FORUM Roundtable Reading Series at Playwrights Theatre
FORUM brings playwrights, actors and audience members together to enjoy the creative process of bringing a play to life. In December 2012 and January 2013, the series began with 13 readings by national and New Jersey writers, including four plays by writers in the NJ Emerging Women Playwrights Project and two plays by winners of the 2009 NJ State Council on the Arts Playwriting Fellowships. Playwrights Theatre will present these readings free of charge, with an optional donation of $10. A $25 dollar donation will get patrons a FORUM pass that covers all of the readings. A $250 donation will get patrons a rehearsal pass that allows access to all reading rehearsals. Reservations can be made online at www.ptnj.org or call (973) 514-1787 X10. All readings include a post-show discussion with the author and director, as well as Artistic Director John Pietrowski.
“Youth Driven Theatre is theatre with a youthful perspective, and does not limit itself to pre-adult audiences,” said Artistic Director John Pietrowski. “It’s an effort, begun with plays we’ve produced, like Our Dad Is in Atlantis and Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie, to develop serious, interesting, and challenging new work for a wide spectrum of age ranges. We see Youth Driven Theatre as not only plays written by professional writers, but also plays written by young writers, like those from our NJ Young Playwrights Contest. Some may remember that one of our High School Plays, Todd’s Secret, was named by the Star Ledger as one of the best new plays in New Jersey a number of years ago.”
“The three plays in this series deal with issues of interest to everyone. Lindsey’s Oyster is about a young girl who finds herself pregnant and confused as to how proceed with herself and her parents. Salvation Road is about a brother and sister who try to bring back an older sister who has entered into a religious cult, and Count Down takes place in a residential group center for incarcerated girls, and deals with a writing teacher’s efforts to get them to express themselves in art and theatre, and the uncomfortable truth about the center that she inadvertently uncovers. These are challenging and intriguing pieces.”
FORUM Schedule:
Thursday, March 14 – Lindsey’s Oyster by Tammy Ryan (Youth Driven Theatre)
Friday, March 15 – Salvation Road by D.W. Gregory (Youth Driven Theatre)
Saturday, March 16– Count Down by Dominic Cieri (Youth Driven Theatre)
The previous FORUM readings in this series were as follows:
Friday, December 14 – The River Pure for Healing by Pia Wilson (Literary Artist Fellowship)
Saturday, December 15 – Hielo by Dania Ramos (New Jersey Emerging Women Playwright)
Sunday, December 16 – Reality by Lia Romeo (New Jersey Emerging Women Playwright)
Monday, December 17 – Roundelay by R.N. Sandburg (New Jersey Writers)
Tuesday, December 18 – The Baby Killer Play by Dominique Cieri (New Jersey Emerging Women Playwright/
Wednesday, December 19 – Screwed! by Carrie Louise Nutt (New Jersey Emerging Women Playwright)
Thursday, December 20 – Most Famous Negro in America by Rufus Caleb (PEW Fellows)
Friday, December 21 – Broomstick by John Biguenet (Old Friend)
Saturday, December 22 – The Listing by Joe Sutton (New Jersey Writer)
Thursday, January 3 – JC3 by Seth Rozin (Old Friends)
Friday, January 4 – In Case of the Apocalypse After Edmond Is Gone by Russell Davis (PEW Fellows)
Saturday, January 5 – Eight Fourteen by Hal Corley (New Jersey Writer)
Sunday, January 6 – A Little Quid Pro Quo by Robert Clyman (New Jersey Writer)
For play descriptions and author bios, please visit www.ptnj.org/
Programs are subject to change, based on artistic need. Please visit the website www.ptnj.org for up-to-the-minute details.
About Playwrights Theatre:
Founded in 1986, Playwrights Theatre is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit professional theatre and arts education institution dedicated to developing and nurturing the dramatic imagination of artists, students, and audiences. Our New Play Program creates development opportunities for professional writers through readings, workshops and productions, and invites audiences to participate in authentic feedback experiences. Our New Jersey Writers Project, Poetry Out Loud, New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest and Festival, and Creative Arts Academy programs provide a comprehensive and hands-on arts education experience to over 31,000 students, Pre-K through adult.
Writers in the New Play Program are drawn from across the country, including our affiliation with the National New Play Network, a nation-wide group of theatres dedicated to the development and production of new work. Teaching Artists in our Education Programs are professional artists working in their field in the New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. From 2003-2013, we have been designated a Major Arts Institution by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts (along with only four other theatres: The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, George Street Playhouse, McCarter Theatre Center and Paper Mill Playhouse) as “an anchor institution that contributes vitally to the quality of life in New Jersey.”
Funding for our activities comes from: the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the F.M. Kirby Foundation, Inc., Dramatist Guild Fund, Horizon Foundation of New Jersey, The Shubert Foundation, Travelers, The Victoria Foundation, and many corporations, foundations and individuals.
Playwrights Theatre is a member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, the National New Play Network, and Madison Arts & Culture Alliance.
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