Newman Plays

Newman’s original verse drama, AWAKENING GALATEA, is being presented on the Utah Valley University Theatre Department’s Main Season in November 2026, directed by Shelby Gist.

Pygmalion, the sculptor, is a perfectionist. He creates Galatea, his statue of a perfect woman, in order to mock imperfect maidens. However, when the Seven Muses cause Pygmalion to fall in love with his statue, the Muse of Poetry begs the Goddess of Love to let her enter the statue and experience mortal love. Sent on a quest together by the Muses, Pygmalion and Galatea will learn what it means to experience genuine affection and humanity.

The play will be presented November 13-21, 2026 in the Student Theatre next to the Noorda Center for the Performing Arts. Performances in the small theatre are expected to sell out, so patrons should order their tickets in advance through the following link.

https://www.uvu.edu/arts/events/galatea.html

John Newman’s adaptation of Whirligig was produced in September 2025 by the Wairapara Youth Theatre in Masterton, New Zealand, directed by Linda and Gracie Voice. The young actors’ performances were remarkable, demonstrating skill, emotional depth, and ensemble commitment. Newman traveled to New Zealand with his wife to see the production and for the playwright to meet the cast and offer a master class in playwriting. While in the country, they drove the length of the North Island, from Auckland to Wellington, driving on the left side of the road. They experienced the magnificent New Zealand landscape and made a visit to Bilbo Baggins’ underground home in Hobbiton. Truly a magical journey there and back again.

The Newman Plays site is being restored as John Newman is finding more time to write plays, to write about playwriting, and to develop plays by other writers. While he had limited time to pursue playwriting projects as he chaired a theatre department during the pandemic, he was able to complete a number of projects and publish a number of books and plays, but neglected to post about them on this site. Nevertheless, a number of writers and producers have found out about his work through this site, which is now being updated. Here are some highlights from the “gap years.”

• In 2019, John Newman’s PLAYWRITING IN SCHOOLS: DRAMATIC NAVAGATION was published by Intellect Books. It depicts his play development projects at Highland High School and through AATE’s Playwrights In Our Schools Project as well as the playwriting and play development approaches of other AATE members. In 2020, the book received AATE’s Distinguished Book Award and, according to WorldCat.com, can now be found in some 240 academic libraries around the world. It is available through amazon.com.
• In 2021, Newman published NOORDA THEATRE YOUTH PLAYS, an annotated anthology of five plays developed and premiered through UVU’s Noorda Theatre Summer Camp. The collection includes two of the plays he wrote and developed for his young actors, based on their ideas and tailored to their needs and interests: GATHERING GRIMM and SUPERPOWERS. It also includes plays written by Wendy Gourley (THE HORNSWOGGLE JIG), Mahonri Stewart (THE TROJAN CHILDREN), and Drew Chappell (TIME MIRRORS), likewise inspired by and shaped by the young performers. The anthology and the individual plays are available through Leicester Bay Theatricals, a division of Premiere Theatrical Licensing, at https://leicesterbaytheatricals.com/
• Under the name of J.D. Newman, John Newman has published three novels and theatre adaptations of each in the Sandy Hunter Trilogy. These include SANDY & THE WEIRD SISTERS, SANDY & THE DANCE OF FAITH, and CLARA & THE MERMAIDS. All are available through Leicester Bay. The plays depict young people’s experiences with the performing arts.
• One of the several plays John Newman has developed at UVU is Claudia Haas’ MY BROTHER’S GIFT, published by Stage Partners, which received a 2022 AATE Distinguished Play Award. (available at https://leicesterbaytheatricals.com/) Other more recent development projects include Haas’ other plays REMEMBERING MARGOT and YOURS UNTIL NIAGARA FALLS; Joanna Kraus’ CHAMPION; J.S. Puller’s CRAYONS; Andrew Geha’s CHRYSALIS and MONSTERS, and Laura King’s ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL.

John Newman has returned to service as a Playwriting Network Co-Chair for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE). He stepped down from that position to serve as Chair of the Utah Valley University Department of Theatre for three years (2019-2022), and for the last two years has focused on developing the Theatre for Youth and Education (TYE) Center which he directs at UVU. During that time, he has given less time to writing and developing his own plays, though he has continued to develop new works by other writers through UVU and AATE.

AATE held its 2024 National Conference in Chicago in July. The Playwriting Network connects writers with teachers and directors to develop and produce their work through its directories, conference sessions, Playwrights for Change contests, Playwrights In Our Schools residencies, and other programming. The Network has been gradually restarting programs that went in hiatus during the pandemic. For more information about joining the AATE Playwriting Network, see the website http://www.aate.com or contact John.Newman@uvu.edu.

Dr. John Newman will perform his solo play, THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN, at the Salt Lake City Main Library, 220 E 400 S, on Monday, September 11 at 7p in the Nancy Tessman Auditorium, just off the atrium. This free public performance runs approximately 75 minutes.

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The main character in the play is L. Frank Baum, best known as the author of The Wizard of Oz and 13 other Oz books. The play is set on New Year’s Eve the stage of the Hudson Theatre as one of Baum’s popular theatrical productions has been abruptly cancelled because of its excessive costs. The “Royal Historian of Oz” offers the expectant audience his own story of how he “found his way to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

Before finding his calling as a writer of children’s stories, Baum struggled to make his living as an actor, director, store-owner, baseball team secretary, small-town newspaper editor, reporter, and traveling salesman. In the play, L. Frank Baum tells how each of his professions developed his abilities as a storyteller and how he transformed his dreams and nightmares into his best known story. His life intersects with American notables including author Charles Dickens, inventor Thomas Edison, and his mother-in-law, suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage.

