The South Carolina New Play Festival Sets 2025 Season with New Works by Aurin Squire & More

The South Carolina New Play Festival has unveiled its season lineup for 2025. The 4th annual festival will take place over four days, transforming Greenville, South Carolina into a hub of theatrical innovation from Thursday, August 7- Sunday, August 10. The 2025 festival will feature a wide range of musicals, plays, workshops, a scholarship contest, an outdoor variety stage, and will culminate in a Broadway Cabaret featuring Mary Kate Morrissey (Wicked) on August 10. 

The festival will take place in historic downtown Greenville amongst five venues spanning a European style main street with outdoor cafes. The Outdoor Variety stage will occur at Falls Park, a public park right in the center of downtown with a waterfall flowing through it, and on Main Street. The 2025 SC New Play Festival is expected to draw in thousands of visitors from across the region, making it one of the premiere destination events for new theatrical works in the Southeast US. 

The festival will kick off on Thursday, August 7, with a presentation of Merlin Returns starring Piff the Magic Dragon with book by John Van Der Put and West Hyler, and Music and Lyrics by Matt Schatz. Merlin Returns was commissioned by the SC New Play Festival. The Madcap Magic-Musical has Vegas Headliner and “Magician of the Year” Piff the Magic Dragon cast as the lead in a revival of the 1983 Broadway flop "Merlin” which originally starred Doug Henning. The laugh-out-loud parody focuses on the backstage drama as Piff and his Vegas sidekicks come into increasing conflict with the musical theater actors playing the roles of The Queen, The Prince, and young Merlin (roles which were originally performed on Broadway by Chita Rivera, Nathan Lane, and Christian Slater). Merlin Returns will play Thursday, August 7 and Friday, August 8, at 7pm at the Gunter Theatre. 

On Friday, August 8, SCNPF will present a never-before-heard rewrite of The Break, with music by Michael Kooman and Book & Lyrics by Christopher Dimond. Kooman and Dimond have been awarded the Fred Ebb Award, a Jonathan Larson Grant, and the first Lorenz Hart Award by the ASCAP Foundation. They are the primary songwriters of the Disney Junior series Vampirina and the Netflix Series, Ridley Jones. They also wrote “Finn” a coming-of-age story about a shark, which was nominated for a Helen Hayes award for best new play or musical.

“The Break” is an adult story, about a couple who, after ten years together, decide to take a one-month “break’ from each other to date around, and sleep around, and see if a lifetime contract and marriage is their thing. During their 30-day break the two lovers discover significant truths about themselves and their relationships and will speak to all of us who had a long-term relationship that affected our lives, but maybe wasn’t “the one” for the rest of our life. The Break will play Friday and Saturday night at 8pm at The Warehouse Theater. 

Saturday, August 09, features Mariah, or The Passageway by Rachel Bonds. Rachel’s most recent productions Jonah and The Lonely Few were both New York Times Critics’ Picks, and she recently collaborated on the scripted series The Boars’ Nest, starring Mandy Moore, for Audible. Mariah, or The Passageway centers on a family who gathers for Sadie’s 70th birthday party. Her son Alex and his girlfriend arrive to surprise his mother, only to find the house is already full with Sadie’s much younger boyfriend, Ben, Alex’s struggling older brother, Nick, and a new tenant, Mariah, with whom Alex had a confusing and intimate relationship with years ago. This new play explores how our bodies struggle to carry psychic wounds, and the danger of leaving those wounds unattended. Mariah, or The Passageway will play Saturday Matinee at 2pm at Centre Stage. 

On Sunday, August 10, My Favorite Sociopath a new play by Aurin Squire will be presented. Aurin was most recently on Broadway as the bookwriter of “A Wonderful World”. He won the Helen Merrill Prize for Emerging Playwrights and the Emerald Prize from Seattle Public Theatre for his new drama. His political satire "Obama-ology" was workshopped at the Juilliard New Play Festival before becoming a sold-out hit at Finborough Theatre in London. He is also known for the hit NBC Drama “This is Us” and was a co-executive Producer on the CBS Dramas “the Good Fight” and “Evil”. His newest play explores his time as a college journalist and his work for the Chicago Tribune and Miami Herald. “My Favorite Sociopath” centers on three journalism students who are willing to stretch the truth to get the best story. It is a show that explores the way media seeks to divide and enrage audiences in order to get the most eyes on a story and profoundly relevant now in the social media age. "Sociopath" was commissioned by Audible Theatre and will play at Warehouse Theatre Sunday at Noon. 

Also on Sunday, August 10, The Drought Girl, a new original show for young audiences from Lyra Nalan will be presented in the afternoon. Lyra is a Brooklyn-based Chinese playwright and winner of the Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award. The Drought Girl follows Nemo, a fourth-grade girl who prefers to play by herself but is constantly teased by her obnoxious table-mate, Stone. Their dynamic changes with the arrival of a strange mythical girl who possesses supernatural gifts and curses. The Drought Girl is one tale about two unlikely friendships, told from three perspectives. We will present The Drought Girl on Sunday at 3 PM at the South Carolina Children’s Theatre. 

On Saturday August 09 and Sunday August 10 the Outdoor variety stage will include internationally renowned performers including Daniel and Kimberly Craig with the Street Circus, Paris the Hip Hop Juggler, and the circus company Nouveau Sud. 

SCNPF is expanding this year with the addition of South Carolina’s Next Broadway Star, a scholarship contest designed to discover and support high school musical theater students across the state. From 50 semi-finalists. 9-12 will advance to a live public competition on Saturday evening judged by Tony-winner Celia Keenan-Bolger, Tony nominee John Ellison Conlee, and Broadway Casting Director Merri Sugarman.

Winners will receive scholarships to support their theater education. Celia Keenan-Bolger was Tony-nominated for her roles in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Glass Menagerie , and Mother Play and won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for portraying Scout Finch in the play To Kill a Mockingbird. Merri Sugarman’s Broadway casting credits include School of Rock, Spamalot, Jersey Boys, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Jesus Christ Superstar, It Shoulda Been You, Miss Saigon, A Bronx Tale and Ain’t Too Proud. John Ellison Conlee was Tony-nominated for his role in The Full Monty. Other Broadway credits include The Constant Wife and 1776. He was SAG nominated for his role on Boardwalk Empire and was a recurring character on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. South Carolina’s Next Broadway Star will presented at 6pm on Saturday, August 09, at the Governor’s School for the Arts. 

The festival will conclude on the evening of Sunday, August 10, with acclaimed Broadway star Mary Kate Morrissey headlining a Broadway Cabaret on the evening of Sunday, August 10 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Greenville. Morrissey, best known for her portrayal of Elphaba in Wicked and Janis in Mean Girls, brings her extraordinary talent and vibrant stage presence to this highly anticipated event promising an unforgettable evening of music, storytelling, and show-stopping performances. Tickets are on sale now at www.scnpf.org. 

The South Carolina New Play festival will take place at venues including The Gunter Theatre at the Peace Center, Warehouse Theatre, Hyatt Regency, Governor’s School for the Arts, South Carolina Children’s Theater, and CentreStage. 

South Carolina Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. WATIRESS (Centre Stage)

14.1% of votes

2. THE COLOR PURPLE (Clark Nesbitt’s No Dream Deffered)

11.5% of votes

3. THE PRINCE OF EGYPT (Anderson University)

7.2% of votes

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