(UNION, NJ) -- Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University, has announced the 2026 Premiere Play Festival Semi-Finalists. The Play Festival panel and literary staff reviewed 894 submissions, an increase of 89 submissions from the previous year, before choosing the 65 Semi-Finalists. An eclectic mix of plays, the Semi-Finalists explore a wide range of topics in a variety of genres.
“We were thrilled to read the work of close to 900 playwrights,” stated Nick Gandiello, Premiere’s Managing Director who supervised the submission process. “Every submission was treated with care, and it was both a challenge and an honor for our literary team and staff to select the 65 Semi-Finalists. These plays showcase the exciting, urgent, and entertaining voices of the American Theatre.”
From those 65 Semi-Finalists, four Finalists will be chosen later this month for staged readings. The readings will be held June 4 through June 7 at the Bauer Boucher Theatre Center (Vaughn-Eames Hall, 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, NJ). One Finalist will be awarded a full production in Premiere Stages’ 2027 season.
For the complete list of the 65 Semi-Finalists, click here.
Since its founding, the Premiere Play Festival has received over 9,500 submissions and developed more than 105 plays. Multiple plays produced at Premiere have been honored by the American Theatre Critics Association, selected for agency representation, and/or been published by Theatrical Rights Worldwide, Concord Theatricals, Dramatists Play Service, Dramatic Publishing, Playscripts, and Broadway Play Publishing. A number of Play Festival winners and finalists have subsequently been produced in New York, internationally and at regional theatres across the country.
Premiere Stages is committed to producing topical plays and interactive programs that reflect people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, national origins, nationalities, ancestry, religious groups, gender expression or identities, sexual orientation, political beliefs, ages, abilities and disabilities.
COMPLETE LIST OF SEMI-FINALISTS
On Blackwell’s Island by Monique Hafen Adams
Covenant Farm by Brigid Amos
Mama, I wish I were silver by Amanda L. Andrei
Children and Art by Ian August
Folktale by Molly Kate Babos
Leviathan by Benjamin Benne
Orphan Christmas by Kari Bentley-Quinn
Morphology by Jillian Blevins
Everything’s Going My Way by Sophie Boyce
INVISI(BILITY) by Nikki Brake-Sillá
Universal Monsters by Dan Caffrey
Next/Life by Matthew Capodicasa
TRAD by Sarah Cuneo
Episodes by Kallan Dana
Horse Boy by Maddie Dennis-Yates
Darwin and his Daughter by Gino DiIorio
Shahdokht by Ida Esmaeili
Pareidolia by Kareem Fahmy
That Time Terri and Lily took a Road Trip to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder House by Gina Femia
THE FALL by Susan Ferrara
A Port in the Storm by Gregory Fletcher
The Superconductor by August Hakvaag
Snowbirds by Lauren Holmes
for the fish by Surrey Houlker
A Re-Enactment of the Imagined Trial of Daisy the Cow, Who Allegedly Caused the Great Chicago Fire by Julia Izumi
Mud & Fire: The Pottery Play by Lindsay Joelle
Three-headed Monster by JuCoby Johnson
You Can Tell a Tree by its Fruit by comfort ifeoma katchy
we have to hold hands by Kait Kerrigan
I Wasn’t Planning on Saying Anything by Nina Kissinger
Beshert by Daniel Kushner
Three and a Half Anne Franks by Maya Macdonald
IN TWO by Chelsea Marcantel
You Should Know This By Now by Benjamin V. Marshall
Conventuais OR Ruminations on Faith and Pleasure in a Convent in the Middle of Nowhere @ the Center of an Empire by Christian Mendonça
Best Foreign by Francisco Mendoza
The Advocate by Bill Mesce, Jr.
Hometown Girl by Lara Miller
Sarai’s Knife by John Minigan
Foot Wears House by Laura Neill
Ferns by Ciara Ní Chuirc
Born All Wrong by Ayibatari Owei
Mortals by J.C. Pankratz
Brother Rabbit by Jonathan Payne
In Lieu of Flowers by Christie Perfetti Williams
A Valentine by Deepa Purohit
Citizen Scientist by CQ Quintana
A Visit from San Cristóbal by Gregory Ramos
Balikbayan by Christopher Reyes
Biting the Hand by Deneen Reynolds-Knott
PURSUED BY A BULL by Tyler Rivenbark
Next Year... by Andrew Rosendorf
Krav Maga in the Temple Basement Starting This Sunday, Bagels to Follow by Rebecca Salzhauer
White Mountain Video by Phaedra Michelle Scott
Rage Play by Nandita Shenoy
An Explanation for Birds by Parade Stone
Breaking Night by Stephanie (S.C.) Stowe
LAZARUS by Gregory Keng Strasser
Red Bell by Katherine Swan
hop thA A by James Anthony Tyler
The Elephants in the Room by Liba Vaynberg
Creek’s Edge by Patti Veconi
The Origin of All Songs by Bruce Walsh
Open Studio by Emmy Weissman
Foreigner by SEVAN
Premiere Stages is made possible in part through funding from W. John Bauer and Nancy Boucher, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Shubert Foundation, The 1772 Foundation, Carole Shaffer-Koros and Robert Koros, The Northfield Bank Foundation, Blue Foundry Charitable Foundation, Union County Savings Bank Charitable Foundation, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, The Union Foundation, E.J. Grassmann Trust, The New Jersey Theatre Alliance, The Union County HEART Grant and through the generous support of individual patrons and local organizations. Discover Jersey Arts is their marketing partner. Visit JerseyArts.com for more information about other arts programming happening around the Garden State.
Created in 2004, Premiere Stages is the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University. Through its unique partnership with Kean, Premiere’s play development programs, educational initiatives, and professional development opportunities actively embrace the university's academic curriculum while expanding the scope, accessibility, and prestige of the professional programming on campus.
Kean University, New Jersey’s urban research university, is a national institution of higher education recognized for its diversity, innovation and the social mobility of its graduates. Designated an R2 research university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, Kean ranks among the top eight percent of U.S. universities for research and doctorate production. Founded in 1855 as a teachers college, Kean has evolved into a thriving research university that supports students as they persist to graduation, give back to their communities and launch successful careers. Kean’s six colleges offer more than 50 undergraduate programs, seven doctoral degree programs and more than 70 options leading to master’s degrees, professional diplomas or certifications, across a full range of academic subjects. With campuses in Union, Toms River and Manahawkin, New Jersey, and Wenzhou, China, as well as Kean Online, the University provides students of all backgrounds an affordable and accessible world-class education.
