Inside the 2026 Valdez Theater Conference: A Conversation with Dawson Moore

PWSC sat down with Valdez Theater Conference Director Dawson Moore to talk through this year’s lineup and what audiences can expect from the upcoming conference.

This year’s conference features five evening productions, beginning with a pre-conference performance by Alaska-based comedy troupe Rubber Ptarmigan. The show opens on Friday and is the only paid performance of the week, with tickets priced at $20–$25 at the door.

Moore said he recently saw the group perform in Anchorage and was excited to bring them into the lineup.

“There’s a group called Rubber Ptarmigan… they’re great. They’re really funny,” Moore said. “Standup comics talk about the world right around you, and I think it’s a really neat show.”

Most evening productions remain free to the public, which Moore directly linked to community support from the City of Valdez.

“We present all of our shows for free,” he said. “We make them free because we’re so indebted to the city of Valdez for their support. The conference doesn’t happen without it.”

On Sunday, the conference will feature an evening with the featured playwrights, who will present seated readings of excerpts from their own work. Moore described the event as a chance to see the range of approaches within playwriting, with pieces that include both humor and more reflective moments.

“It’s all of our featured artist staff who are playwrights reading from their own work,” he said. “It’s just a really interesting glimpse into the many, many different ways in which playwriting can be approached, and it’s always funny, and it’s always got some moving bits.”

The main productions begin Monday with Bullet, a one-person show by Seth McNeill described as a surreal performance that blends a TED Talk, a motivational seminar, and an existential crisis. The play explores anxiety, purpose, and questions of meaning.

“It’s a sort of surreal TED Talk,” Moore said. “It’s just sort of about the existential angst of, what are we doing? I feel like a lot of people might relate to it.”

Tuesday features a staged reading of SWEET by Schatzie Schaefer, recently selected for national publication by Next Stage Press. Moore described it as part of the conference’s staged reading series, featuring actors, movement, and performance elements beyond a traditional seated reading.

“We do a lot of readings all week long… this is more of a staged reading,” he said.

He described the structure of the play as spanning two contrasting worlds.

“It’s a dark, dark play,” Moore said. “Half of it is set in a drug house, and the other half is set in an ancient castle, where a queen tortures her subjects.”

He added that unexpected comedic elements are woven throughout.

“There are some non-speaking cats who are there for comedic relief,” he said.

The final showcase production is Arlene Hutton's Shake Rag Hollow. The play follows a woman returning home after prison to confront her past, her family, and the daughter she has never met.

Moore described the production as a strong addition to the conference’s history of presenting the playwright’s work.

“We’ve had two of her plays here before,” he said. “The productions she brings here are incredibly professional and incredibly well done.”

He also noted the emotional weight of the story.

“It’s about a woman who was accused of murdering her uncle returning home to face her past and her family and the daughter she’s never met,” he said. “It’s high emotional stakes, and again, a very full professional production of the show.”

Moore also emphasized that while evening performances are open to the public, daytime programming is primarily designed for participating artists and playwrights, though it remains an important part of the conference experience.

Moore reflected on his longstanding connection to the conference and its regional reach, particularly its strong participation in Anchorage.

“Over half of our participants every year come from the Anchorage scene,” he said.

He noted that he recently relocated to Anchorage and hopes that the connection will help strengthen recruitment between Anchorage and Valdez in the coming years.

“That’s always been long tied to the Valdez Theater Conference,” Moore said. “My hope is that over the coming years… I’ll be able to increase recruitment from Anchorage to Valdez.”

Moore also spoke to his personal history with the event, which spans decades.

“I started coming in 1995, and I started running it in 2003,” he said. “It’s more than half my life I’ve been a part of this conference.”

He described the conference as something that has remained consistent over time.

“I keep doing it because it was always awesome,” he said. “It was cool before I ran it. And if I don’t destroy it, it’ll be cool after I leave.”

When asked about the future of the conference, Moore said, “The future is unwritten.”

The Valdez Theater Conference starts this weekend, featuring a full week of evening performances and daytime programming.