That’s what happens each July at the Dayton Playhouse where a weekend called FutureFest has been captivating theater-lovers since 1991. At intermission and in the breaks between shows, attendees walk in the lush Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark and chat with playwrights, judges and actors.
The 34th annual festival is slated July 18 through 20. You can buy a weekend pass for all five staged readings that includes an opening reception and closing picnic dinner or purchase tickets individually in advance for specific shows. Tickets can also be purchased at the door.
The FutureFest winner is determined by five adjudicators made up of New York and regional theatre professionals. There’s an additional category for Audience Favorite.
The impressive group of adjudicators this year include Joe Deer, distinguished professor of musical theatre emeritus from Wright State University where he led the BFA Musical Theatre program for more than 20 years; Peter Filichia who served nearly two decades as a theater critic for a daily newspaper as well as a longtime columnist for magazines; Matt Kagan, a poet, playwright and producer; Helen Sneed, a judge at FutureFest for the past 29 years who has read and evaluated thousands of scripts during her theatrical career; and Emily Wells, artistic director of Dayton’s Human Race Theatre Company.
Credit: RAY GEIGER
Credit: RAY GEIGER
The playwrights
The stars of the weekend are the playwrights who are treated like celebrities while in Dayton. Here are the five individuals whose scripts made it through the rigorous selection process. Their plays were selected from 357 submissions from around the country.
Meet Dominic Finocchiaro
Plays by Brooklyn-based Dominic Finocchiaro have been produced at prestigious theaters including Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Civilians, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, the Kennedy Center and the Roundabout Theatre.
He says his FutureFest play, “angel’s share,” is “a speculative fiction exploration of grief, love and family.” The sci-fi tale centers around the relationship between a mom and dad who have lost their son but, as a result of technology and a tiny implant, have gained a teenage surrogate.
“Grief was very much the main inspiration-point for the play,” Finocchiaro told New York journalist Kenneth Jones. “I write a lot about it, and particularly about mothers and dead sons, because of my own personal history. I lost my older brother when I was 7, and it really wrecked my mother and changed our lives dramatically — completely. It’s one of the defining facts of my life and one of the most central things that I wrestle with in much of my artistic practice."
Finocchiaro said he is “super excited to get to work at the Festival!”
“This will be my first time in Dayton, and I can’t wait to learn a little bit about the theatre community there. This will be my third workshop of the play this summer, so I’m very curious how this new audience will respond to the work.”
Credit: Rick Flynn
Credit: Rick Flynn
Meet Hutchins Foster
In addition to being a finalist at FutureFest, Hutchins Foster’s play, “The Art of Arson,” is also a semi-finalist for Dramatist Guild’s Fellows Program and for The Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy Competition.
Foster, who is from Los Angeles, is currently part of Moving Arts MADLab where he’s writing “The Madness of Frank Lloyd Wright” and is completing an autobiography about marrying his husband when gay marriage was illegal and adopting two children.
His FutureFest play is set near an arson-induced wildfire.
“The germ of ‘The Art of Arson’ came to me on my son’s first Halloween," said Foster. “He was dressed as a pumpkin and the night sky was as orange as his costume because 80 miles away a wildfire was blazing. I began to wonder what I would save if a fire was threatening my home. Photos? Jewelry? Family recipes? Artwork? I began to picture a fictional multi-generational family living in a one-of-a-kind house that was constructed around an immense sculpture — art within art. What would it mean for my family if that were to be jeopardized?”
Foster said he’s eager to meet the other playwrights, see their work and make lifelong contacts.
“Anytime we are given the opportunity to present our art it validates our creativity, and I couldn’t ask for more than that.”
Meet Brent Alles
Based in Wyoming, MI, playwright Brent Alles is the author of numerous full-length and one-act plays.
Dayton audiences will be treated to “The Locke Inn.”
