8 Tens @ 8: 2026 Winners Announced

"We hereby declare the winners...!"

Once again, a plethora of playwrights submitted many fine scripts for the annual 8 Tens @ 8 short-play contest. Our intrepid reading committee read no less than 300 submissions to choose this year's finalists. Those scripts then went to this year's Festival directors to select the 16 that will be presented in two shows during the 8 Tens @ 8 Festival in January/February 2026, as well as the 8 runners-up or "best of the rest," which are presented as staged readings in March.

Everything from Antarctic exploration to time travel is fair game for the collection of funny, moving, provocative and even fantastical plays chosen as the winners of the 2026 short-play Festival. Our winning playwrights come from as far away as New York and Mexico City and as close to home as Santa Cruz. Without further ado...

Here are the 16 plays that will grace the Actors' Theatre stage as part of the upcoming 8 Tens @ 8 Festival.

AD HOMINEN by Eric Thomas, directed by Davis Banta

THE BLUE BAG by John Molina, directed by Christopher Peak

CODE A by Mary Hayakawa, directed by Gerry Gerringer

HENRY'S EPITAPH by Jalen McKoy, directed by Greg Fritsch

THE LAST CONTINENT by Ken Henry, directed by Andrew Davids

LINE COOKS LIKE BABY BIRDS by Maggie Cregan, directed by Peter Gelblum

LOCKER ROOM TALK by John Hollerman, directed by Brad Roades

THE MOMENT BEFORE by Samantha Eppes, directed by Brian Spencer

PELUSA by Eric Alan Bower, directed by Susan McKay

PRONOUNS by James P. Flores, directed by Helene Simkin Jara

SACRED TRUST by Andy Waddell, directed by Jim Schultz

SMALL CAT NEGOTIABLE by Nino Greene, directed by Hannah Eckstein

STEPHEN HAWKING'S TRAIN by Mike Byham, directed by Cathy D. Warner

SUCH DREAMS AS STUFF IS MADE ON by Dan McGeehan, directed by Karen Babbitt & Janet Norton

THE TEA TEST by Seth Freeman, directed by Gail Thornton Borkowski

THIS SIDE OF MICHIGAN by Rachel Whalen, directed by Denise Keplinger

And these runners-up will be part of The Best of the Rest:

BEYOND THE BUS by Jim MacQueen

DRAWING THE LINE by Seth Freeman

END OF LIFE SEX by Marla Norton

THE FABULISTS by Paul Lewis

FOR HOW JANELL MONAE ONCE MADE ME FEEL by Julia Marks

FRISBEE ON THE BEACH by Robert Fieldsteel

GROWN-UP STUFF by D.L. Siegel

OUTSIDE THE BOX by Emily Turner

Evan Hunt and Simon Hayward will direct Best of the Rest in March 2026.

Auditions for 8 Tens 8 will be held on September 21 and 22, with callbacks over the next four evenings. Visit the Auditions page for more information. Tickets for the festival will go on sale the day after Thanskgiving. This year, you will have an option to include The Best of the Rest staged readings of the runners-up with the festival package deal for only $5.