The New Group Unveils Lineup for FREE FEST, A New Work Reading Festival
Events will run from June 24-28.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jun. 03, 2025
The New Group has revealed the lineup for Free Fest, now in its third year. Free Fest is The New Group's annual new works festival where bold stories meet big ideas and boundary-defying artists take center stage, a celebration of radical voices and daring new visions. The festival, a venture from The New Group/New Works program, provides a platform for artists to showcase their creative voice and further their writing process.
Curated by The New Group’s Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence Preston Crowder, the 2025 festival will feature free readings of four plays: Dingaling by jeremy o’brian, directed by Sideeq Heard; Somebody’s Body by C.A. Johnson, directed by Knud Adams; Wood by Haygen-Brice Walker; The Invisible Hand of God Touched Me In a Bad Place by David Davila, directed by Nadia Guevara. The Artistic Producers of Free Fest are The New Group’s Producing Director Adrian Alea and Associate Artistic Director Ian Morgan.
The New Group/New Works development program focuses on the nurturing and development of new plays and musicals. A core tenet of this program is to build and facilitate lasting relationships between The New Group, artists, and audiences who connect through theater that is adventurous, stimulating, and socially relevant. This program has become a vital incubator for emerging and established playwrights, and serves as the primary pipeline for world premieres at The New Group. Public reading festivals have long been a part of the program’s developmental process.
2025 Free Fest Lineup
Dingaling by jeremy o’brian
Directed by Sideeq Heard
Tuesday, June 24 at 4:00pm
When Gummie, a Black queer teen living with a quiet new diagnosis, is shipped off to a Mississippi premiere boarding school by his religious mother, he stumbles into the seductive world of the Dingalings —the elite queer clique on campus. But when he develops feelings for Plum, the crush of head Dingaling Peaches, the gloves come off and the claws come out. In this fierce, fast-paced face-off for Prom King, love, and the top spot, Dingaling is a biting, beautiful tale of queerness, power, and coming out swinging.
Somebody’s Body by C.A. Johnson
Directed by Knud Adams
Wednesday, June 25 at 4:00pm
Iris is an artist. Iris dates Tanya. Tanya is a lawyer. Tanya dates Iris. Anthony is a curator who wants Tanya and Iris to break up. Mar, an anthropologist, is just happy to be included, or maybe she loves Iris too. Either way, they are four trauma-bonded millennials standing at the edge of self-actualization, asking the only questions that matter: who am I, and how do I make sense of this body of mine?
Wood by Haygen-Brice Walker
Friday, June 27 at 4:00pm
Every year, Rod and Beaux go on an annual hunting trip. Five years ago, their younger buddy, Devyn, started joining them. It's a time for the men to leave their wives and day jobs behind and travel deep into the woods to slam some beers, clean some guns, and most importantly: gut some deer. When Mo crashes her car not far from the guys' campsite and stumbles on the men, things get weird. When she takes their clothes and drinks their beer, things get weirder. When she shows them her superpower, things get weirdest. And when Mo knows all their secrets, shit really hits the fan. A messy, sexy, glittery shit show of a play about dirty sex, nasty break-ups, toxic masculinity, and the Catholic Church.
The Invisible Hand of God Touched Me In a Bad Place by David Davila
Directed by Nadia Guevara
Saturday, June 28 at 4:00pm
When corporate climber Jaime Ramirez moves his family to Mexico for a lucrative promotion, he doesn’t count on falling for a queer factory worker leading a fiery labor uprising. As their forbidden romance threatens to ignite a revolution, Jaime must decide to defend the capitalist machine or help burn it to the ground. Boal meets Nottage in this interactive-hybrid-dramedy that casts the audience as the striking factory workers who ultimately get to decide the fate of our heroes in this choose-your-own-adventure takedown of American imperialism and the cost of selling out.
Videos