SCNPF 2026 season announcement + a scary-new-happy-challenge for me!!
you guys knooooooow i LOVE the theatre. and i love blogging about it. and talking about it. and going to ALL the shows and learning ALL the things. and well… i love it so much, i’ve started not just LEarNing About it, but Attempting it!! whaaat???
read on.
so! i’m a super*fan of the south carolina new play festival [scnpf] that happens every year here in greenville, sc. it’s mission is theatre for all. and the development of brand new theatre. as in, it’s “music-stand readings” of brand NEW, as-of-yet un-produced plays. so there’s no costumes or sets: just the actors and the scripts. (it’s kind of like LIVE radio theatre from way-back-when, and me with the imagination LOVES filling in alllll the production details.) ;)
and… tickets to all the readings are FREE!!! (in addition to live theatre, you KNOW i love Accessible theatre!! and as of last year’s festival, the scnpf has given out more than 10,000 FREE theatre tickets to attendees so far!! obsessed!!)
anyway:
last night at sum bar, i attended the season announcement for the 2026 scnpf festival.
(yes, i had pre*visualized myself mingling and introducing myself to people like it was nbd, but i ended up in the back just taking notes because sometimes habits stick hard.) :)
and here are the shows coming for the festival, july 29-august 9, 2026:
fission
a new play by cindy lou johnson
(women scientists in nazi germany, i think? at the greenville theatre, august 7 at 7pm)
night game
by octavio solis
(something about baseball? at warehouse theatre august 8 at 10am and 2pm)
the communist revolution: a ninth-grade european history porject (there will be a practical demonstration)
a new play by grace mcLeod
(a fight between a daughter and her capitolism-first-and-always dad; i’m in! ha! at the greenville theatre, august 8 at 7pm)
and a TBA children’s production (!)
aaaaand, for the first-time ever, there shall be a fully-staged world premiere of an original SCNPF commissioned musical:
THE HOUSE I LIVE IN: JOSH WHITE’S AMERICA
book by donnetta lavinia grays, music and lyrics by josh white
which will be a paid ticketed event (although local organizations will be donating tickets to underserved attendees across the community) AND it’ll be held in the CRISTAL PALACE SPEIGELTENT (a 1940’s historical tent that’ll take FIVE DAYS to install and is sooooo cool!!!)
two local greenville vocalists sang songs from the new musical at last night’s event. the show is inspired by the life and career of local folk and blues musician josh white, the first black artist to sell over a million records and was a pioneer in the civil rights movement.
scnpf also has a broadway cabaret, hosts south carolina’s next broadway star (which gives out nearly $10k in scholarships for high school kids to continue their theatrical education and training; applications open until may 1!!), and street performances by world-renowned circus performers.
i’ve attended all but one SCNPF since its inception, and you can see a large number of those blog posts across my blog as well.
the list of past years’ scnpf productions that are now on tour or have been off-broadway or have productions at major theatres or original cast recordings available or at the NYPL performing arts library is intense! :D yay new art!!
and WHY is this year particularly extra-special for me?
well, because i’ve been preparing for something.
nothing’s real. nothing’s happening. except that i AM trying a new-to-me scary-exciting thing: acting.
i walked away from the new play festival last year thinking: GOLLY, i wanna be the person who reads the stage directions at these readings!
(you know, the person who sits off to the side and reads lines from the script like “jennifer takes the pot of coffee and throws it against the wall. michael ducks just in time to avoid being hit. the neighbor pounds on the wall for them to quiet down.” or something to that effect.) ;)
i asked the executive director (because of course i did) how to become a reader, and he said they audition with everybody else. which he told me is happening in may. got it. on the calendar.
well, again after last year’s festival i was talking with one of my best pals, who happens to be an actor and in my weekly writing group, and during our high school musical: the musical: the series marathon one afternoon, i mentioned how i wanted to take acting lessons. just to find out if i stink at it or not.
as a kind friend might, she said there’s no way i’d stink at it. but i’ve taken ice skating lessons. been on basketball teams. taken piano lessons. ballet lessons. etc etc etc… and, well, did NOT succeed in any of those endeavors. so acting…? i’d at least like to try a class or two.
well, LO and BEHOLD: my beloved south carolina children’s theatre has a twice-a-year outreach program: ADULT ACTING CLASSES!! taught by betsy bisson, who has 40+ years experience in teaching theatre and a friggin’ TONY AWARD for theatre education! whaaaat?!
thanks to small number of miracles, I GOT IN!
and i’ve been in a weekly acting class all year!
and because i was feeling BRAVE, i even went to the AUDITIONS MASTERCLASS at my beloved warehouse theatre. (yes, greenville has an inordinate amount of theatres; golly, i’m fortunate!!) we ACtuaLLY had to AUDiTIon and get feedback from a director and their artistic director! (so yay me for having a monologue already memorized and that i knew terms now like “slate” and “the moment before” and “point of focus” and other stuff real actors know.)
and THEN, because i’m JusT that girl right now: i even signed up for a AUDition Slot at the warehouse for their upcoming season! (they get about 500 tapes & auditions for 20-30 parts per season, so it’s a longshot even if i was any good: but you know: ExpERIENCe! get in the room where it happens!)
two days after THAT audition shall be our acting class showcase performance event for friends and family.
and after that? we keep refreshing our inboxes to look for SCNPF audition announcements!!
i am obsessed with this current read: AUDITION by michael shurtleff. and the more i learn about the craft of acting, the more SUPER-CloSEly linked do i see all the parallels to writing craft! uncanny.
so i hope you’re as excited for i am about ALL the THEATRE and StoryTELLINg and new learning experience things!!
you probably know that i’m writing and illustrating kids books. and because of my love of all things theatre, all three of my books currently out on submission with my literary agent have theatres in them OR revolve around the theatre.
so all performances. all auditions. all readings. all the learning is future fodder for future stories. mine & everyone else’s, of course.
so here’s, as ever, to REAL HUMANS making REAL art.
for making bold choices. for doing something new.
for fighting against the machines by being in community with other creatives making things.
a standing ovation for those making it possible, both on- and off-stage,
xo,
*hallie :)