Ask Felicia Lansbury Meyer or Mandy Mikulencak what PlayFest is all about, and one word continuously pops up: process.
The essence of Durango’s unusual workshop-to-public performance is the creative process. In the theater world, that means collaboration.
Since 2018, Artistic Director Meyer has headed up a weeklong summer development project here in Durango. The pandemic may have interrupted its early success, but this unique festival of new American plays has continued to welcome emerging and seasoned theater professionals as well as fans. PlayFest is the only nonprofit organization in the Four Corners dedicated to promoting the craft of playwriting.
If you go
WHAT: Durango PlayFest, seventh annual festival of new American plays with readings, parties, a playwright panel.
WHEN: June 24 to June 29.
WHERE: Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave.; Rochester Hotel, 726 East Second Ave.; Blue Rain Gallery, 934 Main Ave., Unit B.
TICKETS: All-Access Pass $225. Single tickets: $30 evenings, $25 matinees. Special pricing for students and Fort Lewis College alumni. 5:30 p.m. June 25 Playwright Panel free.
MORE INFORMATION: Call (970) 335-8264 or visit www.durangoplayfest.org.
In its ever-changing lifespan, PlayFest has migrated from place to place, from the Strater Hotel to the Durango Arts Center, from festival tents outside the Smiley building to the grounds of Fort Lewis College. In 2025, things seem to have settled down; all the stage readings will take place at the DAC. Other events will take place elsewhere. The opening party begins at 6 p.m. June 24 in the Rochester Hotel Garden. The entire company will be present – playwrights, directors and actors, plus the PlayFest board and staff members, patrons and friends. It’s a high-ticket event ($120) and clearly a fundraiser.
At 5:30 p.m. the next day, June 25, the Playwright’s Panel at the Blue Rain Gallery, 934 Main Ave., is free. Dustin Nolen of 92.9 FM will moderate, and the playwrights will make preliminary statements before taking audience questions.
The 2025 roster of new plays includes: “Becky and Her Lung Transplant,” by Denver husband and wife team Lucy Wright and William M. Downs; “Drowning,” by Bill Capposere; “D.Q.M. or Drag Queen Magic,” by Ian August; and “There are Monsters,” by Andrea Apteker.
“We have such an interesting mix of plays,” Mikulencak said. “It’s blind faith at this point that all these creative people will make these stories come alive. It’s an exciting part of the process.”
Audience talkback sessions are an important part of the PlayFest process. The cast, director and a moderator sit on stage and field questions from the audience.
“We believe the mix of genres and topics selected this season will ignite thoughtful discussion between these talented playwrights and audience members,” Meyer said. “Providing playwrights the opportunity to develop new work in a creative, collaborative environment is essential to the future of theater.”
Over the last six years, PlayFest has polished its operations, and audiences have risen above polite appreciation. In the festival’s early years, gushy approval dominated the talkbacks. Few serious questions, confusion or doubts surfaced. Moderators often seemed unprepared or asked puffball questions.
PlayFest’s early feedback sheets seemed equally tame: “What did you like?” “Who was your favorite character?” or “Which play did you like best?” If one of the goals is community engagement, PlayFest has struggled to make it happen in a meaningful way.
Last year, one talkback seemed to mark a shift. After a reading of James Tyler’s “Hop Tha A,” a play about young New Yorkers in search of meaning and connection, one audience member urgently asked the playwright why he killed off the main character early, leaving the audience stunned and bereft.
Moderator Richard Dresser acknowledged the man and the charged emotional content of his question. Dresser skillfully brought in the playwright who explained his choices. Startled actors responded to the challenge of playing a hopeful arc that leads to tragic circumstances. Emboldened audience members chimed in, sharing stories of personal loss and how the play triggered memories or reframed sadness. Dresser wisely guided the discussion toward the cathartic value of tragedy.
That’s communal engagement.
“One way to bridge cultural polarization is to have a shared experience in a theater about difficult issues,” former PlayFest board chair Debbie Pfeifer said last year.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
