2026 Pittsburgh New Works Festival
and the winners are…
Outstanding contribution from a playwright.
The Harrowing of Hell
by Jeff DeSantis of Baden, PA
produced by McKeesport Little Theater
Jeff has won a $500 prize for best script.
Finalists included:
Waiting to Film Waiting for Godot by Mathew Green of Champaign, IL & Undiscovered Country by Dana Leslie Goldstein of Brooklyn, NY
Audience Favorite Production
Undiscovered Country
by Dana Leslie Goldstein of Brooklyn, NY
Produced by Community Theatre Players of Ben Avon
Finalists included:
The Harrowing of Hell by Jeff DeSantis of Baden, PA & The Great Anderton Snowfall Debacle of 2025 by Lisa Feriend of Singapore
Lifetime Achievement Award
John E. Lane, Jr. Lifetime Achievement honoree
Congratulations and thank you for your contributions to the theater community!
John E. Lane, Jr. is an Associate Professor and the Director of Theater Arts program for Duquesne University. He has directed over 120 productions for various companies around the Pittsburgh area including Pittsburgh Public Theater, Carlow University, Pittsburgh Opera Theater, Wilkinsburg Arts Theater, Medieval and Renaissance Players, Pittsburgh New Works Festival, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater Company, Thank You, Felix Productions, and Future Tenants. He is a board member of the Gemini Children’s Theater and the Pittsburgh New Works Festival.
He was the Technical Director for the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh and toured extensively through the United States and Europe including a tour of The Marriage of Figaro with Renee Fleming. He directed several productions for the company including Amahl and the Night Visitors.
He was the Operations Manager of The Pittsburgh Public Theater for 18 years where he worked with August Wilson, Sir Alan Ayckbourn, Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber, Marlo Thomas, F. Murry Abraham, Horton Foote, Mel Shapiro, Rob Marshall, Mark Rylance, Kim Hunter, Haley Mills, and many others. He has directed many medieval plays both here in Pittsburgh and at the University of Toronto.
Since joining Duquesne he has directed 12 world-premiere productions including a new adaptation of The Beggar’s Opera with new music by Suzanne Polock and book by Lane and The Mother of Us All: An Evening with Gertrude Stein, Serenede, The Consorts, and Shuffle Ball Change … and Die! He has taught Intro to Theater, Intro to Drama, Acting I, Acting II, Acting III, Acting IV, Directing I, Directing II, History of Theater I, History of Theater II, Dramatic Criticism, Twentieth Century American Drama, LOL: Comic Masterpieces of the Theater, August Wilson, Technical Theater, Queer Drama, Film Musicals, Gender and Drama, Existential Drama, Medieval Drama, Shaw: Drama and Performance (Spring Breakaway), Shakespeare and Performance, Queer Coming of AgeLiterature, and Medieval Comedy.