Texas Border Business
McALLEN Texas – South Texas College (STC) Theatre & Dance announces its 5th Annual South Texas New Play Festival.
This festival will showcase one of last year’s stage readings, “Miriam’s Song” by RGV native Robert Paul Moreira and will run June 26 and 27 at 7:30 p.m. The festival will include three stage readings, a playwright panel and a theatre fair at STC’s Cooper Center for Performing Arts at 3200 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen.
The event showcases new plays written by playwrights globally. Three plays out of over 30 submissions were selected by a committee consisting of playwrights, theatre artists and STC faculty and staff as festival finalists with three others selected as semifinalists. The intent of the event is to cultivate new plays which speak to the emerging perspectives and experiences.
The “Playwriting Meets Production” Panel will be hosted on June 26 at 1 p.m. The theatre fair will be happening June 26 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and will showcase stage readings by Jorge E. Rodriguez (Bonita, California), Donna Kaz (Blue Point, New York) and Gabriel Diego Hernández (Jersey City, New Jersey) with a talk back with the playwright occurring shortly after.
The festival plays are:
Thursday, June 25 – 4 p.m.
“Ironin’ Man!”
by Jorge E. Rodriguez
SYNOPSIS: Don Alex, a former basketball star in the US, who was deported to Tijuana in 1993 for his involvement in an incident while attending a Guns N’ Roses concert, spends his days in 2019 working hard in his dry-cleaners business and reminiscing even harder to his two employees, Olí and Vicente, about his past American adventures. The announcement of a Guns N’ Roses concert coming to Tijuana sets him on a mercurial quest of redemption that causes the three main characters to form subconscious familial bonds with each other. As they drift further away from the broken families they come from, their fellowship weakens as the US government begins preparations to close the border due to the approaching Central-American migrant caravans. “Ironin’ man!” is a lightning-fast-paced dramedy that explores the effects of consumerism, the American gentrification of northern Mexican border cities, mass migration and divisive social-media algorithms.
Friday, June 26 – 4 p.m.
“Waiting”
by Donna Kaz
SYNOPSIS: “Waiting” is a comedy about the quest to become a professional actor. The play begins when a young woman from a small Midwestern town named Lucy steps off the bus in Times Square ready to pursue her dream of a life in the theatre. She immediately lands her first job on Broadway – waiting on tables in a restaurant. All of the waiters at The Great White Café are actors too, each one desperate to land a job in the theatre yet unconsciously addicted to the performative aspects of waiting on tables. Who needs a part in a play when you have a job at which you “perform” with energy and speed combined with sincerity and pathos? To make matters worse the café’s manager, Howard, is a sexist bully who despises artists and does everything he can to make sure his team never escape into a world where actors earn respect. “Waiting” is set during a not-so-long-ago-era when women had to buck up to being harassed or lose their jobs and asks the question: Can actors who are waiters ever play any other part?
Saturday, June 27 – 4 p.m.
“Wise Guys”
by Gabriel Diego Hernández
SYNOPSIS: Four smack-talking high school juniors and their beleaguered teacher make their way through summer school, one long day at a time, testing each other’s limits to the point of no return. Years later, they look back and try to make sense of it all.
Festival passes are available for $15 and can only be purchased online from June 8, 2026, to June 23, 2026, which includes one ticket to attend “Miriam’s Song” and the “Playwriting Meets Production” Panel. After June 23, a $5 cash only entrance fee will be charged for each festival event at the door.
To register for the festival, go to southtexascollege.edu/go/theatre or call 956-872-2301.
For additional information about the festival, call 956-872-2301 or email jleal5@southtexascollege.edu.
