2026 Newmarket International Festival of One Act Plays Season
Welcome to the 2026 Newmarket International Festival of One Act Plays. The NIFOAP runs from Thursday September 10 to Sunday, September 13 at Newmarket’s Old Town Hall, 460 Botsford St and will feature both evening and matinee shows and be fully aphasia accessible. We thank the reading committee for their diligent work in choosing an exciting season line-up of plays for you!
Here are the winning plays (performance nights yet to be announced).
Thursday September 10 to Sunday September 13th.
Join us in Newmarket’s Old Town Hall at 460 Botsford Street in the heart of downtown Newmarket.
Featured Plays and Playwrights:
- Character Flaws!!! by Reginald T. Jackson (Brooklyn, USA)
- Cosmo Girls by Lawrie Carruthers (Toronto, Canada)
- The Hunchback of Marshall Avenue by Randy Gross (Enola, PA, USA)
- Just Asking by Cary Pepper (San Francisco, USA)
- Pigeon… Whole by Ken Green (Boston, USA)
- Red Comet by Len Cuthbert (Mt. Brydges, Canada)
- Such Dreams as Stuff is Made On by Dan McGeehan (Chicago, USA)
- The Big Sneeze (or Much Achoo About Nothing) by Morey Norkin (Saga-Ken, Japan)
Live Staged Readings:
- A Happy Child by Natalya Torzhevska (Ukraine)
- Bug Rescuing by Judy Klass (Nashville, USA)
- Unbridled Fear by Donald Loftus (New York City, USA)
- Unmasked at Dawn by Emma Inglis (Devon, UK)
The Live Staged Readings will take place at various dates and locations, to be announced.
Our first pre-festival staged play reading
Will be held at the 3rd Annual seniors expo. @ Newmarket Community Centre and Lions Hall, 200 Doug Duncan Drive, Newmarket.
The free event, hosted by local MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy, runs Friday June 5 from 9am- 1 pm.
The play we are presenting is called “Unbridled Fear” written by Donald Loftus of New York City.
The NIFOAP will once again feature an exciting opening night pre-show Red Carpet Party, including live ambient entertainment followed by the evening’s plays. This opening night gala event has become very popular so be sure and get your tickets (newtix.ca).
Watch this page for our workshops – to be annnounced.
We are also offering limited space free workshops for young and aspiring writers, directors and actors. Two will be online, one will be in person Saturday Sept 12 at 10am Newmarket’s Old Town Hall at 460 Botsford Street in the heart of downtown Newmarket.
Play Tickets can be pre-ordered online or are available during boxoffice hours at New Roads Theatre or a half hour before the shows @ Old Town Hall.
All Tickets @ Newtix.ca
Ticket Prices
Opening Night Red Carpet Party includes pre-show entertainment, charcuterie, hors deuvres, Cash bar – $40.
At the door $30 per person – $25 for seniors/students.
Every other show – Advanced tickets $25 person – $20 seniors/students
All Days Festival Passes $75.
All Days Festival Passes Early Bird Special $50 (if purchased before July 1).
Dinner & A Show Opening Night – $80.
Show admission for one person, plus up to $50 towards dinner at select restaurant locations nearby, tip not included. Restaurant locations coming soon!
Dinner & A Show each other night $65 each
Our Special Events and Activities
Discover a variety of special events and activities that complement the Newmarket International Festival of One Act Plays.
From opening night celebrations to community fundraisers, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
Join us for an unforgettable theatrical experience and support local arts initiatives.
2026 Playwrights
Reginald T Jackson
Character Flaws!!!
His play DEE’S DILEMNA was produced in Houston, TX by the FADE TO BLACK FESTIVAL in June 2024. His play BLACK IN THE FIRST DEGREE was produced Off-Broadway by the Downtown Urban Arts Festival June 2025. DEE’s DILEMNA was chosen as the best of the best short plays and was produced again in Houston Texas in June 2025. His play BLACK IN THE FIRST DEGREE was selected by the International Human Rights Art Festival was produced off-broadway at the Tank Theater on December 13, 2025. His play PERSONAL PURGATORY was featured in the PLAYERS THEATRE LUV FESTIVAL in February 2026. His play WHEN WE PRACTICE TO DECEIVE will be featured in the FRESH FRUIT FESTIVAL in April 2026. His play CRABS IN A BARREL will be featured in the MIDTOWN INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL July 2026.
