is in the midst of a divorce and a deep dark depression. Instead of doing the hard work to heal, he travels to Peru for a weeklong ayahuasca workshop with Gloria, a no-holds-barred mystic, when an unexpected visitor arrives.
About Studio Theatre
Studio Theatre is a national leader in the production of contemporary plays. Over 46 years and more than 425 productions, Studio has grown from a company that produced in a single rented theater to one that owns a multi-venue complex stretching half a city block, but has remained committed to core distinguishing characteristics: deliberately intimate spaces; excellence in acting and design; and seasons that feature many of the most significant playwrights of our time. Studio’s seasons are intentionally diverse and eclectic, featuring buzzworthy plays from today’s hot writers, groundbreaking world premieres, and reinvigorated contemporary classics, produced and performed by leading local, national, and international artists. Studio also incubates and develops new work, nurtures the next generation of arts leaders, and proactively engages with its community through a wide array of initiatives. Studio is committed to inclusion and access, and makes a concentrated effort to proactively dismantle barriers that have excluded people from joyful participation in our art form. Studio’s location, rich history, unique venues, and commitment to artistry have made it a regional landmark, where audiences find the best that contemporary theater has to offer.
SEE ALSO:
DC theaters to collaborate on festival of new work at Studio Theatre (news story, October 7, 2025)
