(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- Jersey City Theater Center and The New Jersey Play Lab present the inaugural Garden State New Play Festival from May 1-4 and May 8-11, 2025 at White Eagle Hall and Five Corners Library Theatre. This groundbreaking festival offers a reimagined model for new play development—one rooted in community, advocacy, and artistic equity.
Featuring the work of 14 playwrights, including local community organizers, international artists, and student voices, we invite audiences into the process of creating theatre that addresses the pressing issues of our time—through the lens of social justice.
Passes for the festival and individual performances are available for purchase online.
Thursday, May 1st @ 7:30pm - Reading of The Moss Maidens by S. Dylan Zwickel at Five Corners Library Theatre (678 Newark Avenue) in Jersey City. Dramaturgy by Emily Dzioba-Wasserman; Directed by Hamutal Posklinsky-Shehory. The year is 1941. Five teenage Dutch girls spend their days gossiping about their classmates, dreaming about their futures, and trying not to catch the eye of any of the Nazis that have taken up residence in their town. But when Rini, the romantic of the group, takes a walk in the woods with a Nazi, the unexpected occurs, and a new branch of the Resistance is born. Inspired by true events, The Moss Maidens is the story of a group of teenage girls desperately trying to be ordinary, but finding they need to be extraordinary.
Dylan Zwickel is an NYC-based writer and director. Her plays and musicals have been Finalists or Semifinalists for the Orchard Project, the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival (x2), the Jane Chambers Prize, the Princess Grace Award, the Maxim Mazumdar New Play Award, the Blue Ink Award, The Terrence McNally New Play Incubator, the Parity Development Award (x2), and the O’Neill’s National Playwrights Conference (x3) and National Music Theatre Conference. She is best known for her boutique interactive event company, Ghost Ship Murder Mysteries, and her play The Moss Maidens, which won Best Play and Best Ensemble at the 2023 SheNYC Summer Theater Festival and is now being developed into a feature film. She was a member of the 2017 Lincoln Center Directors Lab and the 2022 TedxBroadway Young Professionals Cohort. BA: Wesleyan University; MFA: Tisch School of the Arts at NYU (Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program).
Friday, May 2nd @ 8:00pm - A Reading of Aberdeen and Netarine by Syd Rushing at White Eagle Hall (337 Newark Avenue) in Jersey City. Dramaturgy and Direction by Marshall Jones III. Whether you like it or not, two devoted ladies of the church have a lot to say about their once thriving community that experienced better days when the city had a thriving black middle class during the era before the crack epidemic ravaged inner city America. So, they buckle up to challenge the status quo--and the schools, the church and the local drug dealers-- to save this generation of children. But in their efforts to create a solution, they are forced to face themselves and the limits of their life-long friendship.
Syd Rushing has penned various stage productions in Chicago, Texas and Los Angeles. He also wrote and performed his one man show Brother’s Tellin’ in Los Angeles earning an NAACP Best Play nomination. Syd was then selected for the Mark Taper Playwright’s Program. He went on to a string of produced plays including Akashic Permutations, Zu’s Earth, Unsung Heroes and more. Rushing was honored to be a recipient of the Lorraine Hansberry Distinguished Achievement Award, The 21st Century Voices winner at the American Stage Theatre Company, The Inaugural August Wilson Fellow, a selected playwright for the American Theatre Group BIPOC PlayLab and a top ten finalist in the national Screen Craft TV Pilot Competition 2023. He is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York, a B.F.A. in acting from the University of Mississippi and a M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from Texas State University.
MARSHALL JONES III is a professional theater producer/director/educator/artist/activist. Since 2002, he was a professor of Theater and Head of BA Theater at Rutgers but was recently promoted to Associate Dean for Equity. He was the founder & director of the Rutgers Summer Acting Conservatory for High School Students (2003-2023) where over 750 eager students resided on campus for the month of July learning about the craft of acting. Starting in 2007 and for the next 13 seasons, he was the Producing Artistic Director for the Tony® Award-winning Crossroads Theatre Company where he produced and directed several successful shows. For 8 years (2010-2018) he was a Board Member of the Theater Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for non-profit theaters, and now Marshall proudly serves as the president of the NJ Theatre Alliance. Marshall was a 2020 Inductee in the Rutgers African-American Hall of Fame.
