COME FROM AWAY Composers and More in TheatreWorks' 2026 New Works Festival
Irene Sankoff and David Hein will also perform a one-night-only fundraising engagement of Cut From Away on August 14, 2026.
Come From Away composers Irene Sankoff and David Hein will be among the nationally and internationally renowned artists converging in Palo Alto to unveil new plays and musicals in process at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s 23rd Annual New Works Festival, taking place from August 7-16, 2026.
At this wildly popular event, hundreds of lovers of new theatre gather for an advance look at tomorrow’s hits. Continuing the company’s legacy of fostering new plays and musicals, this unique festival offers audiences an extraordinary opportunity to experience brand new theatre pieces in their early stages of development. With multiple performances of each work, playwrights and composers are able to revise and refine their shows during the festival, allowing audiences to view the exciting evolution of new entries into the theatrical canon.
Among the works receiving readings in the 2026 New Works Festival is Vienna by Irene Sankoff and David Hein. The first act of this new musical was featured in TheatreWorks’ 2025 New Works Festival. Sankoff and Hein will return for TheatreWorks’ 2026 New Works Festival to present readings of both Act I and II, offering audiences the long-awaited conclusion to this climactic tale and additional opportunities for Bay Area theatre fans to experience this new musical. The festival will also include Roja, a new twist on the Little Red Riding Hood story fusing traditional Mexican folk music and Mestizo folklore, written by Jaime Lozano (“Songs by an Immigrant,” orchestrations for In the Heights film) and Tommy Newman (Tinyard Hill); Floor 37 by Susan Fairbrook Core Writers Group alumna Margot Melcon (Christmas at Pemberley series); RE– by Kimber Lee, playwright of tokyo fish story and brownsville song (b-side for tray); and a double bill of Hip Hop solo plays: The Tell Tale Heart by Susan Fairbrook Core Writers Group alumnus Carlos Aguirre (Freestyle Love Supreme guest artist) and Rap Monologues by Latin Grammy-nominated composer Austin Dean Ashford (Beauty & the Beat).
Irene Sankoff and David Hein will also perform a one-night-only fundraising engagement of Cut From Away on August 14, 2026. With an option to join the creators for a Gander-themed pre-show dinner, this special event showcases the “stranded” songs, stories, and characters that were cut from Come From Away before it made its Broadway debut. This special New Works Festival event celebrates the process of creating theatre, providing a behind the scenes look at developing new works, uplifting fantastic songs that ultimately didn’t make the cut, and sharing tales behind the journey to Broadway.
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