José Rivera's The Untranslatable Secrets of Nikki Corona

[froodle]

Goodman Theatre announced the lineup for the 14th annual New Stages Festival, a three-week celebration of new work by some of the country's finest established and emerging playwrights. This year, the festival will run September 20-October 8.

Eight new works will be presented in this year's festival, all in free performances. Three of them will be fully staged developmental productions: Ike Holter's Lottery Day, a new work that weaves together characters from Holter's acclaimed previous plays Exit Strategy, Sender, and more; Bess Wohl's Continuity, a comic look at a female director's attempts to bring climate change to the forefront of a Hollywood blockbuster; and Rebecca Gilman's Twilight Bowl, a look at two young women facing very different futures.

Four others will be presented as staged readings during the final week of the festival: Mat Smart's Eden Prairie, 1971, the story of a young draft dodger returning home; Christina Anderson's How to Catch Creation, an ode to the art of creating; José Rivera's The Untranslatable Secrets of Nikki Corona, a supernatural tale of a woman's attempt to communicate with her deceased twin; and David Cale's We're Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time, a musical reflection of Cale's own childhood.

In addition, the festival will offer a sneak peek at an immersive work in progress, Mikhael Tara Garver's Postnation, an exploration of immigrants' roles in the creation of the U.S. Postal Service.