La Jolla Playhouse to Host DNA New Work Series Featuring Four New Projects

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Steven Levenson, Bekah Brunstetter, James Anthony Tyler and Stephen Karam's works will be featured in these free readings at La Jolla.

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La Jolla Playhouse has announced the projects for its 2026 DNA New Work Series which will take place at the end of May, showcasing four new works.

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“The DNA New Work Series is an indispensable program at the Playhouse. It has proven to be not only an incubator of new work for our season programming, but also for the theatre industry at large,” said Stone. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for our patrons to engage with writers at a very early, vulnerable stage of the creative process and it’s a wonderful chance for writers to lean on each other as they crack new codes of storytelling.”

This year’s readings include Rockville, by Steven Levenson , directed by Playhouse Artistic Director Jessica Stone ; Mother’s Day, by Bekah Brunstetter , directed by Jennifer Chambers ; Artney Jackson, by James Anthony Tyler , directed by Playhouse Directing Fellow Jacole Kitchen; and Evil Diva, by Stephen Karam , directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury.

The DNA New Work Series has launched numerous projects that have gone on to full productions in future Playhouse seasons, including Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar ’s The Who & The What; Chasing the Song, by the Tony Award-winning team of Joe DiPietro and David Bryan (Memphis, Diana); Michael Benjamin Washington ’s Blueprints to Freedom; UC San Diego MFA graduate Jeff Augustin ’s The Last Tiger in Haiti; Miss You Like Hell, by Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes and Erin McKeown ; Kill Local and this season’s A Black-billed Cuckoo, by UC San Diego MFA graduate Mat Smart; What Happens Next, by UC San Diego MFA graduate and faculty member Naomi Iizuka ; The Luckiest by Melissa Ross ; The Coast Starlight by Keith Bunin ; SUMO by Lisa Sanaye Dring ; Derecho, by Noelle Viñas; and All the Men Who’ve Frightened Me, by Noah Diaz . Additionally, Marike Splint’s 59 Acres, Robert Farid Karimi’s American Dream Casino, Mister and Mischief’s Again! Again! and Jessica Crean’s Tea Party at the End of the World were all developed in the DNA New Work Series prior to their WOW Festival premieres.

Performances will be running May 30 – 3 at the Playhouse’s Rao and Padma Makineni Play Development Center (PDC). Tickets to the DNA New Work Series readings are free; reservations are required and can be reserved at the La Jolla Playhouse's website.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/san-diego/article/DNA-New-Work-Series-To-Be-Hosted-By-La-Jolla-Playhouse-20260502)._