The Season

Grand Sponsors: Lee Moore & Dee Whited
Playwright Sponsor Darlene Arnold
Networking Sponsor Naomi Bloom

Florida Repertory Theatre’s PlayLab Festival of New Works takes place May 1– 4 in the Historic Arcade Theatre. The 2025 PlayLab lineup includes five plays reflecting Florida Rep’s mission to produce a wide variety of work by emerging and well-established writers.

Tickets are $35 per reading and $25 for panel session, or $170 for an all-access pass that includes admission to all five readings plus the playwright’s panel. A VIP all-access package is also available for $185 and includes complimentary concessions at each reading – please call the Box Office at 239-332-4488 to order the all-access package. 

In the dead of winter, Henry flies from New York City to Southwest Florida to offer condolences at the funeral of a man he never knew — his late partner’s father. But as the booze flows at the wake, will the widow, Constance, and her grown daughter, Amy, raise a glass to the unexpected guest? Set in 2012, somewhere between the dusk of the worst days of the AIDS crisis and the dawn of marriage equality, Why We Go to Florida is a humor-laced drama exploring guilt and grief, perceptions and prejudices, show tunes, silence and survival.

Kenneth Jones returns to PlayLab after his appearance in the 2024 Festival with the romantic comedy, Ten Minutes on a Bench.