IIAMA Theatre Company Will Present 9th Annual New Works Festival With Six New Plays

IAMA Theatre Company will launch its 2026-27 season with the ninth annual New Works Festival, running September 14-28 at Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles.

The festival will feature staged readings of six new plays, offering audiences an early look at works in development and giving participating playwrights an opportunity to experience their work in front of an audience. Since launching in 2018, the festival has served as a development platform for plays that have gone on to world premieres at IAMA and other theaters around the country.

This year's lineup includes work by two recipients of the Rhimes Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission: 2025 recipient Alicia Carroll and 2026 recipient Agyeiwaa Asante. Created by IAMA and Shonda Rhimes, the commission supports emerging playwrights from underrepresented communities who have been minimally professionally produced and have not yet had a commercial, Off-Broadway or Broadway production.

See the complete festival lineup below.

The Half-Sibling Play

By Agyeiwaa Asante
Directed by Ludmila Brito
Monday, September 14 at 8 p.m.

Half-siblings Kweku and Amoaa grew up in separate households and have never been close. When their father unexpectedly dies and a generational curse is unleashed, the siblings travel from Brooklyn to Ghana to pay their respects and claim their birthright.

The play explores siblings, absent fathers, family, home and the power of gods.

Asante is the recipient of the 2026 Rhimes Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission. Her plays include Dainty, Agape and The Half-Sibling Play, and she has received commissions from the University of Maryland's NextNOW Festival, Single Carrot Theatre and Round House Theatre.

All Remaining Assets

By Serena Berman
Directed by Sarna Lapine
Tuesday, September 15 at 8 p.m.

When Linda's wealthy brother dies unexpectedly and leaves his family out of his will, Linda, her estranged sister and her adult daughter find themselves at a drunken funeral afterparty with the 20-something former stripper who inherited his estate.

All Remaining Assets explores money, family, sex and the forces that bind people together.

Berman's work has been developed or produced with Ars Nova, Westport Country Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Hearth and other organizations. Lapine's credits include the Broadway productions of Call Me Izzy and Sunday in the Park with George and the recent Off-Broadway revival of An American Daughter.

The Starters

By Laura Winters
Directed by Shaina Rosenthal
Wednesday, September 16

Matt Novak is one of the oldest players in the NFL and will do anything to continue playing for another year. His wife, Emily, will do anything to stop him.

Winters' plays include All of Me, Mirror Image, Coronation and Emerson Loses Her MIND. Rosenthal is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre LA whose directing work has been seen at venues including the Kirk Douglas Theatre, Skylight Theatre Company, The Blank Theatre and Antaeus.

Betta Mus Come

By Alicia Carroll
Directed by Melissa Coleman-Reed
Wednesday, September 23 at 8 p.m.

Developed through Carroll's 2025 Rhimes Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission, Betta Mus Come follows the Drummond family on the eve of their daughter's wedding as they attempt to protect their family B&B from a raging tempest and resort developers, while discovering there may be more to their family and land than they realized.

Carroll's credits include Lovett or Leave It, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin and The Watchful Eye. She previously participated in IAMA's 2020 Emerging Playwrights Lab.

Werewolves

By Liba Vaynberg
Directed by Nikki DiLoreto
Thursday, September 24 at 8 p.m.

Set in a Cyprus villa, Werewolves follows a billionaire's young heir who turns a party game into a moral battleground as an entourage of caregivers navigates the child's need for control. The play examines money, love, caretaking and who has the ability to leave the game.

Vaynberg's plays include The Matriarchs, The Gett, Round Table and Scheiss Book. She was also part of IAMA's 2024-25 Emerging Playwrights Lab. DiLoreto's credits include work on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in the West End and on productions including SIX: The Musical, Soft Power and The Magnificent Seven.

The Great Florida Python Challenge

By John Lavelle
Directed by Jennifer Chang
Monday, September 28

A Florida charity livestream involving snakes, guns and a hurricane turns into a standoff over who should be considered the invasive species.

Lavelle's plays include Inhalation, Gertrude, Before the Storm After the Fall and The Very Best People. IAMA previously presented world premieres of his Sinners Laundry and The Very Best People.

Chang's directing credits include A Doll's House, Part 2 at Pasadena Playhouse, What Became of Us at Atlantic Theater Company, The Far Country at Berkeley Rep and Vietgone. She is Head of Acting at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television.

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