A DEAL PICKED JUST FOR YOU to Premiere at 2026 Durango PlayFest

Playwright John Farmanesh-Bocca will premiere and direct his absurdist comedy, A Deal Picked Just for You, at the 8th Annual Durango PlayFest, June 23-28, with a star-studded cast of Hollywood favorites. In less than a decade, PlayFest has matured into a coveted incubator for well-known and emerging playwrights, actors, and directors to develop new works and present them to live audiences for feedback.

In the play, shut-ins Maggie and Brenda have sworn off the chaos of the outside world and focus their obsessions on Amazon packages, food-delivery, and denial — that is, until a string of uninvited guests upends their fragile bubble. It's a play about what happens when absurdity becomes the new normal, and why we keep searching for connection anyway.

“John's work is totally different from anything we've done at PlayFest, and that's what makes it exciting,” said Felicia Lansbury Meyer, PlayFest Artistic Director. “He uses sharp satire and absurd humor to take a bold, surprising and relatable look at how we all try to cope with this crazy world.”

The Iranian-American creator is best known for his modern adaptations of ancient theatrical works, including Lear Redux, named one of the Top 10 Productions of 2025 by Arts Beat LA. Bocca-Farmanesh founded Los Angeles' award-winning Not Man Apart Physical Theatre Ensemble, ranked top among the most innovative companies nationally and internationally. He trained at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in Acting before serving as a directing fellow at the Juilliard School Drama Division.

The 2026 PlayFest is excited to welcome the following cast:

• Wendie Malick – PlayFest co-founder, and well-known face in television, film and stage. Malick has more than 190 acting credits. She currently stars in the AppleTV+ comedy Shrinking with Harrison Ford.
• Marg Helgenberger – Emmy-award-winning actress best known for her roles in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Las Vegas, and China Beach.
• Brenda Strong – Two-time Emmy nominee and multi-SAG-award-winning actress known for her seminal role as Mary Alice Young, the dearly departed narrator on Desperate Housewives. 
• Ahkei Togun – Up-and-coming young actor, producer and poet from Los Angeles, and founder of Sippin Poetry.

The festival will also feature readings of The German by two-time Tony nominee, Lyle Kessler, Hazel and Bea in the In-Between by New York-based emerging playwright Zoe Stanton-Savitz, and the dark thriller The Henry Clyde Canning Murder House by Christian Missonak.

Co-founded by actors Wendie Malick and Dan Lauria, PlayFest features both esteemed and emerging playwrights alike, including Lee Blessing, Kathleen Cahill, Richard Dresser, James Anthony Tyler, Lia Romeo, and David Myers. The event also attracts acting talents, with notables such as Dylan Baker, Richard Kind, Jane Kaczmarek, Jodi Long, Tom Wright, Ray Abruzzo, Jon Tenney and Mike Farrell. Ten plays have achieved full production following development at PlayFest.

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Off-Broadway Play - Top 3

1. A Christmas Carol (Thorne Adaptation) - PAC NYC

7.7% of votes

2. Prince F****t - Playwrights Horizons

5.8% of votes

3. Andre De Shields is Tartuffe - House of the Redeemer

4.7% of votes

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