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From Summit to Stage

NEXT ACT! New Play Summit will gather as “Three Mothers” premieres

ALBANY—Nearly 400 playwrights submitted new scripts for NEXT ACT! New Play Summit at Capital Repertory Theatre for a chance to have their work produced into a world premiere in one of theREP’s upcoming seasons.

The 13th NEXT ACT! New Play Summit will take place around the world premiere of “Three Mothers” in April 2024.

NEXT ACT! New Play Summit, a joint venture between Capital Repertory Theatre and Proctors, is an annual showcase designed to shed light on new play development that is open to all new scripts. Submissions come from all over!

According to Associate Artistic Director Margaret Hall this year there are submissions from as far away as Ireland and many playwrights submit new scripts year after year.

“Three Mothers” was one of the plays featured in 2022’s NEXT ACT! New Play Summit and is being produced by theREP. The next summit will take place over a series of days consisting of workshops and the readings of plays.

“I really love the development process. Working with playwrights and helping them to make their play the strongest thing possible because, beyond a world premier here at Capital Repertory Theatre, our hope is that their play will go on and get subsequent productions at theaters around the nation,” Hall said.

After submissions close, Hall catalogs the scripts and breaks them down into different reading committees.

“Each reading committee has people that are within Proctors Collaborative, from the Capital Region to New York City and sometimes beyond New York. They are versed in a variety of fields within professional theater from administration to directors, to actors, to choreographers,” she said.

Based on the submissions-a synopsis, character breakdown and the first 10 pages of the script-up to 10 full scripts might be requested. And from the full scripts the final plays for the summit will be decided.

“Then they’re read it in front of an audience at the summit with actors and directors and the audience will get a feedback form that they can fill out and respond to. After that, Maggie Mancinelli Cahill, producing artistic director, and I make the selection on which scripts we’re interested in possibly developing further,” Hall said.

This is the first time the summit will be taking place around the world premiere of a NEXT ACT! play. By attending the upcoming summit audience members can help play a role in deciding what script Capital Repertory Theatre might produce in the future.

The next world premiere production from NEXT ACT! will be announced at the Proctors Collaborative 24-25 Season Bash.

“Three Mothers” premiers Friday, April 26, 2024 at theREP and runs until Sunday, May 12.

Tickets are available through the Box Office at Proctors in-person, via phone at (518) 346-6204 Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. or online.

NEXT ACT! New Play Summit, a joint venture between Capital Repertory Theatre and Proctors, is an annual showcase of new plays designed to shed light on new play development.

Capital Repertory Theatre and Proctors are a part of Proctors Collaborative.