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Nocturnal Commissions: A theatrical whirlwind

Graphic Text: WHAT IS NOCTURNAL COMMISSIONS? Nocturnal Commissions is New Dramatists’ whirlwind one-night-only fundraising event where generous supporters are invited to COMMISSION one of our resident or alumni writers to create a short play. THE ONLY CATCH? THE WRITERS HAVE 30 MINUTES TO WRITE THE ENTIRE PIECE. OH - and the actors only have 30 minutes to rehearse it too! Commissions start at $3,000 - or you can witness the madness firsthand by purchasing a performance ticket. MONDAY, OCTOBER 27TH 12PM - Commissioners meet with Playwrights VIRTUALLY 5:30pm - commissioners & their plus ones meet the playwrights for COMPLIMENTARY cocktails & appetizers 6:30PM - DOORS OPEN 7PM - Performance of these made-in-a-moment-masterpieces

JOIN US AS COMMISSIONER
Are you ready to see your play idea brought to life?

As a commissioner, you are the center of Nocturnal Commissions - a one-night-only benefit evening of mini-masterpieces written in minutes by New Dramatists residents and alums—inspired by the prompts of adventurous commissioners. On the evening of October 27, you will receive a signed manuscript and watch the short play or song, inspired by YOUR idea, written by a brilliant resident or alum playwright, performed and directed by some of the incredible talents of Broadway, off-Broadway, and film/TV!

What to Expect

The afternoon of the show, (Monday, Oct. 27 at 12PM ET) commissioners will meet for a brief-45 minute video call to meet your playwrights, and commission your plays (5-minutes, get those elevator pitches ready!)

Once you sign off, playwrights will immediately get to work crafting your idea in only 30 minutes. The plays will be swiftly cast, staged, and rehearsed while you go about the rest of your day. 

From 5:30-7:00PM, commissioners are invited to join the evening's playwrights, as well as ND staff, for complimentary apps and cocktails at a local spot before heading to Houghton Hall for the evening's Presentation of New Works featuring YOUR play.

RESERVE YOUR COMMISSION HERE - $3000

includes your one-of-a-kind commissioned work of art, cocktails/appetizers for you and a guest, and prime seating for two (2) at the Presentation of New Works

or email Emily Bubeck, Development Associate (@email) for more information. 

New Dramatists Writers & Staff Members gather on night one of Nocturnal Commissions 2024 in the houghton hall ballroom.
Resident & Alumni writers gather with New Dramatists staff at Houghton Hall Arts Center, Night One of Nocturnal Commissions 2024.

FEATURING STARS OF STAGE AND SCREEN

Han Van Sciver, Miriam Silverman, Gary Sloan, Keith Randolph Smith, Nicole Spiezio, Tommy Heleringer, Andrea Syglowski, Jay O. Sanders, Maryann Plunkett,  Purva Bedi, Drae Campbell , April Matthis, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Heather Velazquez, Jason Quarles... AND MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!

We wish to express our gratitude to ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION for their cooperation in permitting the Artists to appear in this program.

 Nocturnal Commissions

PRESENTATION OF NEW WORKS

MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2025
DOORS AT 6:30PM; CURTAIN AT 7:00PM 

Houghton Hall Arts Community
The Fred and Adele Astaire Ballroom 
22 East 30th Street
New York, NY 10016

COMMISSIONERS

The generous and intrepid commissioners to date, and our evening's hosts, include:

  • CHARLOTTE & DAVID ACKERT, Hospitality Sponsor
  • JILL HUNTER MATICHAK, Luck of the Draw Sponsor
  • JENNY HELLMAN
  • WILLY HOLTZMAN & SYLVIA SHEPARD
  • TIM HOPKINS
  • ROBERT KUCHNER & CAROL SIMON
  • ROBIN LYNN & LARRY BLUMBERG
  • ABBIE VAN NOSTRAND

... YOUR NAME HERE

Will you be next?

WRITERS

The brave writers who have accepted this year's challenge include:

Stephen Adly Guirgis B&W

Stephen Adly Guirgis is a New Dramatists Alumnus, A Pulitzer Prize-Winning playwright, a working actor, and a member of NYC's LAByrinth Theater Company. His new play Dog Day Afternoon begins previews at the August Wilson Theater on March 10th 2026. He loves the Mets, the Knicks, the Jets, guitars and tuna salad -- and while he strives to always carry love in his heart and to never hate anyone (When you hate, the Devil wins) he is extremely fond of the phrase, "Hey Donald Trump: Go fuck your mother!"

sheila in front of a chalkboard

Sheila Callaghan’s plays have been produced and developed with Soho Rep, Playwright’s Horizons, Yale Rep, Center Theater Group, South Coast Rep, Clubbed Thumb, The LARK, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, New Georges, The Flea, Woolly Mammoth, Boston Court, and Rattlestick Playwright’s Theatre, among others. Sheila is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award for emerging artists, a Jerome Fellowship from the Playwright’s Center in Minneapolis, a MacDowell Residency, a Cherry Lane Mentorship Fellowship, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, and the prestigious Whiting Award.

