The festival will kick off on Friday, January 12 at 7:30 p.m. with Voices of the Community: Celebrating Local Playwrights, an evening of work created by San Diego residents through the Globe’s arts engagement initiatives Community Voices and coLAB, and will continue with four readings by some of the most exciting voices writing for the American theatre today. The new American play readings commence on Saturday, January 13 at 4:00 p.m. with Laurel Ollstein’s They Promised Her the Moon, directed by Giovanna Sardelli (Somewhere, The Whipping Man at the Globe), followed at 7:30 p.m. by Too Heavy for Your Pocket by Jiréh Breon Holder, directed by Patricia McGregor (Globe for All’s Measure for Measure).The Festival continues on Sunday, January 14 at 3:00 p.m. with The Tale of Despereaux, with book, music, and lyrics by PigPen Theatre Co. (The Old Man and The Old Moon at the Globe), based on the novel by Kate DiCamillo and the Universal Pictures animated motion picture. The Festival will wrap up that evening at 7:30 p.m. with The Great Leap by Lauren Yee, directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg (Globe’s Skeleton Crew).

Press Release

The complete Voices of the Community: Celebrating Local Playwrights is as follows:

Friday, January 12 at 7:30 p.m.

Freedom, Can You Hear Me? by Gill Sotu and participants from Fourth District Seniors Resource Center

Big Man by Dairrick Kahlil Hodges

The Hound and the Rat by Carter Davis

Rob & Lee by Katherine Harroff and participants from Veterans Village of San Diego

Dad and Dementia by David Latham

Ethel and Eleanora by Jonathan Mello

Sunset Cliffs by Sheila Shaw

The complete Powers New Voices Festival lineup is as follows:

Saturday, January 13 at 4:00 p.m.
They Promised Her the Moon

By Laurel Ollstein
Directed by Giovanna Sardelli

In They Promised Her the Moon, John Glenn is a household name, but Jerrie Cobb? Not so much. In 1960, Glenn was one of the famous “Mercury Seven” who trained at NASA to become the first American astronauts. But Cobb and 12 other women also underwent the same rigorous psychological and physical testing, some outscoring and outpacing their male counterparts. The men went to space, Jerrie Cobb was never given that chance. Laurel Ollstein’s They Promised Her the Moon tells the true story of this exceptional woman—a skilled aviator, a world record–holding pilot, a business executive—and the powerful forces that kept her earthbound.

Saturday, January 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Too Heavy for Your Pocket

By Jiréh Breon Holder
Directed by Patricia McGregor

For 20-year-old Bowzie Brandon, the future looks bright in Jiréh Breon Holder’s Too Heavy for Your Pocket. He has a loving wife, good friends, and a full scholarship to Fisk University, Nashville’s most prominent black college. But it’s 1961, and Bowzie gets swept up in the Freedom Riders movement, which promises a better world and a brighter tomorrow. Can Bowzie convince his loved ones—and himself—that the fight to shape his country’s future is worth risking his own? A heartfelt and moving look at what happens when you find yourself at the crossroads of history.

Sunday, January 14 at 3:00 p.m.
The Tale of Despereaux

By PigPen Theatre Co.
Based on the novel by Kate DiCamillo and the Universal Picture animated film

PigPen Theatre Co. returns to San Diego with The Tale of Despereaux after wowing Globe audiences last season with The Old Man and The Old Moon. This acclaimed company brings their inventive, musical style to this magical modern fairytale. Once upon a time in the faraway kingdom of Dor lived a brave and virtuous mouse who dreamed of becoming a knight. Banished from his home for his lofty ambitions, Despereaux sets off on a noble quest to rescue an endangered princess and save an entire kingdom from darkness. The Tale of Despereaux is a theatrical, musical enchantment based on the novel by Kate DiCamillo and the Universal Pictures animated motion picture.

Sunday, January 14 at 7:30 p.m.
The Great Leap

By Lauren Yee
Directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg

The Great Leap takes place in San Francisco in spring 1989. Manford Lum is a neighborhood star on the basketball courts of Chinatown, but he longs to make the leap to something more. Soon, he talks his way onto a college team headed for Beijing for an exhibition game and finds himself in the middle of China’s post-Cultural Revolution, where Manford suddenly perceives his past in the context of international politics. Inspired by events from the life of playwright Lauren Yee’s own father, The Great Leap is a fast-paced and hilarious play about family, history, and basketball.