Saturday, May 3rd @ 3:00pm - A Reading of Solomon (and Me) by Gabriel Diego Hernández at White Eagle Hall. Dramaturgy by Molly Marinik; Directed by Kevin R. Free. Four smack-talking high school juniors and their beleaguered teacher make their way through summer school, one long day at a time, testing each other's limits to the point of no return. But bubbling tensions in this PWI eventually boil over into an incident that changes everyone's lives in an instant.
Gabriel Diego Hernandez is an actor, rapper, playwright, and educator who originally hails from Hoboken, NJ. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies and a master’s in Education, both from Yale University, he taught social studies in the New Haven public school system before returning home to direct plays in middle schools and summer camps. As an actor, he is a proud ensemble member of Pregones Theater in the Bronx. Recent credits include El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom (Two River Theater), CasablancaBox (HERE Arts), and La Canción (Repertorio Español). His hip-hop musical Quarter Rican had its world premiere in 2023 at Mile Square Theatre before transferring to the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, getting published, and touring nationally. He currently serves as the director of education at Mile Square Theatre and lives in Jersey City Heights with his wife and writing partner Rachel and their two children.
Saturday, May 3rd @ 8:00pm - A Reading of The Wonderful Out There by Dave Osmundsen at White Eagle Hall. Dramaturgy by Pandora Scooter; Directed by Allen MacLeod. In a mysterious and magical group home, four neurodivergent children play, draw, and occasionally bicker under the watchful eye of their caretaker. But when they uncover the devastating truth of their existence, they are forced to make a harrowing decision. Heartbreaking and hopeful, The Wonderful Out There is a moving plea for a brighter, more loving future.
Dave Osmundsen is an Autistic playwright and dramaturg whose work explores the constellation of experiences of Autistic Americans, the right to authentic Autistic expression, and the consequences of suppressing Autistic brilliance. His plays have been seen and developed at KCACTF Region 8, the Kennedy Center/NNPN MFA Playwrights Workshop, the Great Plains Theatre Conference, Purple Crayon Players, B Street Theatre, the William Inge Theatre Festival, the Midwest Dramatists Conference, Phoenix Theatre Company, Clamour Theatre Company, Premiere Stages, the Valdez Theatre Conference, and more. He was a recipient of the Blank Theatre and Ucross Foundation’s inaugural Future of Playwriting Prize, as well as a three-time O’Neill semi-finalist, an honorable mention BAPF finalist (Light Switch), and 2021 Distinguished Achievement recipient of the Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award. His plays have been published by The Dionysian, Canyon Voices, Exposition Review, Fresh Words: Contemporary One Act Plays Volume 5, and Broadway Play Publishing. MFA: Arizona State University
Pandora Scooter (dramaturg, The Wonderful Out There) is a playwright, new play development advocate, dramaturg, actor and script analysis teacher. Throughout her career, she has worked for the literary departments of Arena Stage, Goodman Theatre, Delaware Theatre Company, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey and others. She is the founder of three new play development groups, including Cradle, which trains young script analysts and actors. As a playwright, she has been awarded the “Outstanding Musical” award from the Fresh Fruit Festival in NYC. As a performer, she has toured solo shows throughout the nation, mostly performing for queer youth in pride centers, community centers and churches. She is honored to be part of the Garden State New Play Festival and thanks Cheryl for the opportunity and Dave for his cooperation and trust and great sense of humor. Love to ZZ and Chinaski.
Thursday, May 8th @ 7:30pm - A Reading of Joy Comes in the Morning* by Marcus Scott at Five Corners Library Theatre. Dramaturgy by Elena Araoz; Directed by Dev Bondarin. In a city that knows how to wrestle with adversity, Joy, a fearless Black teen, and Marisol, a spirited Latina with dreams of the lucha libre spotlight, dare to challenge the odds. As they battle their way into a relaunched wrestling promotion’s spotlight, they must also grapple with toxic family dynamics, sexist gatekeepers, and bitter rivalries. This raw, unflinching, operatic coming-of-age sports dramedy dives into the electrifying world of wrestling while confronting stereotypes, misogynoir, and the mythos of strong women of color. Will these two young women fight their way to glory, or will the weight of the world pin them down for good?
