Crystal Skillman's THE ROCKET MEN To Have Rolling World Premiere in Indianapolis, Atlanta and More

Playwright Crystal Skillman will receive a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of her play The Rocket Men with Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre in Indianapolis, IN, Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta, GA, and Angels Theatre Company in Lincoln, NE as part of the 2025-26 season.

The Rocket Men is a unique theatrical experience that carries us through time and space in a blink of an eye. Six women step into the roles of the former Nazis who used their scientific skills to flee Germany and settle in the most unlikely places... North Alabama. These women share their stories about this team that became the backbone of what we know today as the American Space Program. As the play counts down, the audience experiences the haunting cost of their scientific advancements as the play asks us to consider whose names are remembered in history, and why. Told with invention and theatricality, this gripping new play about the intersection of scientific exploration and moral responsibility unfolds in startling ways and asks us what it means "to be an American" and whose stories get to be told ... then and now.

The National New Play Network was founded on the belief that the next generation of new play development should be decentralized, dynamic, and collaborative in scope and practice, and that there should be a pipeline for sharing new work between regional theaters. Over the past twenty-five years, NNPN has provided millions of dollars in funding to its Member Theaters, supported hundreds of productions nationwide through its innovative programming, helped launch and sustain the careers of thousands of artists, and reached hundreds of thousands of audience members around the world with plays that were created and honed with support from NNPN and its diverse consortium of theaters and artists. NNPN's flagship initiative, the Rolling World Premiere (RWP), models a process for developing and producing new plays - one that centers development through production, incentivizes collaboration, and builds momentum for a play's future life.

Phoenix Theatre Cultural Centre

September 4 - 21, 2025

Directed by Timothy W. Scholl

Starring Paige Elisse, Constance Macy, Jennifer Johansen, Milicent Wright, Jolene Mentink Moffatt, Jaddy Ciucci and Bibi Heredia.

Set Design by Robert M. Koharchik, Lighting Design by Laura Glover, Projections Design by Katie Phelan Mayfield, Costume Design by Anthony James Sirk, and Sound Design by Jason Tuttle.

Synchronicity Theatre 

October 9 - November 2, 2025

Directed by Rachel May

Starring Laura Edwards Boston, Amelia Fischer, Imani Joseph, Gillian Rabin, Suzanne Roush, and Vallea E. Woodbury

Set Design by Gabrielle Stephenson, Props Design by Tierney Breedlove, Costume Design by Hollis Smith, Projections Design by Amanda Sachtleben, and Lighting Design by Elisabeth Cooper.

Tickets ($10-$45) at www.synchrotheatre.com

Angels Theatre Company

Presented at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, Lincoln, NE

March 12 - March 22 , 2026

Directed by Timothy W. Scholl

www.liedcenter.org/event/angels-theatre-companys-rocket-men