2026 Pacific Playwrights Festival

Launched in 1998, South Coast Repertory’s annual Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF), part of The Lab@SCR, is a major national showcase for new plays.

The 28th festival—May 1-3, 2026—features two world premiere productions and five staged readings during an action-packed three days. PPF weekend attracts theatre professionals from across the nation, as well as SCR’s devoted new play audiences, who are drawn by the chance to be the first to see some of the best new theatrical works in the country.

The New York Times calls SCR “an incubator of major talent … South Coast has mounted an impressive list of acclaimed plays, long before the East Coast establishment got wind of them.” SCR’s 27 previous festivals have introduced such award-winning plays as Lucas Hnath's A Doll's House, Part 2, Lauren Yee's Cambodian Rock Band, Qui Nguyen's Vietgone, Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel, Nilo Cruz’s Anna in the Tropics, Julia Cho’s The Language Archive and David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit Hole.

THE INGENUE
by Eleanor Burgess
Friday, May 1, at 1 p.m., on the Julianne Argyros Stage

In 18th-century London, arranged marriages have high stakes. Neither Letitia nor Doricourt wants to wed, and each will stop at nothing to force the other to cancel the wedding. Meanwhile, playwright Hannah Cowley struggles to pen a romantic comedy—about a couple named Letitia and Doricourt—while her own marriage is on shaky ground.

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THREE-HEADED MONSTER
by JuCoby Johnson
directed by H. Adam Harris
Friday, May 1, at 4 p.m., on the Julianne Argyros Stage

After serving time for a crime he didn’t commit, 21-year-old Kyrie returns to the Bronx and his two best friends. A once-inseparable trio is reunited at last. But in the cramped apartment, Kyrie begins to fear there’s no room left for him in a friendship—and world—that grew up while he was gone.

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PLEASERS
by Avery Deutsch
Saturday, May 2, at 10:30 a.m., on the Julianne Argyros Stage

Evan wants to get into Yale. Each week he works on his college essays at Miriam’s house. Tyler, her 28-year-old son, wants to be Evan's friend, trying each week to impress him. But Evan would rather be Miriam’s friend. And Miriam has a lot going on—so she just wants her boys to be good.

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BLOW AWAY THE CLOUDS
by Evelina Fernández
directed by José Luis Valenzuela
an SCR commission
Sunday, May 3, at 10:30 a.m., on the Julianne Argyros Stage

Milagros is a good wife, works hard and follows church rules…and her life in a small Arizona mining town is about to be turned upside down. As her friends and their troubles force her to stray from her rigid beliefs, Milagros finds a new sense of freedom in the secrets they keep—and the power of sisterhood.

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ADVANCED PERSISTENT TEENAGERS
by Deepak Kumar
directed by Morgan Green
Friday, May 1, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, May 2, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, May 3, at 2:30 p.m., in the Nicholas Studio

Two teenagers with a tragic bond spend their days hacking children’s video games for fun, profit and glory. But when their hacker collective, dark w0rld, abruptly disbands, the boys find themselves adrift. Searching for purpose—and still craving the rush—the two launch a plan that may just change the hacker world forever.

FREMONT AVE.
by Reggie D. White
directed by Lili-Anne Brown
a co-production with Arena Stage
April 25 - May 25 on the Segerstrom Stage

In 1968, George buys a suburban Southern California home—a stop on his way to something bigger—and hires Audrey as a housekeeper. In 1991, Robert is still living there, itching to start his own life. Thirty years later, Joseph returns home, still struggling with a secret that holds him back. With humor and heart, this multigenerational drama revolves around three Black men, their journeys to choose love and the woman who holds them all together.

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EAT ME
by Talene Monahon
directed by Caitlin Sullivan
April 12 - May 3 on the Julianne Argyros Stage

Chris loves fine cuisine. He spends hours in a corner of the internet where like-minded foodies share their extraordinary culinary experiences. Stevie doesn’t eat fish with souls, Beatrice and Jen just baked a flax loaf and Cindy might have salad, later. In this wildly imaginative play by one of The New York Times’ Rising Theatre Stars of 2023, everyone is longing for something that makes them feel full—and when the meal is over, maybe they’ll be transformed.

Sunday, May 3, at 9 a.m. on the Segerstrom Stage
Join us for a conversation with the PPF playwrights, moderated by SCR's Artistic and Audience Engagement Associate, H. Adam Harris.

No ticket or reservation required.

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Read more about the Pacific Playwrights Festival.

See the list of play titles presented during previous Pacific Playwrights Festivals.