Moonbox Productions is thrilled to announce its 3nd Annual Boston New Works Festival taking place June 20th – June 23rd in the Calderwood Pavilion and the BCA Plaza Theatres at Boston Center for the Arts. The Boston New Works Festival will be a weekend long festival celebrating new original plays by local playwrights and will showcase eight original plays on six different stages at the Calderwood Pavilion and the BCA Plaza Theatres.

Schedule

State of Maine

Moe, Beckett and Jane are all about to face the same inevitable question: what is worth remembering when the past is too painful to hold on to?

After escaping a dangerous past in Minnesota, Jane finds herself in a small seaside town where she meets Beckett and Moe.  Moe owns the Inn where Jane finds a room to rent and where Beckett, her partner also lives. But Beckett is experiencing the early stages of dementia and she and Moe are about to discover the cost of keeping a secret, even when it’s done with the best intentions. Moe, Beckett and Jane are all about to face the same inevitable question: what is worth remembering when the past is too painful to hold on to? State of Maine wrestles with the truth, challenges and beauty of letting go and starting over. 

Friday, June 21 - 7:30pm

Sunday, June 23 - 4:00pm

Venue: Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street - Staged Reading

Tickets - $25.00

Buy tickets

Fall With Me

During the Great Depression, an African-American war hero must choose between providing for his family or returning to his former glory, to hold the U.S. Government accountable for debts unpaid to his fellow WWI veterans.

Baltimore -1932. Bithiah and J.J. Johnston are quietly surviving the Great Depression, while doing what they can for their neighbors. Fifty-miles south, in the nation’s capital, the world is about to explode. When J.J.’s fellow “doughboys” arrive, in search of someone to lead the fight against a government that’s left the veterans of The Great War and their families to perish, the smell of former glory intoxicates J.J and threatens to derail what little his family has. J.J. must decide what fight is truly win and what is worth the risk, should he lose.

Thursday, June 20 - 8:00pm

Saturday, June 22 - 4:00pm

Venue: Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street - Staged Reading

Tickets - $25.00

Buy tickets

Meet Me in the Bathroom

When notorious bad girl LASER gets her hands on, good girl FRECKLES’ cell phone and posts a questionable picture of this former BFF with their “hot” English teacher, six teenagers and the entire student body are faced with either believing Freckles is innocent or joining the ranks of popular opinion, believing that Freckles is a **** and must be canceled!

When Freckles, a high school junior, innocently shows her friends a selfie of her and their sexy English teacher Mr. Murphy, she unwillingly sets herself into a social and social media tailspin. The dominos begin to fall as mean girl with a grudge, Laser, steals Freckles’ phone and posts the photo online, the school’s beloved English teacher gets fired, and Freckles gets kicked off student government, her ticket to a stellar college application and popularity. Set entirely in the girls’ bathroom of a high school in an average town, six teenagers are faced with decision to stand with Freckles and fall into social suicide, or to save face and join the ranks of popular opinion, believe that Freckles is a **** and must be destroyed!

Friday, June 21 -  7:30pm

Sunday, June 23 -  4:00pm

Venue: Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street - Staged Reading

Tickets - $25.00

Buy tickets

How to Not Save the World with Mr. Bezos

In the near-future fairy tale How to Not Save the World with Mr. Bezos, mysterious journalist Cherry Beaumont interviews an increasingly vulnerable Jeffrey Bezos about the ethics of being a billionaire, and whether the masses gathering outside might deserve a bigger piece of the pie.

A throne of red Solo cups, a pile of teeth, the ghost of Pete Seeger, and a little something for dinner. It’s 2030, and it’s illegal to be a billionaire. Jeffrey Bezos has agreed to give an interview in exchange for information on the federal case against him. But there’s something off about journalist Cherry Beaumont, a crowd is forming outside, and the onstage Fact Checker has a few important clarifications to make. In this near-future fairy tale, the fall of capitalism is about to get very messy.

Thursday, June 20 - 8:00pm

Saturday, June 22 - 4:00pm

Venue: Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street - Staged Reading

Tickets - $25.00

Buy tickets

Holy Chicken Sandwich

During a grand opening campout in the parking lot of a beloved yet politically controversial chicken empire, the newly appointed, quietly queer, store manager, must find the source of anarchy before the flock devolves into utter chaos, revealing deeper themes of identity, consumerism, and division in Holy Chicken Sandwich, a new comedic whodunit of celestial proportions. 

