Seven Devils Playwrights Conference to Return for 2026 Season

Seven Devils Playwrights Conference returns to McCall, Idaho, June 1-13, 2026, continuing a 26-year tradition of nurturing bold new voices in American theatre.

Presented in partnership with the Alpine Playhouse, the Conference brings playwrights, actors, directors, and theatre artists from across the country together for two weeks of free public events, workshops, and staged readings devoted to developing new work.

Selected from a record-breaking 966 submissions, this year's cohort features timely, surprising, and deeply human stories. The 2026 Playwrights - Agyeiwaa Asante, Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend, Ellen K. Graham, Keiko Green, Julia Izumi, David Lipschutz, Isabelle Fereshteh Sanatdar Stevens, and Nancy Sun - join a distinguished legacy of artists whose work has been shaped in McCall. Seven Devils alumni include MacArthur "Genius" Grant recipient and Idaho native Samuel D. Hunter, whose play The Whale (2012 7D Conference) became an Academy Award-winning film; Eric Coble's The Velocity of Autumn (2010 7D Conference), which went to Broadway; and Jennifer Blackmer's I Carry Your Heart With Me (2022 7D Conference), recipient of a 2024 Harold and Mimi Steinberg American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association's New Play Citation.

Local audiences are invited to become part of the creative process by experiencing these new plays at a vital moment in their development. "The Conference has always been about creating space for playwrights to take risks, experiment, and discover what their plays can become," says Managing Director Paula Marchiel. "McCall and the Alpine Playhouse continue to provide a uniquely generous and inspiring environment for artists and audiences alike."

Seven Devils has also collaborated with McCall-Donnelly High School students since its inception, where students develop and workshop original plays alongside professional theater artists. The 2026 Conference continues that tradition. Additionally, this year marks a first: a new Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) workshop to engage younger audiences and families in McCall.

"Our Conference has always sought to serve and contribute to our community," says Co-Artistic Director Adrian Trujillo Centeno. "With the elimination of the middle school theatre program in McCall, we felt a call to step up and respond to a clear need for accessible arts experiences for young people."

"I can see a direct line from my own middle school theatre education to where I am today as a professional theatre maker," says Co-Artistic Director Mallory Metoxen. "Theatre builds community, confidence, empathy, and collaboration. It invites young people to imagine, create, and connect in ways that stay with them for life."

In addition to staged readings, the Conference will feature free public programming, including playwriting workshops open to writers of all experience levels and events designed to welcome audiences of all ages into the development process.

Join us this June and be part of the process as new American plays come to life in McCall.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS - 2026 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference

All events are free and open to the public, with a 7:30pm start at the Alpine Playhouse unless otherwise noted.

Wednesday, June 3: Master Class with McCall-Donnelly High School Students (Start time: 7:00)

Company members meet with students from the McCall-Donnelly High School drama program to learn about the development process by working on plays written by the students as part of their drama class. Join the fun and get a behind the scenes look at the play development process.

Thursday, June 4: IDAHO TALKS: Seven Devils New Play Foundry - Past, Present, and Future

(Central Idaho Historical Museum Carpenter Shop, 1001 State Street, McCall - Start Time - 7:30)

Join us for an engaging evening celebrating the past, present, and future of the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference with reflections from former Producing Artistic Director Jeni Mahoney and others who have helped shape the organization over the years, a short reading excerpt from I Carry You Heart With Me by Jennifer Blackmer (developed in 2022), and a look ahead at what's next for Seven Devils, including this year's programming and the development of a new Theater for Young Audiences play created for middle school-aged audiences and beyond.

Friday, June 5: COME NOW THE HEARTBROKEN by Ellen K. Graham

Five sequestered jurors, the man who guards them, and a migratory moth spend sixteen evenings on a hotel deck. A play about what you talk about when you're not allowed to talk.

Saturday, June 6: ANNA AND THE WIG MONSTER by Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend & David Lipschutz

The time is the mid-1800s. The place is a fantasy realm where magic is real and anachronisms run rampant. Anna and the Wig Monster follows Anna, the 16 year old daughter of a wigmaker/storyteller. She spends every day working in her dad's wig shop and listening to stories, including Anna's favorite: The Tale of the Wig Monster. One evening, when Anna comes face-to-face with the Wig Monster themself, she goes on the adventure - or adVENGure - of a lifetime. Along the way, she faces ferocious beasts, timid accountants, and astounding answers to both life's greatest mysteries and some very difficult math problems. Best of all, the play is suitable for adults and children of all ages.

Thursday, June 11: THE REFRIGERATOR by Keiko Green

The Refrigerator is an abstract and surreal sci-fi thriller that follows a canceled movie star, Ian Turner, as he passes through a shitty old refrigerator from his past life, finding himself in a parallel universe. But each time he passes through this kitchen appliance, Ian's being fractures more and more, until the cold and frost (and his long-abused, ex- assistant Ashley) finally get the better of him.

Friday, June 12: PANDEMONIUM! By Nancy Sun

As a giant panda, Yiyi's purpose is to save her species from extinction. And according to her Instagram, it might also be her whole personality :) But after struggling with her fertility for nine years, Yiyi starts to doubt whether her life's work requires her to bear cubs. When you live in captivity, though, do you really have a say? PANDEMONIUM! is about the hard choices we make in a society that values new life, yet restricts the bodies that make life possible. Inspired by real-world animal conservation efforts, our contemporary reproductive rights discourse, and the chronically online, this play is for those who touch grass and those who should.

Saturday, June 13: THE HALF-SIBLING PLAY by Agyeiwaa Asante

Growing up in separate households, half-siblings Kweku and Amoaa have never been close. But when their father dies unexpectedly, they travel together from Brooklyn to Ghana to pay their respects and claim their birthright. A play about sisters, brothers, and absent fathers, The Half-Sibling Play delves into the mystery of family and what it means to come home.

DATE/TIME TBD: A FREE PLAYWRITING WORKSHOP

Check out SevenDevils.org for updates.

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