CCTP 2026 Season of New Plays at Cape Cod Theatre Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For Further Inquiries, Please Contact:

Hal Brooks

Phone: (917) 913–4440 / Email: halbrooks@gmail.com

THE CAPE COD THEATRE PROJECT ANNOUNCES 32st SEASON

FEATURING PLAYS BY BENJAMIN BENNE, ZOË RHULEN, DAVID ALLYN, & DIPTI BRAMHANDKAR

Falmouth, Massachusetts, May 22, 2026. The Cape Cod Theatre Project (CCTP) announces its 32nd Season of New Plays, running weekend nights in July from July 2 through July 25 at Falmouth Academy’s Simon Center for the Arts. For its 32nd Season of Staged Readings of New Plays, CCTP will feature workshops of plays by Zoe Rhulen (July 2, 3 & 5), Benjamin Benne (July 9-11), David Allyn (July 16-18) and Dipti Bramhandkar (July 23-25).

Season Opening Benefit

The Cape Cod Theatre Project’s 32nd Season begins with a one-night-only 2026 Season Kickoff Performance! On Sunday, June 28 at 7:00 PM, the one-night only benefit will feature scenes from new plays by Cape Cod Theatre Project friends, musical guests, and a taste from the upcoming season. Musician Kim Bilderback and friends will play original and popular songs. The benefit is sponsored by story., contemporary women’s fashion in Falmouth.

Tickets to the June 28th benefit performance may be obtained by purchasing an All Access Pass, now on sale for $135, which grants the holder admission to all performances this summer. Tickets to the benefit performance are now on sale and can be purchased for $35. Individual tickets to the new play development presentations will go on sale in June. Go to capecodtheatreproject.org to purchase.

New Play Development Presentations from July 1 through July 25

“To me, the Cape Cod Theatre Project has always been about doing great artistic work in a beautiful place”, says Artistic Director Hal Brooks. “We have an array of dynamic, engaging, entertaining and relevant playwrights joining us this summer with brand new work. It’s always inspiring to introduce our audience to new voices in the American Theater. Even better, is how the audience interacts with these writers each night, offering their ideas and opinions to the playwrights, collaborating with them in the moment.”

What is a Girl For?

The first new play of the season will be What Is A Girl For?, by this year’s Princess Grace Award Winning Playwright, Zoë Rhulen, presented Thursday July 2, Friday July 3, and Sunday July 5. All shows at 730 pm. With Alfredo Narciso and Heather Velazquez.

When Pablo Picasso was 45, he began a relationship with his muse, 17-year-old Marie-Thérèse Walter. His verdict on the age gap: 'It was perfect. I was in my prime. She was in her prime.' What is a Girl For? tells Marie-Thérèse's side of the story — moving between Minos, Paris, and the Brooklyn Museum — to ask whether Picasso was a monster like the minotaur he felt compelled to paint.

Zoë Rhulen is a Colorado-grown, New York-based playwright. Her writing is motivated by wildness, myths, monsters, food and sexuality. Zoë's plays include What is a Girl For? (New Dramatists), Dirt (Princess Grace Award Winner), Six Red Seeds (Ojai Semifinalist), Mommy and The Pirate (Theater Accident), and Dirty Pretty (SPACE on Ryder Farm Semifinalist). Her play Medusa Prays was a Red Bull Theater Short New Play Festival Winner. Zoë is the 2025-26 Princess Grace Fellow at New Dramatists. Her work has been supported by Arts on Site, Curious Theatre Company, The Lark, New Dramatists, Rattlestick Theater, Red Bull Theater, Slingshot Theater Company, The Tank, and Theater Accident. She holds a BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Los Feliz, or the live-in nanny play

Thursday July 9th through Saturday July 11th, CCTP will present Benjamin Benne’s Los Feliz, or the live-in nanny play directed by Cat Rodriguez. All shows at 730 pm.

When Irene, an affluent doctor living in Los Angeles, hires Guatemalan immigrant Emilia to be a live-in nanny, Emilia gains Irene as an ally in her immigration process. The two women quickly bond: they're both Latina, working mothers, against giving soda to toddlers, and could use a helping hand. As their lives intertwine, though, can they be more than just employer and employee? Are they friends? Are they family?

Benjamin Benne was named part of "LA Vanguardia: The Latino innovators, instigators, and power players breaking through barriers" by the Los Angeles Times. His produced plays include Alma (Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre, American Blues Theater, ArtsWest Playhouse, Curious Theatre Company, Central Square Theater, The Spot, Chance Theater, Passage Theatre Company), In His Hands (Mosaic Theater Company, First Floor Theater), Manning (Portland Stage), Wave After Wave (Actors Theatre of Louisville), and What / Washed Ashore / Astray (Pillsbury House Theatre). Additionally, his work has been developed by by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Great Plains Theatre Festival, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Public, Roundabout Theatre Company, The New Group, Primary Stages, Playwrights Realm, Colorado New Play Festival, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, The Old Globe, and Two River Theater, among many others. He has been awarded Ojai Playwrights Conference’s Dr. Kerry English Award, Portland Stage's Clauder Competition Grand Prize, American Blues Theater's Blue Ink Playwriting Award, Arizona Theatre Company's National Latinx Playwriting Award, and KCACTF Latinx Playwriting Award, among others. He has been commissioned by South Coast Repertory and Seattle Repertory Theatre. MFA: David Geffen/Yale School of Drama. www.benjaminbenne.com

The Maccabees

Playwright David Allyn brings his play The Maccabees to CCTP July 16th – 18th. All shows at 730 pm.

