by Team Actors on November 13, 2019
Actors Theatre of Louisville Announces the 44th Humana Festival of New American Plays
March 1–April 12, 2020
FEATURING WORLD PREMIERES BY
Jeff Augustin
Vivian Barnes
Morgan Gould
Candrice Jones
Jonathan Norton
Gab Reisman
Nolan Williams, Jr.
LOUISVILLE, KY – The future of American theatre is in Louisville! Actors Theatre of Louisville and Artistic Director Robert Barry Fleming proudly announce the lineup for the 44th Humana Festival of New American Plays. The upcoming Festival marks Fleming’s first at the helm of Actors Theatre, the nation’s leading incubator for new play development. A cultural highlight for theatre lovers, artists and producers across the country, the Humana Festival runs March 1 through April 12, 2020 in Louisville.
The 44th Festival program will feature five world premieres, listed in order of first performance:
Are You There? by Vivian Barnes, Jonathan Norton and Gab Reisman
Nicole Clark is Having a Baby by Morgan Gould
Where the Mountain Meets the Sea by Jeff Augustin
FLEX by Candrice Jones
Grace by Nolan Williams, Jr.
The upcoming Humana Festival marks Actors Theatre Artistic Director Robert Barry Fleming’s inaugural season. Fleming joined Actors Theatre in June. He shared,
“Great art can catalyze a spirit of resilience, transformation and even liberation. Through theatre making, Actors aspires to that kind of substantive social impact as a hallmark of what we do.”
By investing in the future of playwriting, Actors Theatre makes a significant impact not only on the national theatre canon but also on the economic prosperity and cultural vibrancy of Louisville. The 2019 Humana Festival was attended by more than 38,000 people, with visitors from 41 states and 52 colleges and universities represented in the audience.
For over four decades, Actors Theatre of Louisville has been a driving force in new play development, introducing more than 450 plays into the American theatre repertoire and representing the work of more than 400 playwrights and ensembles. The internationally acclaimed Humana Festival is recognized as a crucial incubator for new work and a launchpad for myriad subsequent productions around the country and the world. Plays that have recently premiered at Actors Theatre—including Liliana Padilla's How to Defend Yourself, Molly Smith Metzler’s Cry it Out, Leah Nanako Winkler’s God Said This, Jen Silverman’s The Roommate, Lucas Hnath’s The Christians and The Thin Place, and Colman Domingo’s Dot—have continued to be produced on stages far and wide.
Actors Theatre celebrates the 44th Humana Festival with underwriter the Humana Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Humana, Inc. Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.