* Only Act One will be read. They look forward to having you at this developmental reading!
Marcus Scott is a dramatist and journalist. His full-length plays include Tumbleweed (finalist: 2017 BAPF, 2017 Festival of New American Plays; semifinalist: 2022 O’Neill NPC, 2022 Blue Ink Award, 2017 Princess Grace Award), Sibling Rivalries (finalist: 2023 NAPseries, 2021 Seven Devils, 2021 Judith Royer Award; semifinalist: 2022 Lanford Wilson Festival, 2021 Blue Ink Award, 2021 Princess Grace Award), and There Goes the Neighborhood (finalist: 2023 Princess Grace, 2023 Blue Ink Award; semifinalist: 2024 BAPF, 2024 Fault Line Theater, 2024 O’Neill NPC). His work Vinyl Vanguard was developed in Step1 R&D, and Cherry Bomb earned a 2017 Drama League Residency. Heartbeat Opera commissioned him to co-write Fidelio (NYTimes Critics’ Pick). A 2024 Chelsey/Bumbalo Award recipient, his journalism appears in Architectural Digest, Playbill, Elle, Out, and more. Scott holds a BFA from SUNY Buffalo and an MFA from NYU Tisch.
Elena Araoz directs theater, opera, multi-media performance, and large-scale immersive events. Elena is attracted to epic stories, and her productions are critically acclaimed for dance- like theatrics and acutely naturalistic acting. Her productions have been seen at BAM, New York City Opera, Vancouver Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Prague Shakespeare, New York Theatre Workshop Next Door, Bucharest International, Cherry Lane Theatre, Noble Theater Bridge (Beijing), Florida Grand Opera, Recent productions include the first of its kind 3D immersive audio-only opera No One Is Forgotten (Dallas Opera), Espejos: Clean (Studio Theatre), Anna in the Tropics (Barrington Stage), six consecutive national tours of Sugar Skull, the multimedia The Manic Monologues (McCarter Theatre, Drama League Award nom.), and Senator Bill Bradley’s documentary Rolling Along – on which Elena served as Dramaturg and Artistic Consultant (HBO/MAX), Elena is faculty at Princeton University and a founding member of Obie-winning The Sol Project.
JCFPL Patrons may use the code LIBRARY for free tickets! Must show card at the door.
Friday, May 9th @ 8:00pm - A Reading of Daddy, An Un-Chinese Kid* by Yangzhou (Yao) Bian at White Eagle Hall. Dramaturgy by Nabra Nelson; Directed by Sandrine Dupiton. Welcome to a story of placard Animalia where identities hang on a family clothesline. Min, an anti-relational “psyche psychotic”, is pressured by her family to withdraw from school to be a traditional Chinese wife and baby mom. As the apprentice thespian comes up with a plethora of schemes to counter the twister of matchmaking of the most outrageous candidates, in the outburst of COVID, the family suffers the loss of Grandmama and the detention of her Brechtian-Shakespearen parents. As everyone comes to a deepened understanding of themselves and their loved ones, Min re-encounters her childhood trauma and her savior, and the opposing sides turn into “accomplices” in Min’s “green card marriage.”
* Only Act One will be read
Yangzhou (Yao) Bian is a theatre practitioner from Sichuan, China. She is a Ph.D. student in Translation Studies at Binghamton University, with a research focus on theatre translation and adaptation. She received her M.A. and B.A. in Theatre Studies at SUNY Binghamton in theory, criticism, and dance. Yangzhou was the recipient of the Marilyn Gaddis Ross Excellence Award and Ben Van Wyke Award for her translation and Research. As a multidisciplinary artist, she has produced, translated, designed, choreographed, performed, and stage managed in various productions and events such as the multilingual showcase Polychromatic Voices: Translation in Performance, the famed Sri Lankan musical Bera Handa, and West-South African stage play Karoo Moose. She is also the author of the fusion Asian cookbook series Rainbow Dumplings and the editor of the poetry collection Yorick.