Here’s the plot: Matt Locke lives a great life. He has a funny, beautiful wife and two smart, rambunctious kids. He’s trying to run his own bed and breakfast, a lifelong dream of his. He even puts up with the well-meaning but annoying next door neighbor. However, all is not as it seems, as we learn the secret behind Matt’s life and what might bring the Locke Inn crashing down around him.
“I started with what I thought was going to be a ‘fun’ premise: a satirical take on those earnest, slightly cheesy ‘90s family sitcoms,” he said. “But as the story developed, it took a more serious turn and, I hope, became something deeper. At its heart, the play is about how we confront life’s obstacles and ultimately find our way home. I don’t want to give away the secrets of the Inn beyond that, but I hope audiences laugh, maybe cry, and at the very least connect with the predicaments these characters face.”
Returning playwright Erik Gernand
Erik Gernand will be a familiar face at FutureFest; last summer he was a finalist with his play, “The Totality of All Things,” which went on to open in Chicago where it won a Jeff Award for Best New Work and then had a run in Los Angeles.
“FutureFest was a key step in that play’s development and success as a place to test run the script in front of a live audience and receive feedback that I could use in revisions before it opened in full production,” said Gernand. “I’m excited to be back in Dayton with my newest play ‘Prayer Circle.’”
This play revolves around a prayer group at a small country church that discovers their invocations to God have far greater consequences than any of them ever imagined.
“I wanted to explore the rise in political violence that’s unfortunately surging around the country,” Gernand said. " I decided to approach the subject through a satirical lens to attack the issue from what I hoped would be a more accessible angle to an audience."
Gernand, a filmmaker and screenwriter whose work has screened at more than 100 film festivals around the world, is a professor of instruction in radio-TV-film at Northwestern University.
Meet Sopan Deb
“When I began writing, I asked a simple question: What would a working class family do if they came across a bag that could make them rich overnight? ” said Sopan Deb about his new play, “The Good Name.”
Deb is a playwright, author and writer for “The New York Times,” where his topics have included sports and culture.
The plot revolves around a thoughtful but aimless young man living with his aunt and uncle in the New Jersey suburbs as he grieves the death of his parents. A mysterious bag appears at the door, sparking revelations that help them face a quietly buried past. As each family member wraps their hopes and fears up in the bag’s contents, they find themselves unraveling their relationships to each other.
“I saw it as a window to exploring family dynamics and how our experiences shape our penchant for altruism,” Deb said. “As I further discovered the characters, I found other layers, including shouldering the expectations of being a so-called ‘Good Immigrant,’ the true meaning of sacrifice, how we handle grief and what we owe the generations before and after us.”
Deb said he is looking forward to the festival because he’s excited to hear how the work is interpreted by others, as well as by the audience.
“It’s not a given to be able to share any sort of art with the public, and I’m very fortunate I will get to do so in Dayton.”
Credit: RAY GEIGER
Credit: RAY GEIGER
HOW TO GO
What: FutureFest 2025, a weekend of five new plays. Each is followed by a talk with the playwright, adjudicator comments and a Q&A with the audience.
When: Friday, July 18 through Sunday, July 20.
Where: Dayton Playhouse at Wegerzyn Gardens Metropark, 1301 E. Siebenthaler Ave.
Schedule: “The Art of Arson” by Hutchins Foster (8 p.m. Friday, July 18, directed by David Shough): “The Locke Inn” by Brent Alles (2 p.m. Saturday, July 19, directed by Tim Rezash); “angel’s share” by Dominic Finocchiaro (8 p.m. Saturday, July 19, directed by Melissa Ertsgaard); “The Good Name” by Sopan Deb (10 a.m. Sunday, July 20, directed by Jenna Gomes); and “Prayer Circle” by Erik Gernand (3 p.m. Sunday, July 20, directed by Matt Meier).
Tickets: Individual tickets are $20/ A Festival Pass is $100 and includes tickets to all five productions, an opening night party and Sunday dinner. Tickets can be ordered online and also be purchased at the door.
More info: daytonplayhouse.com or 937-424-8477.
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