Meet the Finalists: 2026 Rocket City Playwrights' Series

Six new plays. Six writers. One weekend to see where local and regional imagination can take the stage.

The Rocket City Playwrights' Series returns August 14–15, 2026 at 7pm at Shenanigans Comedy Theatre in Huntsville, AL, showcasing six finalist plays chosen for this year's series.

From a quiet lake where a family scatters ashes to a corporate boardroom run by a medieval troll, this year's lineup spans grief, history, horror, comedy, and everything in between. Tickets are $12 and available online here.

Here's who and what you'll see. Curious about what will happen the night of the event? We walk you through the whole process.

Finalist: Juan E. Bedolla

Juan is an animation director and producer who is new to both writing and theater, but brings eager enthusiasm and unearned confidence to make up for it. He's performed locally with Huntsville Shakespeare, Independent Music Productions, Theatre Huntsville, and Evil Cheez.

Play: In the Middle of the Lake

A girl and her grandfather return to a lake to scatter her father's ashes. The grandfather admits he never much liked fishing, but as the two sit with the water and their grief, something shifts — a quiet, hard-won peace built on memory and presence rather than words.

Bethany Bruno

Finalist: Bethany Bruno

Bethany Bruno is a Floridian author with a BA in English from Flagler College and an MA from the University of North Florida.

Her writing has appeared in more than 100 literary journals, including The New York Times, The Threepenny Review, The Sun, McSweeney's, River Teeth's Beautiful Things, and The Huffington Post.

She's won the 2026 Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest, Lunch Ticket's Diana Woods Memorial Award in Creative Nonfiction, the Key West Art & Historical Society's Tennessee Williams Short Story Contest, and several other honors, with additional finalist nods from CutBank, The Adroit Journal, and WOW! Women on Writing, among others. Learn more at bethanybrunowriter.com.

Play: The First Lesson

In 1963 Alabama, a Black woman arrives at a segregated public pool demanding the swimming lesson she was promised, after watching a friend drown. When she refuses to leave, a young white instructor is forced to choose between her own safety and another woman's right to survive.

Finalist: Joe Conway

Joe Conway is originally from Delaware County, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia, and attended the same university as the present Pope and three current New York Knicks. He has lived in Huntsville for the last fifteen years since joining the English faculty at UAH, and lives with his wife Kat in a house on a hill with many, many trees and two cats.

Play: Over/Under

Three ghosts from three different generations live together under the Darby Creek bridge, each having died there in life-ending leaps. To pass eternity, they reminisce, bicker, and make bets on the things they see — including whether a mysterious figure who appears on the bridge above will be the next to join their undead company.

Finalist: John Gulledge

John Gulledge is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of North Alabama, where he teaches early English drama, including Shakespeare, and the Medical Humanities.

He's published extensively on performance and disability, including recent essays in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine and Inclusive Shakespeares: Identity, Pedagogy, Performance.

His first book, Wonder Work: Feeling Disability on the Early Modern Stage, is under contract with Kent State University Press for a tentative late-2027 release. John earned his Ph.D. in English Literature from Emory University and an M.A. in English from Auburn.

Play: Troll Bridge

Grimgor, a medieval troll, gets a modern makeover — reborn as a corporate brand through marketing, crowdfunding, and monetization. A sharp, funny look at what happens when folklore meets the hustle economy.

Finalist: Stacy Neuberger-von Hoffman

Stacy grew up loving horror, enough to write her master's thesis on the decline of horror in popular culture and to watch every horror movie she can find, no matter how bad.

She's done zombie makeup for an ice-skating exhibition, played a zombie in a short independent film, run several zombie-themed races, and authored the Do Zombies Win? series, starting with Zombies Are People Too! and continuing through Zombies Bite! and Zombie Wasteland, with Zombimerica in the works.

Stacy teaches English at a community college and volunteers with Cattyshack, Inc. rescue, fostering kittens in her spare time. She lives with her husband and five and a half rambunctious cats.

Play: End Stage

Nina cares for a dying Charlie, and in the quiet of that vigil, the two revisit memories of abuse, healing, and love. A raw, tender look at what we carry into the end.

Finalist: Victoria Rich

Victoria Rich was born and raised in Huntsville, AL. Her first novel, Lukas & Thea's Magical Cuffing Season, a magical love letter to her hometown, is available on Amazon under the name Tori Rich. Her second book, Baked Priest, is due out in late 2026 or early 2027.

Play: Winifred Does Not Want to Save the World

Captain Do-All, an overconfident alien superhero, needs a magical stone to revive his home planet, and the only person who has it is Winifred, a thoroughly jaded social worker who has zero interest in his mission.

A comedy about heroism, burnout, and who really gets things done.

Come See It Live

Six finalists, one stage, two nights only.

The Rocket City Playwrights' Series runs August 14–15, 2026 at 7pm at Shenanigans Comedy Theatre in Huntsville. Tickets are $12 and available now online here.

Grab your seat and come see where new theater in Huntsville is headed.