Festival of New Texas Plays
by Austin Playhouse

Aug. 15 - Aug. 16
Saturday-Sunday

2026 Festival of New Texas Plays

 

ACES by Emilie Budjaja

Saturday, August 15, 2026 at 4 pm

Questions of language, identity, and belonging combine into an experience that is funny, moving and magical. The play interweaves two storylines twenty years apart, revealing how the same hopes, pressures, and sacrifices echo across generations. Partially performed in Mandarin with no subtitles, it asks the audience to experience, rather than just observe, the struggle to understand one anothe

 

Lulu Goes to the Jim Henson Memorial Service by Kleo James Ryan

Saturday, August 15, 2026 at 7:30 pm

A wonderfully theatrical blend of heart, humor, grief, and puppetry. Yes, puppetry. The conceit that nearly everyone except Lulu’s parents is a puppet allows the audience to see the world through Lulu’s imaginative and deeply felt (pun fully intended) perspective. It is genuinely hilarious, delightfully weird, and ultimately profoundly tender.

 

Mom and Pop by Carl Gonzales

Sunday, August 16, 2026 at 2 pm

A vivid exploration of family, culture, and community, set in a down-home restaurant where everyone dreams of bigger things. It is both a family comedy and a love letter to the Latine community - messy, exuberant, politically alive, and full of heart.

 

As part of Austin Playhouse’s dedication to supporting the new works of playwrights through world premieres, commissioned works, and new play festivals, the Festival of New Texas Plays celebrates works-in-progress from Texas-based playwrights.

Playwrights will be attendance at each performance with a talkback following each reading. There will be an opening mixer between performances on August 15 with light refreshments. Guests are welcome to stay after the 4 pm performance, arrive early for the 7:30 pm, or attend both. Sunday’s reading will conclude with a closing reception.

Finalist runners-up were Everyone, give yourselves a pat on the back! by Erin Malone Turner and I’M GONNA BE THE GOVERNOR by Ainsley Powers.

Semi-Finalists for the 2026 Festival of New Texas Plays are Peanut Is A Vibe by Nate Southard; Two Million Years of Rain by Sheree L. Ross; First by Joey Banks and Vee Council; T-minus-15 by Diamante Martinez; and The Lily Problem by Max Langert.

The selection committee for this year’s festival were Lowell Bartholomee, Brian Coughlin, Lara Toner Haddock, Tonie Knight, Stephen Mercantel, Laura Walberg, Cyndi Williams, and Ben Wolfe. 

About the Playwrights:

Emilie Budjaja (Playwright, ACES) is an Asian American screenwriter and playwright interested in writing stories that explore identity as a malleable form. A native from Austin, Texas, she recently earned her B.S. in Radio-Television-Film from UT Austin. During her time as a student, she acted as showrunner for the Texas Student Television’s half-hour comedy, The Austen Exchange, and has also served as a writer on the station’s first Mandarin speaking serialized drama. She is constantly working towards being in a room with other Asian American creatives, collaborating to make rich, embodied stories.

Carl Gonzales (Playwright, Mom and Pop) is a Mexican/Indigenous director, playwright, and actor. Recent directing credits include Pueblo Revolt (Ground Floor Theatre) Dulce (ASRT), Clyde’s (B. Iden Payne Award winner, Ground Floor Theatre), Anna in the Tropics (B. Iden Payne Award winner, Ground Floor Theatre), Tick, Tick... Boom! (TexArts), and The Brunch Crowd (Texas State University). Most recently, Carl’s play La Planchada was selected for the Teatrx Short Play Festival. Carl is also proud to serve as the Board Chair of Ground Floor Theatre and President of the B. Iden Payne Awards Council.

Kleo James Ryan (Playwright, Lulu Goes to the Jim Henson Memorial Service) is a writer/performer based in Austin, TX. Her short works include I’ll Make an End (FronteraFest 2024), The Woman in the Attic (FronteraFest 2025), Last Dance (Out of Ink 2025: In Step), Famous Last Words (Manifest Minifest 6), and Wollstonecraft/Shelley (Out of Ink 2026: Astronomical). Her full-length play, The Hooded Crow, was a recipient of ScriptWorks’s Revision Resource Fund, and received a public developmental reading at Ground Floor Theatre in 2025. Kleo’s plays were awarded “Best of Week” at FronteraFest two years in a row. Her short play, Last Dance, was nominated for five B. Iden Payne Awards, including Outstanding Original Short Script and Outstanding Production of a Short Play. Kleo is currently developing a stage adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.

Sponsors: Austin Playhouse is supported in part by Texas Commission on the Arts, The Shubert Foundation, and an Elevate Grant of Austin Arts, Culture, Music, and Entertainment.

Austin Playhouse is a professional theatre in its 26th season. Currently under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lara Toner Haddock, and Associate Artistic Directors Ben Wolfe and Sarah Fleming Walker, Austin Playhouse has grown from a three-play season on the campus of Concordia University, to a year-round operation producing a subscription season, theatre for youth productions, and a new play festival. Austin Playhouse plans to build a permanent home for the veteran theatre troupe and all of Austin’s artistic community. For more information visit austinplayhouse.com.

 

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Festival of New Texas Plays
by various, selected by Austin Playhouse
Austin Playhouse

August 15 and 16, 2026

Austin Playhouse west campus location

Tickets are Pick-Your-Price starting at FREE and are available now at austinplayhouse.com/newplaydevelopment.