Len Cuthbert
Red Comet
Len Cuthbert is the founding director of the NPO Fridge Door Live Theatre Company. His plays have been staged in Canada, US and Europe. His collection of short plays, Reunited Shorts, is available through Dramatic Publishing and his meta-comedy, 107, through Original Works Publishing. A music version of his historical fiction play, Lawrence Station, will be staged in Shedden and Strathroy in October 2026. www.LenCuthbert.com
Dan McGeehan
Such Dreams as Stuff is Made On
Dan McGeehan is an award-winning actor, director, playwright, and illustrator. He studied at Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre and has over 100 productions to his credit. He is the author of a number of short plays, including “A Long Trip,” which is one of the most performed short scripts in America. In 2020, Dan worked with composer Jordan Kuspa in adapting “A Long Trip” into an opera which premiered in Boston in 2023.
Randy Lee Gross
The Hunchback of Marshall Avenue
Playwright, screenwriter, and poet Randy Lee Gross has had plays presented in thirteen U.S. states and also in London and Sydney. His full-length play, “The Naugahyde Man,” was awarded the prestigious Pacific/Rim Prize as part of the 2020 Kumu Kahua/UHM Theatre Department Playwriting Contest; his full-length play, “The Haunted Train,” received an off-off Broadway production – with music – at Theatre for The New City in October 2015; and his play “Bread” was included in “The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2015” (Smith & Kraus, Inc.). Most recently, his full-length play, “Vegan Vampires from Vermont,” was a semifinalist in the 2023 Dramatists Guild Virtual Musical Theatre Fellowship competition.
Cary Pepper
Just Asking
Cary Pepper has had work presented throughout the United States and internationally.
Among his full-length plays, How It Works won the 2012 Ashland New Plays Festival and Cufflinked was a semifinalist for the 2014 festival. Among his one-act plays, The Walrus Said won the Religious Arts Guild Playwriting Competition; Small Things won the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival One Act Play Contest; Party Favors won the Goshen Peace Play Contest. Most recently, From the Hoot won the Playwrights First Award, Small Things became his fourth production by Drip Action Theatre Trail (UK), House of the Holy Moment marked Cary’s fourth appearance in the Newmarket International Festival of One Act Plays (Canada), and What Do They Want? made him the first playwright to be included in The St. Louis Actors’ Studio’s LaBute New Theater Festival three times.
Cary is a member of the Dramatists Guild, and a four-time contributor to Applause Books’ Best American Short Plays series.
Lawrie Carruthers
Cosmo Girls
Lawrie is a Toronto-based playwright, performer and producer. Her one-act play Cosmo Girls was first performed in Toronto at the 2025 New Ideas Festival at the Alumnae Theatre, and her first full-length play Maya and Roan premiered at Toronto’s Red Sandcastle Theatre this spring.
Live Staged Readings
Donald Loftus
Unbridled Fear
Donald Loftus is a New York–based playwright, librettist, and lyricist whose work spans full-length plays, one-acts, and original musicals. His writing often explores memory, resilience, family, and the quiet humor found in everyday human contradictions. His plays have been produced in a variety of settings—regional theatres, festivals, workshops, and community stages in the United States and abroad—allowing him to collaborate with artists of many backgrounds and perspectives.
His full-length works include The Springvale Armadillo, PER, The Archway, The Office Complex, and Driftwood. He has also written the book and lyrics for several musicals, including Abby Victoria, Pollyanna, ’Round Duffy Square, and Illusion, a project he continues to develop with composer Steve Zackim. Loftus’s one-acts, among them Ruby, Night Light, Amusing Willie, Eddy & Edna, and The Brother’s Grin, have been featured in numerous readings and new-play festivals, appreciated for their directness, humor, and emotional clarity.
Loftus values collaboration, revision, and the shared discovery that happens in rehearsal rooms. He remains committed to developing work that invites connection, encourages conversation, and gives actors compelling material to bring to life onstage.
He is proud to serve on The Board of Directors of The Dramatist Guild
Foundation.
Emma Inglis
Unmasked at Dawn
Emma Inglis is a writer and editor based in Devon, and the founder of Anthophile, an independent arts and literary magazine. Her journalism has appeared in The English Garden, Gardens Illustrated, The Telegraph, Condé Nast Traveller, Hortus, and elsewhere.
After years working in journalism, she has returned to her first love: storytelling for the stage and page. She is drawn to flawed characters facing impossible choices, to the small acts of courage that define us, and the quiet fault lines beneath ordinary lives.
She is currently developing The Plants Are Screaming, a psychological thriller begun during the Faber & Faber six-month novel-writing course, and enjoying exploring how tension, interiority, and dark wit operate differently, and sometimes more dangerously, on stage.
