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For our 3rd annual New Works Festival, we'll be producing 4 full-length productions from local LA playwrights!
Our New Works Festival produces short plays by local writers and directors from marginalized communities. Each play is themed around social justice issues that are currently present in our community. By producing these plays in Burbank, we seek to amplify voices that are often unheard.
Playing at the Victory Theatre Center September 18-27
Playing Sept 19 at 7pm & Sept 27 at 3pm
Written by Nick Roy
Directed by Matthew Namik
Convert imagines a world where being gay is no longer accepted, and new technological advances in conversion therapy keep young gay men trapped in heteronormative simulation worlds in an attempt to change them for "good". The status quo has a glitch in the form of Lennox, a seemingly unconvertible gay man, who dreams of his past every night, and will stop at nothing to find his lover and keep his truth intact.
playing sept 20 at 3pm & sept 26 at 7pm
Written by Chandra Thomas
Directed by Titus Telge
AMELIA and her longtime partner MATTHEW are applying to foster a kid. The Newark, NJ homeowners, though both of color, are considered part of the gentrifying wave that's radically changing the city. They are reminded of this fact loudly and often by their sole tenant, OCTAVIA. The couple navigates the surprise of Amelia's ex, social worker DAVIDA unexpectedly showing up to evaluate the couple's foster application. When young TALARIQ becomes their foster son, the couple's collective and individual understandings of class, race/ethnicity, family, sexuality
playing sept 19 at 3pm & sept 25 at 7pm
Written and Directed by Aaron Braxton
When an African American mother crosses invisible neighborhood borders and camps with her teenage son on the front lawn of a White liberal immigration attorney, under the guise of “asylum seeking,” the collision of property, privilege, and survival ignites a tragedy that forces everyone to confront who the terminology was truly created to protect.
playing sept 18 at 7pm & sept 26 at 3pm
Written by Erik Patterson
Directed by Neil H. Weiss
When the socially awkward girl gets the dream role of Emily Webb, the three most popular girls in Drama set out to ruin her. Twenty years later, the past comes back to haunt them.
Conundrum's 2026 New Works Festival is made possible by the Burbank Community Arts Grant Program.
