Playwright Lyle Kessler will premiere his historical drama, The German, 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 present them to live audiences for feedback.
Synopsis: Decades after a chance encounter on a train, a Jewish man travels to Germany and the home of the German who intends to kill him—a home haunted by ghosts of the Jewish family who once resided there. Unexpectedly funny, at times emotionally devastating, but ultimately liberating, the play seeks to heal the wounds of the past.
“Lyle Kessler was recently given a Lifetime Achievement award for his work. He writes with so much depth, and this play balances raw emotion and humor in a way you won’t easily forget,” said Felicia Lansbury Meyer, PlayFest Artistic Director. “Rather than revisiting the horrors of the Nazi regime itself, the play examines the lasting ripple effects of unimaginable tragedy across generations.”
Kessler authored the internationally acclaimed play Orphans, which recently received two Tony nominations for the Broadway revival and will enjoy a West End Revival in London’s Trafalgar Theater next season. He and his wife, Margaret Ladd, founded the Imagination Workshop, the longest running arts and mental health program for veterans suffering from PTSD.
The 2026 PlayFest is excited to welcome the following cast:
- Victor Slezak – Prolific stage, screen, and television actor with more than 30 years in the industry, known for roles in Hell on Wheels, The Americans, Succession, and Blue Bloods. On Broadway, he starred as John F. Kennedy in Jackie: An American Life.
- Kip Gilman – In addition to his extensive film and television work, Kip’s theatre work includes roles in Catskill Sonata, Harry and Arthur directed by William Shatner, Moonlight and Magnolias, and Stuff Happens, for which he received an Ovation Nomination.
- Margaret Ladd – American actress best known for her role as Emma Channing on the television series Falcon Crest. With a career spanning stage and screen, she’s appeared in Mozart in the Jungle, Woody Allen’s Crisis in Six Scenes, and Robert Altman’s A Wedding.
Directing the play is Brendan Burke, artistic director of Shadowland Stages in Ellenville, NY, since 2005. Burke has directed and/or produced more than 100 productions, including multiple world premieres, and shows featuring such actors as Sean Astin, Judd Hirsch, David Strathairn, Stephanie Zimbalist, Paula Prentiss, and more.
The festival will also feature readings of the absurdist comedy A Deal Picked Just for You by award-winning Iranian-American writer and director John Farmanesh-Bocca, Hazel and Bea in the In-Between by New York-based emerging playwright Zoe Stanton-Savitz, and the dark thriller The Henry Clyde Canning Murder House by Christian Missonak.
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.
