About Epiphanies
The Epiphanies New Works Festival was founded in 2020, seeking to explore new and innovative work. Growing exponentially year to year, the unique feedback process that we are committed to providing for our participating playwrights has become one of the things we are most known for.
The top 8 submissions each year receive a developmental table reading, and 4 of those go on to receive directed staged readings at our in-person festival. Perhaps most excitingly, the winner is given a full production of their play the following year.
So bookmark this page! Mark your calendar! We are always ready to read the next exciting piece of theatre, and we are committed to providing a meaningful platform to emerging artists.
Support Epiphanies
Wild Imaginings is dedicated to promoting the development of new work, as it is the work of artists which serves to shape the identity of a place—
Are we a community which values authenticity, diversity, and charitable listening?
Are we a community in which important, albeit difficult, stories are not only heard but celebrated?
Are we a community in which artists are given permission to try new things and push the boundaries of what we expect?
Epiphanies New Works Festival hopes to further Waco’s ability to answer a resounding YES to each of these questions.
And we want you to help us do it!
Meet the 2025
Winners!
Play
Winter's End
By J.S. Puller
​An absurdist retelling of the Persephone myth from Greek legend, examining and questioning the fact that in most tellings of the story, Persephone has no voice and makes no active choices of her own. Paralleling Persephone's helplessness is the current debate raging over reproductive rights. Cassie, a young college student, runs away from anti-abortion activists to find herself in the house of the underworld where she must navigate the absurdities of "the way things have always been done" to try to
help Persephone make a choice of her own.
J. S. Puller is a playwright and author from the Windy City, Chicago. She has a master's degree in elementary education and a bachelor's degree in theatre from Northwestern University. She is an award-winning member of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education and has written about the social-emotional benefits of arts education with the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. When not writing, she can usually be found in the theatre. She is the author of two novels, CAPTAIN SUPERLATIVE and THE LOST THINGS CLUB, both published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. She also has several published plays, including: WOMEN WHO WEAVE (Playscripts, Inc.), PERSEUS AND MEDUSA - IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME! (Lazybee Scripts), THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD (Stage Rights), and five titles with Plays for New Audiences.
Musical
Riverbend
Book and Lyrics by Caroline Game
Music by Michael Light Oosterhout
Riverbend is a modern musical retelling of the Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo. Daphne is an eighteen year-old recent high school graduate living in a small rivertown on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Feeling her late mother’s absence in town, she plans to take her sailboat for a yearlong trip on “The Great Loop”, a journey her mother took when she was her age. However, when twins Aiden and Diana move to town, Daphne’s heart and her plans are challenged by feelings she’s never known.
Caroline Game (she/her) is a librettist/lyricist, and actor/singer with a passion for telling complicated, compassionate stories. Her current projects include Riverbend (Emerging Artists Theatre’s Sparkfest 2023, Drama Club Camp 2024) and Hourglass (Drama Club Camp 2025, Sandbox Musicals ‘Playspace’). Her work has been featured in EAT’s Sparkfest, the New York Theatre Festival, and the Druid City Pride Festival. Professional performing credits include Ghost (Molly), Significant Other (Laura), and Mamma Mia (Lisa, u/s Sophie). She is originally from Atlanta, GA and is now based in New York City. She received her M.F.A. in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU Tisch and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
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Michael Light Oosterhout (he/him) is a composer/lyricist, music director, and playwright. Passionate about genre-bending and blending myriad styles into contemporary musical theatre, he is chiefly interested in exploring the relationship between the ancient and modern worlds, as well as highlighting issues affecting queer youth. Michael's current projects include Windy (chamber opera), Evelyn Evans (play), The Right Reasons (song cycle), and Riverbend (musical), the latter of which was featured in Emerging Artists Theatre’s Spark Theatre Festival NYC. Past projects include Ariadne: A New Musical, Sparta! The Musical, Euripides' Medea (arrangements), Judith Walsh White's Winnie the Pooh (arrangements), and 20-minute musical The Advice Column. Music direction credits include HeavyHead (asst. M.D.), Fly By Night, Mr. Burns, Formerly Known (arrangements), and The Cherry Orchard. A native of the Washington, D.C. area, Michael is a graduate of Vassar College (B.A., Music and Greek & Roman Studies) and recently received his M.F.A. in Musical Theatre Writing from N.Y.U. Tisch.
