Welcome to
PlayFest 2025
PlayFest 2025 will consist of five new play readings presented over two weekends, October 24-26 & November 1-2, 2025. During each reading, patrons will experience groundbreaking new works while participating in the creative process by sharing their reactions directly with the playwright and creative team at a post-show talkback.
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PRESENTED BY:
Frank Santos & Corbett Compel
Harold & Rosy Mills
Grant Gribble & John Bragg
Rita Lowndes
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2025 PlayFest Finalists:
DEAD GIRL’S QUINCEAÑERA By Phanésia Pharel
DUNK CITY by Stephen Brown
TUMBLEWEED by Marcus Scott
THE SANDWICH MINISTRY by Miranda Rose Hall
THE MALLARD by Vincent Delaney
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Sponsored by Frank Santos & Corbett Compel, Harold & Rosy Mills
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Dead Girl’s Quinceañera
By Phanésia Pharel
Performance: October 24, 2025
Time: 7pm
FACT: Maria was last seen at her Quinceañera. FACT: The party ended early due to an unknown emergency. FACT: Maria has not responded to any messages in 36 hours. Now, Maria’s three best friends must race against the clock to find out what, exactly, happened at her Quince—and bring her home alive—in this comic thriller about secrets, sisterhood, and solving crime
Dunk City
By Stephen Brown
Directed by Ameenah Kaplan (Member Society of Directors and Choreographers (SDC))
Performance: October 25, 2025
Time: 7pm
Davey is the only 18-year-old he knows with severe erectile dysfunction and he’s feeling really really insecure about it. Thank God his mother, sister, and grandma are all on the case to help him figure out this horrific affliction.
Sponsored by Frank Santos & Corbett Compel, Harold & Rosy Mills
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Sponsored by Frank Santos & Corbett Compel, Harold & Rosy Mills
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Tumbleweed
By Marcus Scott
Directed by Desiree Montes
Performance: October 26, 2025
Time: 5PM
Set over a single weekend in Morningside Heights, TUMBLEWEED is a sharp, heartfelt contemporary slice-of-life drama where a girl’s natural hair sparks a storm over beauty standards, race, and generational values, testing the bonds of an interracial family when her grandmother—once a Black Panther—comes to visit.
The Sandwich Ministry
By Miranda Rose Hall
Directed by Roberta Emerson (Member Society of Directors and Choreographers (SDC))
Performance: November 1, 2025
Time: 7pm
A small town. A once in a century storm. Three women gather to make sandwiches for neighbors who’ve been displaced from their homes by floods. As they contend with the damage of the storm, they learn what brings them together threatens to tear them apart. Is their friendship strong enough to make it through the night?
Sponsored by Frank Santos & Corbett Compel, Harold & Rosy Mills
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Sponsored by Frank Santos & Corbett Compel, Harold & Rosy Mills, Grant Gribble & John Bragg, Rita Lowndes
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The Mallard
By Vincent Delaney
Directed by Nick Bublitz
Performance: November 2, 2025
Time: 5pm
Teachers Freya and Gillian have offended their school board and lost their jobs, threatening their marriage–maybe not the best time to hold a yard sale…
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About PlayFest
Orlando Shakes PlayFest is a two week long annual festival that provides a place for writers, theater professionals, and audiences to connect and share ideas that promote thought-provoking stories. Audiences experience staged readings of six new works over two weekends and participate in the development of new plays, conversing with playwrights, directors, and actors while absorbing groundbreaking new works.
Over the years, the festival has introduced over 182 new works to regional and nationwide audiences, including LaDarrion William’s Boulevard of Bold Dreams, Rachel Lynett’s Apologies to Lorraine Hansberry (You Too, August Wilson), Eliana Pipe’s Bite Me, Idris Goodwin’s What’s Best For The Children, Inda Craig-Galvan’s Welcome To Matteson!, Greg Lam’s Repossessed, Vincent Terrell Durham’s Polar Bears, Black Boys, and Prairie-Fringed Orchids, Deborah Brevoort’s My Lord, What a Night, Karen Zacarias’ Native Gardens, and Lauren Gunderson’s Ada and the Engine. Out of those readings, we have produced over 20 new plays in our mainstage season. Many PlayFest plays have also received productions in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Dallas, and Washington, D.C. Most PlayFest alumni have since been published, received critical acclaim, and awards for their work.
Orlando Shakes is a core member of the National New Play Network, a nationwide organization devoted to developing new work through the New Play Exchange, rolling world premieres, the Producer-in-Residence Program, and annual conferences. Orlando Shakes prides itself on active participation within the national new play community while engaging its local audiences in the latest and greatest in playwriting.