Virtual Play Reading Series
A live virtual play reading series.
Varies by performance
Recommended for varying ages.
Accessible
Launched in July 2020, our virtual play reading series has included Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson, Necessary Sacrifices by Richard Hellesen, Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage, Steel Magnolias by Richard Harling and Donja R. Love’s Fireflies.
Readings are streamed live on our website, Facebook Live, YouTube or Twitter.
“What a wondrous piece of theater!! My congratulations to all the actors for a splendid reading [of Silent Sky]! Thank you for sharing your talent and this amazing piece of history!!
– Glenda Cooke Gray
Fireflies
Streamed on March 24, 2021
By Donja R. Love
Directed by Reginald L. Douglas
Featuring:
Billie Krishawn as Olivia
Gary-Kayi Fletcher as Charles
Temídayo Amay as the Radio News Reporter
Stage Manager: Brandon Prendergast
Stage Directions: Temídayo Amay
Steel Magnolias
Streamed on December 16, 2020
By Robert Harling
Directed by Holly Twyford
Featuring
Felicia Curry as Truvy
Yesenia Iglesias as Annelle
Kimberly Schraf as Clairee
Awa Sal Secks as Shelby
Carolina Clay as M’Lynn
Sarah Marshall as Ouiser
Stage Manager: Brandon Prendergast
Stage Direction: Ashley D. Buster
Radio Voice Over: Gregory Maheu
Intimate Apparel
Streamed on September 17, 2020
By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Jennifer L. Nelson
Featuring
Awa Sal Secka as Esther
Dawn Ursula as Mrs. Dickson
Maria Egler as Mrs. Van Buren
Jonathan Atkinson as Mr. Marks
Felicia Curry as Mayme
Bueka Uwemedimo as George
Stage Manager: Brandon Prendergast
Stage Direction: Jade Jones
Necessary Sacrifices
Streamed on July 22, 2020
By Richard Hellesen
Directed by Mark Ramont
Featuring
David Selby as Abraham Lincoln
Craig Wallace as Frederick Douglass
Stage Manager: Brandon Prendergast
Stage Directions: Sean-Maurice Lynch
Original Music: John Gromada
Reviews
“I want to express my appreciation for the read-through of Richard Hellesen’s powerful and absorbing Necessary Sacrifices.
For this at-home viewer, it was something of a marvel to watch both actors recreate their stage performances while confined to their desks, and not for a live audience but for the unblinking stare of their laptop cameras. Craig Wallace made for a compelling Douglass, an indomitable pillar of mellifluous moral clarity and righteous anger. As for David Selby, I’ve seen a number of stage and film Lincolns, but never with the full-blooded warmth, wry humor, angst, and passion that Selby embodied with seeming effortlessness. A great share of the success of this Lincoln is, of course, due to playwright Hellensen’s deep knowledge and sharp dramatic instincts. Even so, down to his uncanny and engaging recreation of the high reedy voice we know Lincoln possessed, for an hour and three quarters, Selby *was* our sixteenth president – in all his complexity and humanity.”
– Steven Lehti
“I got teary-eyed.
Thanks for offering the virtual version of Intimate Apparel, a play with which I was familiar, but had never seen. The most emotional moment in my viewing of the presentation was, believe it or not, during the intermission…. As the camera roamed around your beautiful, intimate, but empty theater, I was suddenly struck by how very much I’ve missed being in it over these past six months. I got teary-eyed. Like everyone else even remotely connected to the performing arts, I sincerely hope that your wonderful venue — and all the others here, there, and everywhere — will sooner rather than later be filled with enthusiastic theatergoers.”
– Charlie Fontana
“Love the voices.
This [reading of Silent Sky] is also more intimate than the marvelous production was. Much is lost in Zoom but things are also gained.”
– Jeremy D. Mayer
“Such a wonderful show in the theater.
A treat to see [Silent Sky] again.”
– Carol Wayman
“What a wondrous piece of theater!!
My congratulations to all the actors for a splendid reading [of Silent Sky]! Thank you for sharing your talent and this amazing piece of history!!”
– Glenda Cooke Gray