CREEDE — Did you know that one third of the shows Creede Repertory Theatre has produced over the last 15 years have been World Premiers? New plays are so important to CRT because they are the lifeblood of the American theatre. They share stories of the diverse, yet universal, human experience.

In addition to fully producing a number of World Premiers, every year as part of Creede Rep’s season, CRT hosts its Headwaters New Play Festival. Now in its 7th Season, this festival is a weeklong workshop where selected plays are developed with a team of professional theatre artists and receive public readings. This year, CRT received over 250 submissions for just two finalist slots. The selections for these slots are:

Sanctuary, North by R.W. Schneider

Jordan, Montana, population 600. It’s the early spring of 1981 and the mostly unpaved streets of the town have thawed into mud and slush. Hell Creek Bar is one of two in the settlement. Inside there’s lots of dark wood, a pool table and a jukebox. A coin phone is affixed to the wall; the names of beers glow in neon. The youngest son of a very famous and very masculine writer grows up brilliant but bi-polar and intermittently a transvestite. He’s acquired a wife, five children and a medical degree, but for much of his life he’s pursued the provisional: projects invented during fits of manic energy only to be abandoned weeks or months later. Now he’s moved to a remote hamlet near the Canadian border where he’s the only doctor for a hundred miles around. This is the place he’s chosen to make his stand: permanence, mental stability and masculinity -- or die.

Hazardous Materials by Beth Kander

The play takes place in once Chicago apartment, in two different eras. In 2015, new co-workers Hal and Cassie are investigating the residence where an elderly Jane Doe just died; in 1955, two strangers, Esther and Lynley, become tentative friends. In alternating scenes, two stories unfold within the same walls: As Hal and Cassie pick through the physical wreckage of a stranger’s life while dealing with their own emotional detritus, Lynley and Ester attempt to connect across very different worlds. With each object or truth unearthed or ignored in each era, one small apartment unfurls as home to timeless human longing.

Additionally as part of the Headwaters New Play Festival, CRT premiers its Young Audience Outreach Tour (YAOT) show. YAOT’s mission is to bring high quality musical theatre to rural and underserved communities. YAOT reaches over 24,000 students each year and is expanding to Northwest Kansas and Southern California this year!

Inspired by myth, fairy tale, and Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Seeds of Change fosters environmental literacy through the story of an ornery young girl who leaves the isolated Isle of Oro and embarks on a journey of self-discovery. This story explores topics in environmental science, deforestation, ocean plastic, and habitat loss through wonder and empowerment.

Book and Lyrics by Lojo Simon

Music by Ian LeRoy

Directed by Melissa Firlit

Contact CRT at 719/658-2540 or creederep.org