Most of us learned at an early age not to talk back. But at Durango PlayFest, that’s exactly what we want our audiences to do.
The post-reading conversations at a play development festival – commonly known as talkbacks – are one of the most vital parts of bringing a new play to life.
For playwrights, talkbacks offer something no rehearsal room can fully replicate: the unfiltered response of an audience. In these Q&A sessions, playwrights begin to understand not just what they wrote, but what the audience actually received.
A line intended as comic relief may land with unexpected weight. A pivotal plot point may need clarity. A character the playwright considered secondary may emerge as a favorite. These insights are not criticisms so much as clues that help guide the next draft.
At the 2025 festival, husband-and-wife playwriting team William Missouri Downs and Lucy Wright would joke that Downs insisted their play was a comedy, while Wright claimed it was a drama. After the first reading of “Becky and Her Lung Transplant,” Downs leaned over to an audience member and said, “Yeah, it’s a drama.”
Pulitzer-nominated playwright Kathleen Cahill debuted her play, “Mrs. Einstein,” at the 2024 festival. “It’s the surprise element which I love most. Sometimes, someone in the audience says something about the play that I would never have thought of or asks a question I never asked before.”
But the value of talkbacks doesn’t belong solely to the artists.
For audience members, these conversations transform the act of watching theater into something far more participatory. Instead of sitting in the dark and then heading home, a sense of ownership emerges. Audience members recognize that their responses matter, that they are contributing in some small but meaningful way to the future of the piece.
More than 70% of attendees who answered our post-festival survey said they stayed for the talkbacks, some noting that they are the best part of the experience for them. One attendee said, “The talkback always makes the play even more meaningful, and I’m amazed at the audience’s insights.” Another said, ‘Hearing from a playwright adds a richness to the experience.“
Of course, not all talkbacks are created equal. The most effective ones are guided with care, focusing less on critique and more on curiosity. PlayFest made the decision in 2025 to have a skilled moderator lead the talkbacks for all the plays. The moderator met with the playwrights in advance of the readings to determine if there was specific input they were hoping to receive. This brought consistency and professionalism to the process that benefited the playwrights equally.
“Durango audiences, whether longtime supporters or newcomers, have become more comfortable over the past seven festivals with how to frame their feedback, so they’re supporting the playwright in moving forward in their writing process rather than trying to ‘fix’ the play,” said PlayFest Artistic Director Felicia Lansbury Meyer. “For example, saying you’d like the playwright to eliminate a character isn’t very helpful, but describing how that character made you feel is.”
Be part of the process this June. Tickets for the 2026 Durango PlayFest can be purchased at durangoconcerts.com. All play readings will be held at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College.
Mandy Mikulencak is managing director of Durango PlayFest and an author of historical fiction. She’s worked in the nonprofit sector for 35 years.
