Denver Center announces 20th Colorado New Play Summit lineup

Festival celebrates two decades of new works with four readings and two world premieres

The Denver Center Theatre Company has revealed details for the 20th annual Colorado New Play Summit, taking place Feb. 14-15, 2026. The annual festival will feature readings of four new plays alongside world premiere productions of two works from the 2024 summit.

“As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Colorado New Play Summit, we’re honoring two decades of bold storytelling and boundary-pushing voices,” said Chris Coleman, artistic director of the Denver Center Theatre Company.

The 2026 readings include Lemuria by Bonnie Antosh, a queer reimagining of King Lear set in the world of primatology; Influent by Isaac Gómez, a DCPA commission exploring influencer culture and authenticity; You Should Be So Lucky by Alyssa Haddad-Chin, an intergenerational story about family and tradition in Chinatown; and The Myth of Two Marcos by Tony Meneses, a time-bending tale of friendship featuring an Aztec superhero.

The festival will also present world premieres of Cowboys and East Indians by Nina McConigley and Matthew Spangler, directed by Coleman, and Godspeed by Terence Anthony, directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg. Both plays received readings at the 2024 summit.

Cowboys and East Indians follows the Sen family as they navigate cultural collisions after moving from India to Wyoming. The production is adapted from McConigley’s award-winning short story collection and explores the rarely depicted experience of rural immigrants in the American West.

Godspeed is set in 1865 Texas immediately following the abolition of slavery. The Western-style adventure follows a gunslinger named Godspeed who returns from Mexico seeking vengeance while grappling with questions of justice.

Since its founding, the summit has introduced 74 new plays, over half of which returned to the stage as full Theatre Company productions. Notable summit alumni include Samuel D. Hunter’s The Whale, Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will, Lauren Yee’s The Great Leap and José Cruz González’s American Mariachi.

American Theatre magazine has called the Colorado New Play Summit a “must-see stop for new-play development.” The festival gives playwrights rehearsal time with professional directors, actors and dramaturgs to workshop their plays. Industry professionals and the public can attend staged readings and provide feedback on works in development.