2024 Festival Shows

Three new Musicals. Two new Plays. One outdoor Variety Stage. A Broadway Cabaret starring Phillip Boykin.

The future of American Theater starts in Greenville.

SPONSORED BY SC HUMANITIES FOUNDATION

by Donnetta Lavinia Grays
Directed by Tamilla Woodard

at Centre Stage on Thursday, August 08, at 7pm

The Josh White Project was commissioned by the SC New Play Festival and the presentation of excerpts will precede a public town hall on the impact of Greenville, SC on Josh White’s life and legacy. The show tells the story of Josh White (Chaundre Hall-Broomfield) was a prominent blues and folk musician who rose to fame in the 1930s and 1940s performing with legends such as Billie Holiday, Woody Guthrie, and Lead Belly, and on Broadway and in Hollywood. He was a key figure in the civil rights movement before his career was negatively impacted by the House Un-American Activities Commission (other cast members include James Hester, Matt Giles, Breosha Jeter, Clark E. Nesbitt, Kirsten Brock, and Chip Egan). Donnetta Lavinia Grays is an award-winning playwright and actor, whose work has been seen on Broadway and at theaters across the country.

Town Hall Panelists Include: Gene Berger, Ruth Ann Butler, Mary Duckett, and David Sims

SCNPF commission sponsored by Bunny and Bob Hughes.

by Adam Gwon
Directed by Jonathan Silverstein, Music Direction by Andrea Grody

at the Gunter Theatre at the Peace Center on Friday, August 09 at 7pm

The show tells the story of small-town math teacher Ricky Alleman (Andy Mientus) who reluctantly agrees to coach misfit student Sam (Eliza Pagelle) for the 1996 State Thespian Competition. Soon, Ricky has trouble navigating his carefully compartmentalized life, between his outspoken new boyfriend Michael (Jon-Michael Reese), and Dede (Siri Howard), the secretary of the conservative High School where he teaches. All the World’s a Stage is a funny and heart-wrenching new musical about being true to yourself in a polarized world. Adam Gwon made his off-Broadway debut in 2009 with Ordinary Days at Roundabout Theatre Company; a 2018 revival by the Keen Company was nominated for a Drama League Award for Best Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical.

All The World’s a Stage is a commission by the KEEN Company.

SPONSORED BY LILLIAN AND HENRY PARR

by Sophie Boyce and Veronica Mansour
Directed by Sarna Lapine, Music Direction by Fred Feeney

Greenville Theatre on Saturday, August 10 at 7pm

The Dark Lady is an electrifying synth-pop spectacle that uplifts the story of Emilia Bassano (Kuhoo Verma), a woman theorized by some to be the true, uncredited author of the plays by Shakespeare (Micheal Tacconi). Audacious and joyful with an effervescent wit, The Dark Lady brings this "what if" scenario to life in a gleefully subversive celebration of theatre as the muses Viola (Maria Wirries), Lady Macbeth (Jade Jones), Juliet (Abby Gilbert), and Kate (Megan Colton) inspire guide Emilia through her relationships with her sister (Lauren Madigan) and her husband (Mauricio Perez). Sophie Boyce is the winner of the Eugene O'Neill National Musical Theatre Conference, a finalist for the Kleban Prize, Write Out Loud and the Stiles & Drewe Song Prize. Veronica Mansour is a 2024 Richard Rodgers Award Winner and Jonathan Larson Grant winner, was recently nominated for a Marvin Hamlisch International Music Award and was selected as one of four writers for DreamWorks Theatricals, MTI & NBCUniversal Emerging Writers Program.

SPONSORED BY THE DANIEL-MICKEL FOUNDATION

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Melvin Tunstall III and Greg Borowsky

Directed by Banji Aborisade, Music Direction by Nick Wilders

at the South Carolina Children's Theatre on Sunday, August 11 at 3pm

Stuntboy follows the middle-schooler, Portico Reeves (Wesley Hudson), whose superpower is making sure his parents (Kelseigh Redmon, Guillermo Jemmott) and best friend, Zola (Grace Hamashima) stay safe. He lives in the biggest apartment building on the block, a building with fifty doors, all of which would be swell except for the secret that Portico’s parents are about to divorce. All this stress gives Portico “the frets”, which his mom calls anxiety. Plus, like all superheroes, Portico has an arch-nemesis Herbert (Garrett McCord) determined to prove that there is nothing super about Portico at all. Melvin Tunstall’s show Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical won the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Family Show in 2018. Greg Borowsky is a songwriter and producer from South Africa behind some of South Africa’s biggest SAMA (SA Grammy) winning artists and is the co-writer and producer of the official “20 Years of Freedom” song for the South African Government.

Stuntboy is a commission by TheatreworksUSA. Based on the book Stunt Boy in the Meantime © Jason Reynolds and Raúl the Third, 202. Used with permission of Pippin Properties, Inc.