Durango PlayFest 2026

Durango PlayFest is a nonprofit play development festival that brings established and emerging playwrights to Durango for a week to workshop new plays with the help of professional actors and directors, culminating in exciting staged readings for local audiences. The festival is a true creative collaborative process because audience members provide feedback to playwrights following each reading. Because opportunities for quality theatre are often limited in rural areas, PlayFest is bringing world-class theatre experiences to our own backyard.

PlayFest employs community members and students in a variety of paid positions including actor, stage manager, assistant stage manager, intern, drivers, graphic designer and more.

55 percent of PlayFest's programming budget goes back into the community in the form of venue rentals, lodging, catering, advertising, printing and the like.

Actors Molly Carden and Erik Liberman starred in "Mrs. Einstein," a play by Kathleen Cahill.

PlayFest co-founder and actor Wendie Malick (Shrinking, Just Shoot Me) and actor Richard Kind wowed audiences in "Dr. Arthur Goldman's Birthday Party," a play by Bill Ludel.