Nabra Nelson is a dramaturg and playwright from Egypt, Nubia, and California, based in Los Angeles. Dramaturgy credits include Renaissance Theaterworks’ Br!NK New Play Festival, UCSB’s Launch Pad, and The Who & The What by Ayad Akhtar at Milwaukee Rep. Her plays have been produced and developed in Seattle, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Minneapolis. She is a Dramatists Guild’s 2024-25 National Playwriting Fellow and a member of the Playwright Circle @ Speranza Theatre Company. As an independent scholar, she has been published by Routledge, Bloomsbury, Johns Hopkins University Press, the Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal, and The Gemsbok. She is a founding company member of Dunya Productions and Heard Space Arts Collective, leads the Nubian Foundation for Preserving a Cultural Heritage, and is the co-host of the Kunafa & Shay Theater Podcast.
Saturday, May 10th @ 3:00pm - A Developmental Reading of Fallen From GRACE by Elijah N. Maldonado, Montclair State University Student, at Five Corners Library Theatre. Dramaturgy by Emma O'Mara; Directed by Omar Perez. When a newly promoted employee at GRAC finally gets his chance to prove himself, a fated reunion of a complicated past friendship threatens his new opportunity and his moral outlook on faith and life. There will be a short discussion following the reading.
Elijah N. Maldonado is an aspiring playwright. He is currently a BA Theatre Studies Major at Montclair State University and has worked closely with the BA run company on campus, The Theatre Collective. Through The Theatre Collective, he has even had the privilege to have his work featured during a staged New Play Readings event. Through school and the mentorship of his professors, he hopes to gain more knowledge and to find his voice regarding playwriting. He is so excited to work with Garden State New Play Festival as a student playwright this year.
JCFPL Patrons may use the code LIBRARY for free tickets! Must show card at the door.
Saturday, May 10th @ 8:00pm - A Reading of Oh, Muffy! by Vincent Ireri Langan at Five Corners Library Theatre. Dramaturgy by Georgette Hamlett Sacks; Directed by Cheryl Katz. Muffy Biddle has it all: an apartment with a view of Central Park, a live-in nanny/maid/executive assistant, and she chairs a group of concerned parents at a prestigious Upper East Side prep school. But when Muffy and her fellow concerned parents discover that their children are involved in a diversity scandal, Muffy must make D.E.I. her new crusade to save their reputations.
Vincent Ireri Langan is a Kenyan and Irish-American playwright, director, and lyricist from Union, New Jersey. A recent graduate of Wesleyan University where he was awarded the J. Peter Adler ’80 Memorial Fund award for student directors, Vincent has written jokes that have appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and “Good Morning America” and has collaborated on projects with HBO, Elara Pictures, and W-ABC7. His comedy Oh, Muffy! headlined the inaugural Wesleyan University Spring Festival for New Theater Works in 2024.
Georgette Hamlett Sacks is a dramaturg based in Greensboro, NC. She is an Associate Dramaturg with the New Jersey Play Lab. As a queer woman from Appalachia, Georgette is passionate about the push for greater arts accessibility in the South, and countering negative, non-diverse portrayals of the region. She has presented her research at the Mid-Atlantic Theatre Festival, National Women’s Theatre Festival, and the International Thornton Wilder Conference; and has published papers in the Thornton Wilder Journal and Etudes Online. Georgette received her Master’s degree in Theatre Studies from Montclair State University. Georgette also holds a Bachelor’s of English from Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC. Her research interests include theatrical narrators, audience interaction, metatheatricality, and horror theatre.
JCFPL Patrons may use the code LIBRARY for free tickets! Must show card at the door.
Sunday, May 11th @ 3:00pm - Readings of New Plays by Boris Franklin, Tiffany E. McQueary, and Cynthia Mellon at White Eagle Hall.
The Weight of Gold in a Hungry Land by Boris Franklin; Dramaturgs: Madison Allen & Kaitlyn Valentin; Director: Jessica Brater. The gold chain, the car with rims, the loud sound system—all markers of success---a way to demand acknowledgment in a world that often denies it. But this form of self-aggrandizement comes at a cost, sometimes that cost is financial, but sometimes it demands more. Where I come from it’s just the cost of doing business… or The Weight of Gold in a Hungry Land.
