Innovation is a constant pursuit at TheatreWorks, the nationally acclaimed Mountain View-based theater company, and its New Works Festival (July 15-Aug 23) has offered fertile ground for cutting-edge productions and talent. Now in its eighth year, this “incubator” for new works will showcase readings of six new musicals and plays; live concerts; playwright showcases; a talk with founding artistic director Robert Kelley and more.

The festival, held at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theater, is part of the company’s New Works Initiative. Many works that have developed under the initiative have gone on to great success—such as Memphis, a rock musical, which debuts on Broadway this fall.

At the center of the festival is the world premiere of Tinyard Hill (July 15-Aug 16), a country-themed musical set in the 60s, by Tommy Newman and Mark Allen. The production, which kicks off TheatreWorks’ 40th season, is about a blacksmith in the 1960s whose rural life is turned upside down with the arrival of a beautiful stranger and a draft notice.

The festival then expands in August with “script in hand” readings of three new plays and musicals, including The Sparrow and the Birdman by Raquel Bitton and Christ Smith (Aug 3, 7:30pm), a drama about Edith Piaf and Jean Cocteau; and Tales from the Bad Years by Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk (Aug 19 & 23, 7:30pm; Aug 22, 8pm), a funny musical about twenty-somethings.

Rounding out the fun are concerts by  Broadway star Maureen McGovern (Aug 6, 8pm) and singer-songwriter Vienna Teng (Aug 14, 8pm), as well as special events such as the Young Playwrights Showcase (Aug 9, 2pm).

Pay extra attention to these new works—today’s staged reading could blossom into tomorrow’s hottest theater hit. -Stephanie Soong

When: July 15-Aug 23
Where: Lucie  Stern Theater, 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto
More info: 650/463-1960; www.theatreworks.org