Current Season

Visiting Playwright, Jonathan Spector

• Tuesday, April 28, 2026, 7 to 8 p.m., Black Box Theater, Reading and Conversation
• Wednesday, April 29, 2026, 10 to 10:50 a.m., Black Box Theater, Interdisciplinary Theatre Workshop
• Wednesday, April 29, 2026, 12 to 12:50 p.m., 8-200, Playwriting Workshop
• All Events Free and Open to the Public

Jonathan Spector is a playwright based in Oakland, California whose work has been produced on and off Broadway, regionally, and internationally. His plays include EUREKA DAY (NY Times Critics’ Pick, Glickman Award, Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award, Rella Lossy Award, WhatsOnStage Award nom., Drama League Award nom.); This Much I Know (Glickman Award, Bay Area Theater Critic Circle Award, Edgerton Award); Birthright; Best Available; and Siesta Key. Spector’s plays have been produced at theaters including Manhattan Theater Club, The Old Vic/Sonia Friedman Productions, Aurora Theater, Hampstead Theater, Theater J, Miami New Drama, Asolo Rep, Syracuse Stage, InterAct, Shotgun Players, Mosaic Theater, Colt Coeur, Just Theater, the State Theater of South Australia and The National Theater of Austria, among others. He is currently under commission with Manhattan Theater Club, Roundabout Theater Company and La Jolla Playhouse.
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Nineteenth Annual Sixth Act Student Playwriting Competition

• Thursday, May 7, 2026, 7 p.m., Black Box Theater
• Free and Open to the Public

This competition encourages MCC students to write plays for an audience, to provide MCC students a competitive venue for their scripts, to offer winning playwrights the opportunity to see their scripts performed as staged readings with an eye towards future play development, and to offer VaPA students the opportunity to participate in the new-play-development process. Three winning playwrights receive cash prizes. One winning playwright also will have their play submitted to a nationwide competition. Scripts will be accepted for consideration beginning in September.

The Sixth Act will develop curriculum-support materials and events for VaPA’s 2025-2026 season and for theatre productions in the Rochester community in an effort to encourage faculty across MCC to teach these plays in their individual courses and to enrich this process for all involved.
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The Sixth Act also will continue to develop Drama on Demand, now as a Video Library. This popular program now features web-based, filmed versions of VaPA students performing scenes from published plays so these scenes can be used as co-curricular tools across campus.