PlayFest is a work in progress.
Ask Artistic Director Felicia Lansbury Meyer: Moving to the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College was inevitable.
“We ran out of space,” Meyer said. With her colleague Mandy Mikulencak, managing director, the change in venue seemed obvious.
“People loved the DAC (Durango Arts Center) as a venue, but it only seats 172,” Mikulencak said. ”The Concert Hall seats 284.”
Actually, the cavernous Concert Hall seats 600, but that’s everything: orchestra, plaza and balcony. For PlayFest, only the ground-floor orchestra section will be open, and festivalgoers have assigned seats.
“The Concert Hall gives us a lot of flexibility,” Meyer said. “Last year, we had many sold-out shows. It will be nice for all our partnerships, our sponsors and our student internship program. In general, the move affirms our connection with Fort Lewis College.”
From the beginning in 2018, PlayFest had a memo of understanding with FLC, she said.
“Steve Schwartz (FLC vice president of finance and administration) is on our board now, and he wanted the partnership solidified,” she said.
And then there’s parking – a significant benefit.
“Parking is another great advantage,” Meyer said, noting it is free and extensive on campus, no need for a pass during the summer.
As for format and content, PlayFest has steadfastly retained its original goals.
“We are a playwright’s festival,” Mikulencak said. “That’s been the goal from the beginning.”
“Providing playwrights the opportunity to develop work in a creative collaborative environment is essential to the future of theater,” Meyer said. “PlayFest is the only nonprofit organization in the Four Corners dedicated to that lofty pursuit.”
Now in its eighth year, PlayFest will again feature four plays-in-progress. Out of a field of 200 submissions, each finalist undergoes daytime workshops with the playwright, a director and actors. Public readings follow with matinee and evening performances.
Works in progress for 2026 include: John Farmenesh-Bocca’s “A Deal Picked Just for You,” Zoe Stanton-Savitz’s “Hazel and Bea in the In-Between” and Christian Missonak’s “The Henry Clyde Canning Murder House.”
One finalist, “The German,” by veteran playwright Lyle Kessler, had to be withdrawn last week because of health concerns. Richard Vetere’s “Last Day” quickly surfaced, Mikulencak said, and arrangements were made on the spot.
The 2026 acting company includes a mix of Equity actors who have flown in for the festival plus a few locals many will recognize, including Tara Demmy, Ivy King and Jason Lythgoe. PlayFest veteran Ray Abruzzo plus festival co-founder Dan Lauria will appear in Vetere’s “Last Day” along with Maja Wampuszyc.
Wendie Malick will appear in “A Deal Picked Just for You.” Malick has been a Durango champion since well before PlayFest, as her friendship with the late Christina Esterzek sparked the idea of the festival almost 20 years ago. Malick currently stars in the Apple-TV comedy “Shrinking,” with Harrison Ford. She has many television, theater and film credits and has lent her distinctive voice to a number of animated series.
“Christina was my best pal,” Malick said in a telephone interview. “Over many years, I visited Christina and her husband, Fritz Geisler, in Durango. In 2002, because of Christina, Dan (Lauria) and I did a fundraiser about 9/11 titled ‘The Guys.’ One thing led to another. Christina, Dan and I talked about a new play festival with others in the Durango arts community. By 2013, Terry Bacon had formed a board, and our very ambitious dream to gather playwrights, professional actors and directors for a weeklong festival was on its way.”
PlayFest also survived COVID-19. In 2020, the pandemic canceled summer festivals all over America. But Durango kept PlayFest alive by livestreaming Lia Romeo’s play “Sitting & Talking.” PlayFest turned it into a fundraiser for the Community Emergency Relief Fund.
The stage may have been dark then, but PlayFest lit a match of its own.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.