July 16th, 2026, By Door County Pulse
by JACOB JANSSEN, Third Avenue PlayWorks Jackie and Steve Kane Artistic Director

Here in Sturgeon Bay, we make things. It is part of who we are. Third Avenue PlayWorks (TAP) sits directly adjacent to the largest shipyard on the Great Lakes, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, a visible reminder of collective work making big things.

Recently, at TAP’s annual gala, we announced that our winter series of staged readings will, in 2027, become the WinterWorks New Play Festival.

If you have ever seen a show at TAP, you have heard me say just how important the audience is to the experience of live theatre. This is particularly true of new plays. Playwrights watch and listen as audiences experience their work, gauging the response so that they can take their play to the next level. 

Making new work is one of the reasons that we renamed ourselves back in 2021, moving from Third Avenue Playhouse to Third Avenue PlayWorks. We are a foundry for new writing, a place where ideas are shaped, tested and built from the ground up. Over the last few years, we have contributed to turning this corner of the Midwest into a significant hub for new plays, and the rest of the country is starting to pay attention to what is happening here.

This shift into a full festival is a direct result of the positive reception these stories have received from audiences who love being part of the creative process. 

In 2023, we premiered I Carry Your Heart With Me by Jennifer Blackmer as part of the inaugural World Premiere Wisconsin Festival. That play went on to receive a major national playwriting award from the American Theatre Critics Association, as well as several productions around the country. Last year, we staged Ryan’s Pub, Trivia Night by Alec Silberblatt, which wowed audiences with its fast-paced storytelling. This year, TAP is back in the World Premiere Wisconsin Festival with Brian James Polak’s The Call List.

To make this festival a success, we are opening our doors wider than ever. We are inviting playwrights from all over the United States to submit their scripts to be considered for our inaugural festival lineup. While our roots are firmly planted in Door County, our perspective is national, and we want to bring the most compelling voices in American theatre right here to Sturgeon Bay. We want to show the rest of the country what our audiences already know: that world-class art thrives when it is supported by a community that values hard work and thrilling storytelling.

The structure of the festival will be intensive and deeply collaborative. Three chosen plays will be heavily workshopped over the course of February. Instead of a quick rehearsal and a reading, each selected playwright will receive a full, weeklong workshop. We surround these writers with exceptional professional talent, bringing in seasoned actors, directors and dramaturgs who know how to support a writer to get to the heart of their story. It is a rigorous process, but it gives new plays the runway they need to take flight. By investing this kind of time and resources into these creators, we ensure that the work leaving our theatre is polished, powerful and ready for its next step.

An ambitious festival like this cannot happen in a vacuum. Just as it takes a whole shipyard to launch a ship, it takes a whole community to craft a play. If you are interested in supporting the future of American theatre, or if you simply want to see how the gears turn behind the scenes, we would love to have you join us. We are currently looking for volunteers to help us read and evaluate the influx of script submissions. You do not need theatre experience to help out; we value the perspectives of real theatregoers who love great stories.

Beyond script reading, we welcome every level of assistance to get this festival off the ground, from housing guest artists to helping with front-of-house roles. This festival belongs to Sturgeon Bay as much as it belongs to the artists. By getting involved, you are helping us sustain a vibrant creative laboratory right in your backyard. We are incredibly proud of what we are building here, and we cannot wait to share this next chapter with you. 

For more information, visit thirdavenueplayworks.org/winterworks-new-play-festival.