Flint, Mich. — FIM Flint Repertory Theatre will welcome its 2026 New Works Festival, February 13–15, following a full week of workshops with participating artists. Flint Rep’s annual New Works Festival is a three-day event featuring staged readings of new plays in development, offering audiences a rare opportunity to experience bold new work and engage with the artists shaping the future of American theatre.
This year’s festival brings four powerful and thought-provoking new plays to Flint, written by some of the most exciting voices working in theatre today: Larissa FastHorse, Shannon TL Kearns, James Anthony Tyler and Lina Patel. Readings will be presented throughout the weekend, followed by opportunities for conversation and reflection.
Tickets are available for each reading, or guests may purchase the complete festival package to attend all four performances.
“The New Works Festival is one of the most exciting moments of our season,” said Flint Rep Producing Artistic Director Nicole Samsel.
Samsel continued: “It invites audiences into the creative process and celebrates writers who are pushing the form in powerful ways. We’re thrilled to bring these plays, and these artists, to Flint and to share this experience with our community.
The 2026 New Works Festival Lineup:
Makoce
by Larissa FastHorse
Friday, Feb. 13, at 7:30 p.m.
Larissa FastHorse’s newest play, Makoce, is a zombie horror play with a twist. FastHorse, a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow and 2020 MacArthur Fellow, is the first known female Native playwright to be produced on Broadway. Her satirical comedy, The Thanksgiving Play, is one of the most produced plays in America, with more than 300 productions worldwide.
Laughing, Flexing, Dying
by Shannon TL Kearns
Saturday, Feb. 14, at 2 p.m.
Ayden, Cayden, and Jayden are in a mountain cabin for their annual guys trip. But this year is different. As the weekend unfolds so do the tensions between these three friends as they grapple with what has changed and what it means to move forward. Kearns is an award-winning playwright and ordained priest whose work has been supported by the Humanitas New Voices Fellowship, Lambda Literary, and the Playwrights’ Center.
The Drop Off
by James Anthony Tyler
Saturday, Feb. 14, at 7:30 p.m.
At Deer Lakes Assisted Living Facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, Allain drops off her mother Delphina. When Delphina refuses to stay, long-buried memories, broken dreams, and an impending eviction surface in ways that threaten to unravel their mother/daughter bond forever. Funny, heartwarming and, ultimately, touching, The Drop Off is a moving exploration of how to best care for our loved ones while also learning to care for ourselves. Tyler is the recipient of the Horton Foote Playwriting Award and a graduate of Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. Tyler is also no stranger to Flint Rep. His play, Into the Side of the Hill, was developed through the 2023 New Works Festival, and Flint Rep produced its world premiere in 2024.
Bonobos
by Lina Patel
Sunday, February 15, at 2 p.m.
At a suburban book club, a group of women discover just how far they’ll go to protect one another when an abusive ex shows up. Can solidarity save us, or does violence always win? Patel is a multidisciplinary artist whose work has been commissioned and presented across the U.S. and internationally, and whose television credits include Cherish the Day and Krypton.
Tickets are currently available at www.tickets.thefim.org, at FIM Ticket Center box offices at FIM Whiting Auditorium and FIM Capitol Theatre, or by calling (810) 237-7333.
For more information or to register, visit https://thefim.org/event/new-works-festival/.