While the play is G-rated and features a famous children’s book author, it is aimed at adult audiences, though all ages are welcome to attend. Children as young as ten have been engaged by the play; younger children might be bored by it.

The play will also have public performances at the Provo Library, Monday, October 9 at 7p and the Orem Library, Monday October 23 at 7p. It will be performed on Saturday, September 23 at 2p at the United Solo Festival at Theatre Row on 42nd Street in New York City. Tickets for all shows at United Solo are $35 plus fees and can be obtained by following this link. In buying tickets on line, note that the ticketing site will list the time (Sept 23 @ 2p) but not the title; this is only show at United Solo scheduled in that timeslot.

http://unitedsolo.org/us/themanbehindthecurtain-2017/

Dr. Newman developed the play during a residency at the Open Eye Theater in upstate New York in October 2016, with the premiere production under the direction of Dr. Tania Myren. He has since performed the play in Syracuse, New York and Coronado, California; places associated with L Frank Baum’s life and writing. Newman hopes to perform the play in other places associated with Baum, including Aberdeen, South Dakota; Chicago, Illinois; and Holland, Michigan.

John Newman earned his PhD in Educational Theater at New York University, with concentrations in theater for young audiences and playwriting. He has been a professor of theatre at Utah Valley University and Director of the Noorda Theatre Center for Children and Youth since 2010, after teaching and directing theatre for eighteen years at Highland High School in Salt Lake City. As a playwright, Newman has created stage adaptations of novels for Newbery medalists including Avi, Paul Fleischman, Richard Peck, and Jean Lee Latham.

For questions or for more information, email john.newman@uvu.edu

Following its premiere at the Open Eye Theater in Margaretville NY, J. D. Newman has performed The Man Behind the Curtain at the Onondaga Historical Association Museum in downtown Syracuse NY, Utah Valley University in Orem UT, Chapman University in Orange CA, and Holladay City Hall in Holladay UT. The show will return in the summer of 2017 with performances anticipated in Utah libraries, New Orleans, and in sites associated with the life of L. Frank Baum. Contact john.newman@uvu.edu if you are interested in booking a performance.

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For Fall 2016, I am taking a one-semester sabbatical from Utah Valley University and doing a six-week residency at the Open Eye Theater in the Catskill Mountain region of upstate New York. I am performing my original one-man play, The Man Behind the Curtain, under the direction of Tania Myren, and directing my adaptation of my novel Sandy and the Weird Sisters. 

The Man Behind the Curtain centers on L. Frank Baum, best known as the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In the play, Baum confronts an audience disappointed by the cancellation of his theatrical production “The Fairylogue.” He offers them his own personal story of his life as the head of a theatre troupe in New York, as a merchant, baseball promoter, and newspaper editor in South Dakota, as a reporter and china salesman in Chicago, and finally as a writer of children’s stories. The play encourages the children in the audience to imagine impossible things, as he did throughout his life. The drama shows how elements of Baum’s life came together in his best-known story that can be seen as his personal myth.

Sandy and the Weird Sisters tells the story of 12-year-old Sandy Hunter as she redefines herself one summer when she is dropped on the doorstep of her three great-aunts, referred to by the family as the “weird sisters.” The dramatic adaptation has been customized for the casting pool of the small town in New York, with roles for older actors and young girls.

Leicester Bay Theatricals has recently published ten plays by J.D. Newman.  Leicester Bay is a new and relatively small publisher that now represents work by an impressive group of writers with connections to Utah theatre and/or the national LDS community including James Arrington, Newell Dayley, Michael McLean, Eric Samuelsen,  Marvin Payne, Eric Samuelsen, Tim Slover. Doug Stewart, and Jack Weyland.  The following plays are now fully published by Leicester Bay and are awaiting additional productions:

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy)

AWAKENING GALATEA (original verse drama)

DeGRUCHY’S MANTLE (formerly published by Encore)

THE DOCTOR IN SPITE OF HIMSELF (translation of Moliere’s comedy)

GATHERING GRIMM (original drama)

LIBERATION (formerly published by Encore)

The following plays are listed in Leicester Bay’s Premiere File and while they have had staged readings and development workshops, they are awaiting a full premiere production.

CROWNS AND COMMONERS

OLYMPUS ON THE MOON

PUZZLES

THE YEARNING SEASON

For more information, follow this link:

http://www.leicesterbaytheatricals.com/john-d-newman-author/

Leicester Bay Books has also published J.D.Newman’s first novel SANDY AND THE WEIRD SISTERS, available from amazon.com.

Utah Valley University’s Noorda Theatre Center for Children and Youth will be presenting John Dilworth Newman’s adaptation of  Jean Lee Latham’s Carry On Mr. Bowditch as a touring production in Utah Schools through December 11.  There is still one touring date available on Wednesday, December 9 for a school in Utah Valley.  Contact Kynsie Kiggins at 801-863-KIDS or noordacenter@uvu.edu to book this performance.

Mountain View High School in Orem is performing a stage adaptation I did for them of a James Christensen art storybook called VOYAGE OF THE BASSET. It’s playing Thur, Fri, Sat @ 7p (Jan 15, 16, 17) in their auditorium. I did the first draft of the adaptation in Suzan Zeder’s class 16 years ago when I was getting my masters at the University of Texas but the rights were tied up with a Hallmark film version at the time. Mountain View was able to get rights to do a “readers theatre” version rather than a fully staged version, but did get rights to use the projections, so the project has been a great experiment for the advanced drama class in creating an experimental, multimedia performance mode.