New works by Boston playwrights Ronan Noone and Rebekah Maggor, and one by Tony Award-nominated actor/playwright David Marshall Grant are among the six plays debuting in the Huntington Theatre Company's 2005 Breaking Ground Festival, March 3-6 at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. Breaking Ground Festival is where Melinda Lopez's “Sonia Flew” was first presented before it opened to critical and popular acclaim in a full Huntington production last fall.

Huntington Artistic Director Nicholas Martin commented, "I'm so proud we are using our resources to develop new plays and help playwrights at all stages of their careers. Breaking Ground gives artistic and material support to these writers and it opens the process to the public at little or no cost. That way our community becomes a vital part of play development."

Breaking Ground began as an informal play reading series in 2000. In addition to “Sonia Flew,” attendees have had the chance to see new work by Stephen Belber before his Broadway debut with “Match,” and the debut of John Kuntz's “Jasper Lake” before its successful Boston production last year. Guest actors who have read in previous festivals include Debra Monk, Andrea Martin and Jeremiah Kissel.

Huntington Literary Manager Ilana Brownstein, who serves as dramaturg and is producing the Festival with Huntington Artistic Associate Justin Waldman, says the plays and authors chosen this year will benefit from the working environment of the Festival.

"Only after a playwright hears text read by actors in front of an audience can he or she then begin to really tweak, pare down, rewrite, or reconfigure their work," Brownstein says. “The Festival gives these talented writers the best possible environment in which to develop their plays."

The full schedule includes:

“Smiler Becoming Yank”
Thursday, March 3, 8:00 P.M.
Escaping a broken heart and exiled by his family, a recent immigrant to Boston is haunted by the ghosts of his past. Yearning to belong to his new country, he struggles to achieve the hallmarks of an American life, including the girl of his dreams.

“The Hopper Collection”
Friday, March 4, 8:00 P.M.
Marjorie and Daniel have serious problems. She tries to feed him cyanide, he's stubbornly besotted with her, and their damaged lives revolve around an Edward Hopper painting. Can a pair of unexpected visitors reveal the path to happiness?

“Two Days at Home, Three Days in Prison”
Saturday, March 5, 3:00 P.M.
In an Israeli military prison, a female guard and a male inmate question their dreams, their duties, and their patriotism. While locked in a martial power struggle, their youthful idealism collides with the realities of a region beset by unrest, forcing these soldiers to face their lives deferred on both sides of the prison bars.

“Pen”
Saturday, March 5, 8:00 P.M.
Adam, trapped in a web of familial dysfunction, longs for the freedom that college might bring. A pilfered pen becomes the unlikely catalyst he and his family need to see the world from each other's perspective.

“Marvel”
Sunday, March 6, 3:00 P.M.
A guy in a Spider-Man suit sits high above the Brooklyn Bridge, while miles of snarled traffic is gridlocked below - just another average day in New York. One man's act of protest pits him against a ridiculous world and the street-wise cop sent to talk him down.

"Create Fate"
Sunday, March 6, 7:30 P.M.
Love can be a brutal game. When the deck is stacked against him, Nathan does the only thing he can to get the love of his life to notice him: he calls in the professionals. When is true love a product of fate, and when does it result from a set of well-choreographed "accidents"?

The 2005 Breaking Ground Festival is supported by the family of J.C. Trahan, who have dedicated the Festival to his memory. Additional support comes from the LEF Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Huntington's new play development initiatives are supported in part by the Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays, a permanently endowed fund dedicated to the creation and development of new works for the American stage.

All readings will take place in Rehearsal Hall B of the Calderwood Pavilion. Tickets are free but seating is limited and reservations are highly recommended. For information, call the Huntington Theatre Company Box Office at 617-266-0800.