OTR Reading Series
New Plays
Chance’s On the Radar (OTR) New Works Program consists of a new script reading series, a playwright’s residency, and a commissioning program all geared towards supporting the creation of diverse new stories by emerging U.S. playwrights.
commitment to playwrights
The goal of OTR is to create a deep and long-term commitment to playwrights by offering them access to a community of artists and audiences, a supportive environment, and the freedom to explore their own boundaries and interests.
Past Resident Playwrights include Benjamin Benne, Dustin H. Chinn, Keiko Green, Exal Iraheta, B.J. Tindal, Krista Knight, Jessica Huang, Joanna Garner, Ted Malawer, Jenny Connell Davis, Lauren Yee, Nick Jones, Marshall Pailet, Zayd Dohrn, and Adam Szymkowicz.
“Chance audiences are experienced, focused and eager to support experimental and challenging work. It was so useful just to hear the play in front of them – their engagement and reactions taught me so much.”
Jessica Huang, 2019 Resident Playwright
“Chance is serving a vital role in American theater, creating the kind of access point that allows people to attend, and participate, and take ownership of what’s on stage in a way that other, larger institutions just can’t begin to match.”
Jenny Connell Davis, 2016 Resident Playwright
“The Chance has been a warm and welcoming home to my work in Orange County and has been the launching pad to numerous works that have had a continued life across the country.”
Lauren Yee, 2015 Resident Playwright
2026 OTR New Works Staged Reading Series
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About the Play When we have more information about the show, we will post it here. About Our 2026 Resident Playwright
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About the Show Canvas. Pencil. Paint. How can one piece of art tear at the hearts of generations? Provenance is a suspenseful uplifting play about the life of a sensual, unusual portrait from its beginnings in early 1900s German society, through its theft by the Nazis and its subsequent travels around the world. The play is La Ronde-esque, with actors playing multiple roles. About the Playwright Jennifer Maisel The daughter of an adhesives manufacturer and a teacher, Jennifer Maisel grew up in a picture perfect Long Island suburb where she once found a dead man in her driveway. Her THE…
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About the Show In this memory play, Ben returns to the hot Galveston summer of his thirteenth year when a complicated and dangerous teenaged girl, Fresca, moved in with him and his mom. As he and Fresca become friends, Ben grows up and learns to appreciate the difficult greyness of life, including the sacrifices and challenges faced by his single mother who is raising him. About Our 2026 Resident Playwright
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About the Show Believe it: Emily, Steph, Jackie, Mara, and even perfectly coiffed Senator Holly Charles used to be punk. In the ’90s, they unleashed all of their rage into the songs of their high school riot grrrl punk band. Now, when they reunite for a bachelorette party in their 40s, they are forced to confront just how bland, safe, and unpunk their lives have become. And yet, each of them is filled with pent-up fury: at the state of the world and at their own life choices. What is an adult meant to do with all of that angst?…
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About the Show A Long Time Ago in a Dark Yard at Night follows two friends from a small Texas town who take divergent paths in life as they grow from girls to adult women, each fighting to find happiness, overcome significant life and socio-economic obstacles, and remain connected to one another in a world full of compromise. A play that is one part comedy, one part drama, and equal parts telling a very human and relatable story. About Our 2026 Resident Playwright: Enid Graham
2026 OTR Sponsors
National Endowment for the Arts
Amanda DeMaio
Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation
David & Danice Limberg
David & Judy Joss
Michael & Mary Lysik
Rachelle Menaker & Eddie Schuller
Steven & Louise Koch
Resident Playwrights
Benjamin Benne, 2025
Dustin H. Chinn, 2024
Keiko Green, 2023
Exal Iraheta, 2022
B.J. Tindal, 2021
Krista Knight, 2020
Jessica Huang, 2019
Joanna Garner, 2018
Ted Malawer, 2017
Jenny Connell Davis, 2016
Lauren Yee, 2015
Nick Jones, 2014
Marshall Pailet, 2013
Zayd Dohrn, 2012
Adam Szymkowicz, 2011
Fox Fellowships
Khanisha Foster, 2017
Want a list plays from past OTR Reading Series? Find them in our list of Past Productions.
Meet Our 2026 Resident Playwright
Enid Graham
Enid Graham is a writer and actress living in New York City where she is a 2022 graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Program at Juilliard. Enid’s work was last seen at the Chance Theater last year when Tenderness and Gratitude Number Four was included in the OTR New Works Program. She is currently the 2026 Playwright in Residence. Her play Smoke was produced in the 2025 season at Cadence in Richmond, Virginia and How to Save Ourselves, a commission from the Farm Theater, received simultaneous productions from Sewanee College and Center College. Tenderness and Gratitude Number Four was also part of the Scripts in Hand series at the Westport Country Playhouse, and was a finalist for the Blue Ink Playwriting Festival 2025.
Her play A Long Time Ago in a Dark Yard at Night was performed in a 2022 reading series at the Hudson Stage Company, and her short play for Zoom, Do Not Go, My Love was performed in an online reading series, also at Hudson Stage. Golden was presented in audio format for The Falconworks Theater Company. What Martha Did received a preview production in the Launch Pad series at UCSB. Her play Ruth was chosen for the National Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill Center and the New TACTics New Play Festival in NYC. What Martha Did was also a finalist for the National Playwrights’ Conference and a semi-finalist in the Blue Ink Playwriting Festival in Chicago.
Other plays include: Pathological Venus (2020 finalist NPC), Something Unrecognizable, The Plans I Have for You, and Saint Vegas (NPC semifinalist 2025) and Varenka by Miriam Leeds. As an actress, her credits include numerous Broadway and off-Broadway productions such as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, and Honour (Tony Award nomination), and Television/Film including The Sinner, Boardwalk Empire, Margaret, Mare of Easttown, Rabbit Hole, and A House of Dynamite.