Keith Glover BW

Keith Glover is from Bessemer, Ala. He is a member of The New Dramatist Playwrights Organization and a recipient of a Pew Charitable Fellowship grant in 1996. His first play, Dancing on Moonlight, was produced in 1995 at the New York Shakespeare Festival. His second play, Coming of the Hurricane, was produced by the Denver Center Theatre Company (1994) at Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul, Minn. (1995) and at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. (1996). His third play, Thunder Knocking on the Door, a blusical tale of rhythm and blues, was produced by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Baltimore's Center Stage, The Dallas Theatre Center and Yale Repertory Theatre during the 1996-97 season. As an actor, Glover has appeared regionally at Center Stage in Baltimore as Sterling in Two Trains Running, at Hartford Stage as Scott in Pill Hill, and as Lyons in Fences with John Amos at Capital Repertory Company. On television, Glover has appeared on the Fox series New York Undercover as Adrean Franks and on the daytime drama As the World Turns as Kenny Hathaway. On film, Glover appeared in Jackknife with Robert DeNiro.

Morgan Gould Smiling

Morgan Gould is a playwright, director, and screenwriter and a recent graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellowship Program at Juilliard.

Morgan's play NICOLE CLARK IS HAVING A BABY (2020 Kilroy’s List) was set to premiere as part of the 44th Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville with Morgan directing. The production was cancelled due to the coronavirus after only 5 performances. Her other plays include I WANNA FUCKING TEAR YOU APART, a Beatrice Terry/ Drama League Award Winner that had its world premiere at Studio Theatre in Washington, DC in February 2017 (with Morgan directing)... read full bio here

BE A COMMISSIONER!

*COMMISSIONS EXTREMELY LIMITED* - email @email to check on availability. 

Commission your own one-of-a-kind work of art, attend cocktails/appetizers for you and a guest, and receive prime seating for two (2) at the Presentation of New Works.

JOIN OUR AUDIENCE

RESERVE YOUR SEAT HERE - $75
or email Emily Bubeck, Development Associate (@email) for more information

Join us at the Fred & Adele Astaire Ballroom at Houghton Hall (22 East 30th Street) for the evening's never-before-seen, never-to-be-seen-again Presentation of New Works, written, directed, and performed by NYC's premier talents.

THIS YEAR, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, AUDIENCE MEMBERS HAVE A CHANCE TO JOIN IN THE MIRACLE OF CREATION!

FOR A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE IN-ROOM DONATION, YOU CAN SUBMIT YOUR IDEA FOR A PERSON, PLACE, OR THING. THE FINAL PLAY OF THE EVENING WILL BE WRITTEN ON-THE-SPOT, INSPIRED BY AUDIENCE SUGGESTIONS PULLED FROM A HAT. 

THE MISTRESS OF CEREMONIES 

Nancy Giles

Performer, CBS Sunday Morning contributor, and ND favorite Nancy Giles!

quincy long

Quincy Long Productions: The Joy of Going Somewhere Definite, Atlantic Theatre, starring Felicity Huffman, directed by William H. Macy, and Mark Taper Forum; The Virgin Molly, Atlantic Theatre and Berkeley Rep; Shaker Heights, Atlantic Theatre= Current projects: The Embalmer’s Daughter, an opera, and The Murderman, a play. Quincy is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. a member of New Dramatists and Ensemble Studio Theater. Quincy is from Warren, Ohio and lives in New York City.

Ellen Maddow

Ellen Maddow is a founding member of Talking Band, and has written, composed music for or performed in a majority of its works since 1974 - most recently TRIPLICITY directed by Paul Zimet. OBIE lifetime achievement award, NYC Women’s Fund Award for Lemon Girls or Art for the Artless, Drama Desk Award for her performance in Clare Barron’s Dance Nation. Member of the Open Theatre, Frederick Loewe Award in Musical Theatre, McKnight and NYFA Playwriting Fellowships, NEA/TCG Award for Playwrights, alumnus of New Dramatists.

aya ogawa eyeing the camera

Aya Ogawa is an award-winning Brooklyn-based playwright, director, performer and translator whose work reflects an international viewpoint and utilizes the stage as a space for exploring cultural identity and the immigrant experience. They challenge traditional notions of the American aesthetic and identity by creating performances infused with a multiplicity of perspectives and languages, and by incorporating influences from outside the U.S. – of style, form, and content... read full bio here

Photo of Edwin Rivera-Arias sitting on the ground with light streaming in

Edwin Rivera-Arias is a Cuban-Colombian playwright and fiction writer.  He received a 2024 Prose Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and a 2024 Soho House Fellowship. Rivera-Arias was a Norman Mailer Fiction Fellow (2011), twice a recipient of the Willapa Bay AiR residency (2016 & 2024) and a resident at the Blue Mountain Center (2024). He was also a resident at The New Jersey Play Lab & Art House Production's INKubator Program in 2022-2023, and was in residence with Dramatic Question Theatre in 2024... read full bio here

Jorda Seavey smiling outdoors in a jean jacket

Jordan Seavey (he/him/they/them) is a playwright, theater-maker and screenwriter from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Plays include The Seven Year Disappear, Stephen Miller of Santa Monica, Homos, or Everyone in America (OBIE Award for Michael Urie; NYTimes Critic’s Pick; NYMagazine’s 10 Best Theater Events of 2016), Wight, November 4th 2008, The Funny Pain, The Truth Will Out, Children at Play, 6969 and This is a Newspaper... read full bio here