Hanukkah is the festival of lights and this year, there are fireworks at the Maccabee apartment on the Upper West Side. TV producer Jonathan Maccabee's life ignites when he learns he's being sued for libel by his MAHA brother Greg, and that his activist daughter is dating someone whose views Jonathan loathes. A blistering comedy about a Jewish family at war over politics, values, the future of liberal democracy — and how to make a really tender brisket.

David Allyn’s plays have been produced as part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival, the Hangar Theatre Lab, the Sun Dog Reading Series, and the NYC Fresh Fruit Festival. Baltimore City Paper described his play Commencement as “simultaneously uproarious and touching.” He was a semi-finalist for the 2017 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and has won awards from Writers Digest, The New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Deep South Writers Conference. His book Make Love, Not War was optioned by HBO. He holds a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. The New York Times has called him, “a wicked observer of self-conscious people at their less than best." He teaches at Avenues: The World School in New York City. Most importantly, his daughter Jordan is an MFA candidate at the Yale School of Drama.

Is There Even p*rn in India?

The final new play of the season is Dipti Bramhandkar’s Is There Even p*rn in India?, presented Thursday July 23rd – Saturday July 25th. All shows at 730 pm.

One throwaway question. Two couples. One very intriguing night. After an investors' pitch in Tribeca, indie filmmaker Charlie and her husband retreat to their Gowanus apartment while their hosts — first-time producer Sanjay and his wife Asha — replay the evening from a very different angle. As the night wears on, the unexpectedly complicated question, “Is there even p*rn in India?” insinuates itself into each person's sense of self, race, assumptions, and their most important relationships. A razor-sharp play about what we say, what we mean, when to stand up and when to let something pass.

Dipti Bramhandkar is a Mumbai-born playwright and filmmaker, and a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company. Her film Joan's Teeth, starring Kathleen Turner (Body Heat, Romancing the Stone), is beginning its 2026 festival circuit. In 2024, her immersive production Conjuring the King premiered with Juggerknot Theatre Company in Miami, earning the Silver Palm Award for Best Immersive Experience. She was awarded The Farm Theater's 2023–24 College Collaboration Project Fellowship, during which she developed Soft Launch, premiering at Centre College, and The Ruminants, produced at Austin Peay State University, Middle Tennessee State University, Shenandoah University, and The New School. Her work has been featured in LAByrinth's public Barn Series four times in the last five years. Islands of Contentment was produced by Hypokrit Productions and The Tank, with a cast including Daphne Rubin-Vega, Danny Pudi, Laura Gómez, Kalki Koechlin, and Suraj Sharma. As playwright-in-residence at Guild Hall, she was commissioned to write A Land Without Weather, featuring David Zayas, David Anzuelo, Chris McGarry, and Purva Bedi. Her audio plays Kishori's Canteen and Learning to Swim are available on Audible, and her solo show American Rookie, produced by Luna Stage, continues to be invited for performances nationwide. Her short film The Choice, starring Bobby Daniel Rodriguez, has been selected for several film festivals. Bramhandkar holds a B.A. from Cornell University and an M.A. from Cambridge University (both in English literature).

All Access Passes

All Access Passes, granting admission to every performance of all four MainStage plays, plus the Season Opening Benefit, are now available for $135 per person. In addition, All Access Pass Holders will also receive four free passes good to bring newcomers to the Cape Cod Theatre Project, good for all plays except the benefit – and have the flexibility to attend any performance. Tickets to the Season Opening Benefit Performance on June 28th are available now by purchasing the All Access Pass for $135 per person or by purchasing a $35 individual ticket good for the benefit only. Single tickets to all other staged readings will be available in June. This summer, CCTP will be introducing an All Streaming Pass for $50 to stream all shows live on Saturday nights. For tickets and more information visit www.capecodtheatreproject.org.

About the Cape Cod Theatre Project

The Cape Cod Theatre Project began as an experiment between two actors in 1995. Andrew Polk and Jim Bracchitta sensed that Cape Cod offered the perfect sanctuary for developing new work, combining an idyllic atmosphere with a community that enjoys and engages with the arts. Led by Artistic Director Hal Brooks since 2012, CCTP continues to support established and emerging voices in the American theater.

Each July, four playwrights are invited to develop new plays, utilizing a full week of rehearsals with a director and actors that culminates in a series of staged readings and talkbacks. CCTP also offers a weekly, free, behind-the-scenes StageTalk discussion with the playwright and director. Plays fostered with Cape Cod Theatre Project have achieved great success: 91 of the 117 plays developed have been produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway, at regional theaters, and internationally. Several have also been nominated for Pulitzers, Oscars, Tonys, Obies and more. CCTP alum Will Arbery saw his Heroes of the Fourth Turning become a Pulitzer Finalist and win several Obie Awards; 2017 Writer-in-Residence Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me was also a Pulitzer Finalist, a Tony Nominee, and is on Amazon Prime; Eboni Booth, (Pulitzer Winner for Primary Trust) came to the Cape with her play Nonfiction; Bess Wohl, (Pulitzer Winner for Liberation) worked on American Hero and Continuity at CCTP. Talene Monahon (Pulitzer Finalist for Meet the Cartosians) developed one of her first plays at CCTP - How to Load a Musket. Lucas Hnath’s Hillary and Clinton, developed here in 2015, had a Broadway production starring Laurie Metcalfe and John Lithgow, and Sharr White’s Pictures from Home had a 2023 Broadway production starring Nathan Lane