On the eve of a highly anticipated grand opening of a beloved yet politically controversial fast-food empire, one hundred fervent devotees gather in the parking lot for an overnight campout to earn a year of free large combos. As the night unfolds, it’s clear there’s a fox in the chicken coop. Jade, the newly appointed store manager, must find the source of anarchy before the flock devolves into utter chaos. HOLY CHICKEN SANDWICH is a comedic mystery of celestial proportions that explores themes of identity, consumerism, and division––a play that invites audiences to examine indoctrination and uncover what’s really in the secret sauce of devotion.

Thursday, June 20 - 7:30pm

Saturday, June 22 - 3:00pm

Saturday, June 22 - 8:00pm

Sunday, June 23 -  3:00pm

Venue: BCA Plaza Black Box Theatre, 539 Tremont Street - Main Stage

Tickets - $25.00

Buy tickets

Covenant

After federal agent Jordan’s mission to infiltrate an apocalyptic religious community ends in disaster, questions from an unseen interrogator force her to decide whether the beliefs guiding her mission are any less dangerous than the beliefs of those in the group.

How do we become entrenched in the beliefs we hold, and what – if anything – can get us to walk away when those beliefs lead to chaos and destruction?  Jordan’s mission to infiltrate and report on an apocalyptic religious community has ended in disaster. Questions from an unseen interrogator trigger and inform Jordan’s memories of her time undercover, forcing her to confront the effects of the choices she’s made and decide whether the beliefs that guided her are any less destructive than the beliefs of those in the group.

Friday, June 21 - 8:00pm

Saturday, June 22 - 6:00pm

Sunday, June 23 - 2:00pm

Sunday, June 23 - 7:00pm

Venue: BCA Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont Street - Main Stage

Tickets - $25.00

Buy tickets

Knock Down Drag Out

When Boston’s only drag club is threatened with demolition, four queens band together and fight with everything they have to hold onto their chosen home while struggling with the question of what happens to the people on the fringe when the fringe no longer exists.

Developers want to tear down Antoine’s, Boston’s only drag bar, in order to build some high-rise condos. Zonna, who has been performing at the club for 2/3 of her life, has other ideas. After being visited by the ghost of her drag mother Crystal Crawford, Zonna bands together with her drag queen sisters Ivanka (the club’s 70 year old bartender and former chanteuse), Mx (a gender fluid college kid) and Sharia Law (a hardscrabble queen who has fought for everything she’s got) and stages a “drag in”, where they will live in the club to protest its demolition, while fending off their neighbor, Mrs. Chao (an 80 year old Chinese woman who is on a permanent neighborhood watch), as well as the gentrification of the neighborhood they all love.

Thursday, June 20 - 7:30pm

Saturday, June 22 - 3:00pm

Saturday, June 22 - 8:00pm

Sunday, June 23 - 5:00pm

Venue: Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street - Main Stage

Tickets - $25.00

Buy tickets

Once Upon a Carnival

ONCE UPON A CARNIVAL is a magical realism tale about grief, identity, and found family set in 1990s Trinidad and Tobago to a vibrant fusion of chutney, soca, calypso and musical theatre.

Once Upon a Carnival is an original musical set in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad & Tobago. When 16-year-old Bhavan is

forced to move from New York City to his mother’s home country of Trinidad after his father’s death, he is faced with the

task of overcoming grief and accepting his identity through a magical quest in the mythological bush land. Set to a vibrant score infused with chutney, soca and calypso sounds, Bhavan’s adventure will test his and the audience’s notions of grief, identity and found family while exploring the magical world of Trinidad at Carnival time.

Friday, June 21 - 8:00pm

Saturday, June 22 - 2:00pm

Saturday, June 22 - 8:00pm

Sunday, June 23 - 2:00pm

Venue: Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street - Main Stage

Tickets - $25.00

Buy tickets

Date: June 20 - 23, 2024

Locations: 

Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street

BCA Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont Street

Click here for more information