Boris Franklin is a formerly incarcerated individual who served 11 years in prison and is now a Lead Community Organizer with New Jersey Together. Boris graduated from Rutgers University in New Brunswick with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Psychology. Boris was an Instructor for Rutgers University’s TEEM gateway, a work ready program for at-risk youth. He sits on the “New Jersey Prison Reentry Program” board and is appointed to the Corrections Ombudsperson advisory board. He is also a visiting fellow at the Global Center for Advanced Studies in Brooklyn and an advocate for prison reform and social justice. He is the author of The Poetic Side of a Man’s Mind, published in 2007, as well as an author and actor in the play “Caged” recently produced and performed at the Passage Theatre in Trenton, NJ.
Let it Be Ours by Tiffany E. McQueary; Dramaturg: Ronni Hom; Director: Jessica Brater. In a neighborhood where memories linger and change is inevitable, one family is determined to hold onto the past, even as the future knocks at their door. Let it Be Ours explores the power of community, the value of heritage, and the struggle against gentrification. In a world where history is erased for the sake of progress, this family must decide whether to join the wave of change or stand firm against it.
Tiffany E. McQueary was raised in Jersey City, NJ, attended local schools, and graduated with honors from New Jersey City University in 2008. She began her career as a Program Coordinator at Suits for Success, helping clients toward self-sufficiency. She later earned a master's degree in public administration and held roles at Marist High School, Benedictine Sisters of Elizabeth, and the Jersey City Free Public Library. Since 2011, Tiffany has been a leader in the I Love Greenville Community Partnership, working to secure millions in funding for local projects addressing housing, employment, education, and economic development. She carries a passion for the arts and helping others and loves when these two things overlap.
Flow(ish) by Cynthia Mellon; Dramaturg: Jamie Tesar; Director: Jessica Brater. Flow(ish) looks back at New Jersey’s history as it unfolds in and around the Passaic River. Flow(ish) follows the river’s fate as it shifts through time from industrial powerhouse to broken, abandoned, and polluted. Humans come and go, but the Passaic flows on.
Cynthia Mellon has spent over a decade working for environmental justice in her community in Newark, New Jersey. She was formerly Environmental Justice Organizer at the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC) – an organization with a long history of supporting the people of Newark’s East Ward, which is one of the most environmentally polluted zip codes in the U.S. She previously served as Co-Chair of the City of Newark Environmental Commission, where she helped shepherd in Newark’s ground-breaking Environmental Justice Ordinance. She currently serves as consultant on climate geoengineering to the national Climate Justice Alliance, which links over 90 environmentally overburdened communities. An experienced writer and editor in English and Spanish, Cynthia is interested in developing her storytelling skills in ways that will reach a wider audience. Cynthia is a member of the Jersey City-based music group, Segunda Quimbamba, which performs and teaches traditional Puerto Rican percussion-based music throughout the tri-state area.
Sunday, May 11th @ 7:00pm - A Reading of Best Foreign by Francisco Mendoza at White Eagle Hall. Dramaturgy by Dezi Tibbs; Directed by Danilo Gambini. Argentinian filmmaker Fernando Calderón becomes Hollywood's latest darling after the release of his film Tooth For Tooth, set during the so-called "Dirty War," a dark period of Argentina's history marked by guerrilla warfare and state repression. When the movie gets Oscar nominations for both Best International Feature and Best Picture, Fernando embarks on the campaign trail... without realizing it's littered with bodies that won't stay buried for long.
Francisco Mendoza is an Argentinian writer currently living in Brooklyn, NY after spending several years in Brazil. His writing spans theater, prose, audio, and the screen, and he also works as a freelance journalist, teacher, and marketing consultant. He’s an advocate for immigrants in the entertainment industry.
Dezi Tibbs is an artist obsessed with exploring how we fabulate and perform our identities. They believe that there are unspoken rules that govern our social interactions that are indicative of larger truths present in our society. Working primarily as a dramaturg, she loves to look at the world of the play through a microscope, excavating its layers to identify the rules of the society and how each character functions within it in service of the narrative. Stylistically, they’re interested in pushing the bounds of what a play looks like—always trying to find the most effective communication with the audience. They employ cartoonish whimsy, dance, and music to create events that engage audiences logically, emotionally, and physically. Their work has brought them to New York Theatre Workshop, the Public Theater, Powerhouse Theater, Joe’s Pub, The Brick, The Tank, and many other spaces! They’ve also had the chance to collaborate with artists such as Sam Pinkleton (Oh, Mary) and Lileana Blain-Cruz (Dreaming Zenzile.)
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