​NEW VENTURES PLAY FESTIVAL 2023
Honorary Producers Gayle & David Smith
​To celebrate the vitality of classical themes in new work, PAC is excited to announce our
THIRD annual New Ventures Play Festival! Back in October, playwrights were invited to submit new works of no more than 10 minutes, inspired by the classics and based on a theme. Our theme for the 2023 festival is The Evolution of Human Rights.

A panel of readers have read and discussed all submissions (last year we had over 130!) , and have chosen 5 finalists whose work will be presented in two evenings of world-premiere staged readings featuring a star-studded group of Philly actors and directors.
As always, our New Ventures are completely FREE to audiences!
           THE PLAYS           
Anne Then Some
by Allison Fradkin

Directed by Mikaela Boone

Featuring
Jacinta Yelland, Adaeze Nwoko
Ubu Impeached
by Michael Maiello

Directed by Kevaughn Harvey

Featuring
Peter Schmitz*, Megan Bellwoar*, J Hernandez*, Katrina Hall
The Company of Spiders
by Matthew Park

Directed by Kevaughn Harvey

Featuring
Brittany Onukwugha, J. Paul Nicholas*,
Kimie Muroya
Those Pitying Saints
by Anne Valentino

Directed by Damon Bonetti

Featuring
Madeleine Garcia, Michael Toner, David Ingram*
The Venus Problem
by Ang(ela) Bey

Directed by Vanessa Ogbuehi

Featuring
Kishia Nixon, Aaron Bell*, Anna Lieberman, Adam Howard*, Wendi Smith
*Member of Actors Equity Association
Ang(ela) Bey - The Venus Problem

Ang is an artist from Southwest Philadelphia. They are founder of Upstream Performance Collaborative and Co-Artistic Director of Shoe Box Theatre Collective. Affiliations: Ring of Keys, Rising Writers (Azuka Theatre), and PlayPenn Playwrights Cohort; former: Echoes Writers Group (Primary Stages), Strides Collective Emerging Playwrights Residency, and Jouska PlayWorks. Residencies/awards: HATCH, Rockland Woods, semi-finalist for Shattered Globe’s Global Playwright Series and Live in Color’s June Bingham Playwright Commission. Commissions: Museum of the American Revolution and Christ Church Neighborhood House. This summer, MASC. will be presented at the Philadelphia Women’s Theatre Festival and COMET premieres at The Painted Bride. angbey.com @tallblackcreative
Allison Fradkin - Anne Then Some

Scriptly speaking, Allison (she/her) creates satirically scintillating stories that (sur)pass the Bechdel Test and enlist their characters in a caricature of the idiocies and intricacies of insidious isms. Her 10-minute plays have been produced nationwide, and in Pennsylvania her work has been presented by Art & Vine Entertainment and Philadelphia Dramatists Center. An enthusiast of inclusivity and accessibility, Fradkin freelances for her hometown of Chicago as Co-Artistic Director of Violet Surprise Theatre, curating new works that validate queer women, trans women, and non-binary folx; Artistic Director of Mosaic Players, presenting historical plays that champion social justice and human rights; and Dramatist for Special Gifts Theatre, adapting scripts that celebrate actors of all abilities.
Michael Maiello - Ubu Impeached

Michael is a journalist, essayist, playwright and author who held editorial positions at Forbes for 10 years and has also written for The New York Times, Esquire, Rolling Stone, McSweeney's, Reuters, The Daily Beast, Weekly Humorist, Splitsider, The Awl and more. His free newsletter, Middlebrow Musings, is available at: https://middlebrowmusings.substack.com/
Matthew Park - Company of Spiders

Matthew is a Korean-American playwright. His work revolves around the Asian-American experience, and investigates the ramifications of living under a scarcity model. His plays include Lessons (Diverse Voices Playwriting Initiative finalist 2023, Bay Area Playwrights Festival semifinalist 2023), Assimilation (Pipeline PlayLab semifinalist 2021), Plague Year (Red Bull Theater’s Short New Play Festival 2020), and Hurricane Regan. His work has been supported by the Playwrights Realm, New York University and Illinois State University. He is a member of Playground-NY’s Writers Pool and has been published by Stage Rights. He is an MFA Playwriting Candidate at the Yale School of Drama.
ne Valentino - Those Pitying Saints

A queer playwright residing in the DC area, Anne strives for a depiction of humanity that lets itself off the hook—people are going to behave as they do, want what they want, and make decisions that can seem tragically flawed at times. She believes that in today’s world one of the toughest things to come by is someone who will let you off the hook, who will say it’s okay to be flawed, it’s okay not to have conquered all of your challenges, it’s okay to have humble dreams. It’s okay… Receiving a PhD in Literature from Temple University, Anne has made writing the center of her professional life for the past twenty years. She’s had plays presented as part of the Baltimore Playwright’s Festival, Rockford New Words, Arts Fort Worth Original Works Series, Burlington County Footlighters New Works Festival, Creative 360 Art Speaks Festival, and Jersey City Theater Center’s Resilience Play Festival, among others. She lives with her fiancée and their 2 highly untrainable pups.
Special thanks to our reading committee:
Becky Bradbeer, Kirstie Floyd, Donovan Lockett, Eric Mills, Kimie Muroya, Minou Pourshariati, Matthew Reddin, Gayle Smith, Steve Wei, Frank X