“The Ultimate Cheeseburger,” “Evie & Loren,” and “Suture Bowl” will share the limelight during the Hippodrome Theatre’s New Works Festival on Friday and Saturday.  

Started in 2020, the festival accepts submissions from Florida playwrights of new theatrical works that, according to a press release, feature innovative, experimental and thought-provoking material.  

The Hippodrome received 45 submissions this year, and playwrights will collaborate with directors, actors and producers to air staged readings for the festival.  

The performance allows the audience to give immediate feedback during a post-show talkback, helping hone the script.  

Jena Rashid’s “The Ultimate Cheeseburger” will perform on Friday at 8 p.m. The shorter plays “Evie & Loren” and “Suture Bowl” will both run Saturday at 8 p.m. You can purchase tickets online.  

Here’s the Hippodrome’s summary of the shows:  

The Ultimate Cheeseburger | By Jena Rashid 

• We’ve all been there: the district manager comes in and talks about how everyone in your job is a “family” and that you’re all a “team” who need to work together, right? Well, things are no different at Chicken & Roots, Co. where everyone is just trying to make ends meet like most of working America. But what happens when one person is finally pushed too far? 

Evie & Loren | By Bethany Dickens Assaf  

• Evie and Loren look like a perfect match when they find each other on Tinder – except she’s his former mother-in-law. Over the course of a date, Evie and Loren learn a lot – maybe too much? – about each other before realizing they might be heading towards something dangerous.  

Suture Bowl | By Irene L. Pynne  

• Lights, Camera, Action! Welcome to Suture Bowl! Join top surgeons as they face off in the final episode of the highest-rated reality series ever, battling it out in a gameshow with higher stakes than they ever imagined. Only one will survive – I mean, win!