HAZEL & BEA IN THE IN-BETWEEN to Make World Premiere at Durango PlayFest

Playwright Zoe Stanton-Savitz will premiere their tender queer drama, Hazel & Bea in the In-Between, at the 8th Annual Durango PlayFest, June 23-28. In less than a decade, PlayFest has matured into a coveted incubator for well-known and emerging playwrights, actors, and directors to develop new works and present them to live audiences for feedback.

In the play, two elderly women - Hazel, sharp-tongued and fiercely independent, and Bea, warm but forgetful - meet as roommates in a nursing home. They clash over space, noise, and personality. As they reminisce about the lives that they've lost, Hazel comes to believe Bea is the Beatrice she loved as a teenager.

Stanton-Savitz (she/they) is a third-year MFA Playwriting student at Columbia University and a freelance sound designer based in New York City. Productions include Selkie Woman (2025) and Rachel Berry Saved My Life (2024) at Columbia University, and Agatha at Sarah Lawrence College (2022). Readings include Agatha at Lakewood Playhouse New Voices Festival (2025), Pennies for Forgotten Words at La Mama Manifestation Reading Festival (2023), and Twice Gone at Sarah Lawrence College (2021). Other recognition includes semi-finalist for TNT Pops! Playwriting Competition (Agatha, 2025), long-listed for the 2026 Distillery New Works Festival (Hazel & Bea in the In-Between, 2025), semi-finalist for the 47th Bay Area Playwright's Festival (Twice Gone), and winner of David Lindsay-Abaire award for excellence in playwriting at Sarah Lawrence College.

The 2026 PlayFest is excited to welcome the following cast:

• Patty McCormack - Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated actor with eight decades of experience in stage, television and film. She is known for her performances in The Bad Seed, Frost/Nixon and The Master.
• Kathleen Noone - Emmy Award-winning actress who starred as Ellen on All My Children. Theatrically, she worked off-Broadway at The Roundabout Theatre, and at many regional theatres. Kathleen has also starred in many feature films including Citizen Ruth and Don't Mess With The Zohan. On television, she was a series regular on Knots Landing, and guest-starred on numerous series such as Party of Five, According to Jim, and Frasier.
• Tara Demmy - Durango, CO-based clown, theatre artist, and historian originally from Philadelphia. She is a company member with Merely Players in Durango. Her original show, Clown Sex Ed, just completed a Colorado tour. She has a PhD in theatre and performance studies from the University of Maryland.

Directing the play will be Nikki DiLoreto. As a director and associate director, DiLoreto has worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, the West End, and on regional theater productions across North America, including the global hit SIX: The Musical, Soft Power, The Magnificent Seven, and the recent Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate. She has collaborated with Roundabout Theatre Company, The Public Theatre, Rattlestick Theatre, WP Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, IAMA Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, and Center Theatre Group among others.

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