The Pittsburgh New Works Festival has been dedicated to producing new plays from all over the world for 27 years! From comedy to drama and traditional to cutting edge, there's always something for everyone to love. Presented by 18 of the Pittsburgh region's theatre companies and top-notch acting talent from all corners of the region, New Works is something not to be missed!

When You Are a Little Bit Older
by Matthew Weaver

Spokane, WA
Produced by Thoreau, NM – A Production Company

Cooper and Ava have a hot date at the movies, but Cooper’s younger brother Owen tags along. Everything’s going as well as can be expected until Owen runs out of popcorn …

Matthew Weaver is a Spokane, Wash., playwright and screenwriter. His plays have been performed in Washington State, Canada, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio, Texas and West Virginia.

Bernie
by Fred Perry

Roswell, GA
Produced by The South Hills Players

Bernie Heller has always been a bit of a schmo. And his life hit bottom today. Miserable, divorced, and a brilliant but failed artist, Bernie finally decided to end it all by getting smashed, then hanging himself – with a child’s skip rope. But when he jumped off the ladder, the thin rope snapped, the fall resulting in two broken ankles. Now three sheets to the wind and totally helpless, he calls the only person who can get him back on his feet: his renowned brother, Doctor Sid Heller.

Fred Perry is a produced playwright and screenwriter, who has had writing assignments in Europe, Latin America and the U.S., authoring six feature films for Omega Entertainment, Athens, Greece, and collaborating on multiple projects with Alfonso Arau (director of Like Water for Chocolate and A Walk in the Clouds). Fred’s plays have been performed in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Georgia, where his two-act comedy, The Ascension of Twyla Potts (winner of the 2015 Moondance International Film Festival) premiered last October at the Rome Little Theatre. His screenplay, Five Days in Calcutta, has won 1st place in over ten international screenplay competitions, including the 2012 PAGE International Screenplay Awards, 2014 D.C. Shorts Film Festival, 2014 Fresh Voices, 82nd Annual Writers Digest Writing competition, et al. Another of his winning shorts, Incident on I-95, was just animated by the Scriptamation Company.

Story Road
by Mark Cornell

Chapel Hill, NC
Produced by Stage Right Pittsburgh

Cleveland is a struggling singer-songwriter and, after losing their house, has taken his 15-year-old daughter Ellie on the road. One night, tired of the hard life they are leading, Ellie decides to run away.

Mark Cornell has had more than 70 of his plays produced in theatres around the world, from England to Australia to Singapore and all across the U.S. He is an ensemble member with Moonlight Stage Company in Raleigh. He has an MFA in playwriting from UCLA.