Theatre Prometheus Holds First 2025 Firecracker Festival Of New Works

Theatre Prometheus announced the first project in its twelfth season, a "mini-fringe" festival of new work readings to take place November 14 through December 6, 2025 at Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The festival will include readings of four new works from local and national emerging playwrights alongside collaborations with the Welders Playwrights Collective and Confetti Collective (fresh off their sold-out, one-night-only performance at District Fringe this summer).

The festival will feature readings of:

We are the Demons Inside Our Bodies (November 14-16), a new play from Managing Director Amanda Zeitler, directed by Associate Artistic Producer Ileana Blustein. We are the Demons Inside Our Bodies features a group of college friends reuniting for a night of horror movies, drinks, and Ouija. As the night darkens, the messages they receive from the board become more and more real.

Mother of (November 14-16) by Chicago-based playwright Katherine Gwynn, directed by co-Artistic Director Tracey Erbacher. A poetic and irreverent take on the true meaning of choice, Mother Of follows a young, nonbinary playwright in one timeline and a young woman told she will bear the son of God in another.

Jean/ne (November 21-23), a new play from Prometheus Director of New Works Mari Fluegeman, directed by Robin Berl, who Prometheus audience may know as the director of 2024's World Premiere of Dua: The Monster's Story. Jean/ne is a trans examination of Joan of Arc's final night before execution.

Rebels vs. Royals: A Night of Deception and Succession (November 21-23), An Interactive Staged Reading by The Welders 4.0. A murder, a monarchy, and a scandal that could upend generations. This immersive murder mystery drops us into the aftermath of "The Excision"-a violent purge that split the nation between the powerful monarchy and the newly formed rebel underground movement. Now at a lavish banquet meant to celebrate peace, the beloved King Julian Speranza collapses mid-toast...and the hunt for his killer begins. Created by Rebecca Dzida, Taylor Payne, and Shaquille Stewart. This is an interactive prequel to The Welder's upcoming production of Cake Eaters by Rebecca Dzida.

In Spite of Everything (December 4-7) by Brooklyn-based writer Zoe Senese-Grossberg, directed by Prometheus Artistic Associate Shana Laski. In Spite of Everything is a biting, dark comedy about a group of friends who recently survived the Holocaust, but each can't stop worrying that the others were maybe hanging out without them while they spent their teens in Auschwitz. A play about how life always finds a way-but finds a way to do what?