Playwright Christian Missonak will premiere his dark, psychological drama, The Henry Clyde Canning Murder House, with a cast of rising screen and stage stars, at the 8th Annual Durango PlayFest, June 23-28. In less than a decade, PlayFest has matured into a coveted incubator for well-known and emerging playwrights, actors, and directors to develop new works and test them with live audiences.
Synopsis: Years after their father is convicted for the murder of sixteen women, siblings Elise and Harry are forced to confront their own buried secrets when Harry comes home with plans to exploit their infamous past by converting the family homestead into a murder house tourist attraction.
“Christian’s play feels especially relevant in a culture fascinated by true crime stories,” said Felicia Lansbury Meyer, PlayFest artistic director. “But what makes this work so compelling is that it moves far beyond sensationalism. At its core, it’s an exploration of grief, survival, and how families cope with tragedy in profoundly different ways.”
Trained at Columbia University and The Second City Conservatory, Missonak is now a New York-based playwright and screenwriter whose short plays have been performed on stages across New York and Chicago. Missonak co-wrote Something of a Monster, a psychological thriller on AppleTV and Amazon Prime Video. The Henry Clyde Canning Murder House was recently named the second runner up for the 2026 Stanley Award and a second rounder in Austin Film Festival’s Stage Play category.
The 2026 PlayFest is excited to welcome the following cast:
- Jason Lythgoe – Durango resident and So-Cal native who has performed on stages across the country from the Old Globe in San Diego to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He has appeared in several productions at the Durango Arts Center Theatre Company, which he created, and Merely Players.
- Ivy King – Pagosa Springs, CO-based actor whose theatre credits include The Odd Couple, Tiny Beautiful Things, Last Call at the Riptide, and Siberia with a View, all with Thingamajig Theatre.
- Lennox T. Duong – Juilliard-trained, NYC-based actor whose most recent role included Hannah (understudy) in the Off-Broadway production of Shit. Meet. Fan. with Neil Patrick Harris. She participated in the 2022 PlayFest.
- Adam Fontana – New York City-based stage and television actor who’s had roles in Swing State, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mary Poppins, The Shape of Things, Dames at Sea andForever Plaid, all with Merely Players.
Directing the play will be Melissa Firlit, national and international director, producer, and educator, with works seen in Denver, New York, Ireland, and Scotland.
The festival will also feature readings of The German by two-time Tony nominee, Lyle Kessler, Hazel and Bea in the In-Between by New York-based emerging playwright Zoe Stanton-Savitz, and the absurdist comedy A Deal Picked Just for You by award-winning Iranian-American writer and director John Farmanesh-Bocca.
Co-founded by actors Wendie Malick and Dan Lauria, PlayFest features both esteemed and emerging playwrights alike, including Lee Blessing, Kathleen Cahill, Richard Dresser, James Anthony Tyler, Lia Romeo, and David Myers. The event also attracts acting talents, with notables such as Dylan Baker, Richard Kind, Jane Kaczmarek, Jodi Long, Tom Wright, Ray Abruzzo, Jon Tenney and Mike Farrell. Ten plays have achieved full production following development at PlayFest.
Visit durangoplayfest.org for tickets and the full festival schedule.
