Newtown
Full-length drama / 2f, 2m
Unflinching and lyrical, and derived closely from documentary source material, Dan O’Brien’s Newtown portrays four parents whose lives are changed forever as they search for hope and healing in the context of the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Winner of the 2024 Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation Theatre Visions Fund Award.
Newtown premiered at Geva Theatre Center, directed by Artistic Director Elizabeth Williamson. The play was commissioned by American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Bill Rauch, Artistic Director, and the Public Theater, Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director. The play was developed, in part, with assistance from the New Harmony Project, Lori Walter Hudson, Artistic Director, and the Orchard Project, Ari Edelson, Artistic Director.
REVIEWS
“Dan O’Brien, unsentimental and meticulous in all his work, draws on research, imagination, and personal experience to give us a specific and heartbreaking glimpse of the moments before the world ends.”
—Alison Carey, Cincinnati Review
FEATURES
“Why You Should See Newtown, a New Play About the Sandy Hook Shooting” in Esquire
“Favorite Boston-Area Stage Productions of 2024” in Arts Fuse
“Dan O’Brien―The Playwright as Documentarian” by David DeWitt in Arts Fuse
INTERVIEWS
Connections with Evan Dawson on NPR
“Newtown with Playwright Dan O'Brien (Processing Trauma Through Art)” on Analyze Scripts
