Join us for readings of exciting NEW works-in-progress that are in keeping with our mission to bring you risky, adventurous plays that you won’t find anywhere else in Southern California. Many of our most memorable productions have been found as part of the New Play Reading Festival. Tickets are free, but reservations are strongly recommended.
Thursday, July 19 at 7:00pm
Festival Preview and Playwright Discussion – Week 1
A preview of the coming weekend’s plays, a discussion of what makes a “Boston Court Pasadena play” and an inside look at the play development process. Literary Manager Emilie Beck and Artistic Directors Jessica Kubzansky and Michael Michetti will be joined by the festival playwrights for a lively discussion and an audience Q&A.
Saturday, July 21 at 11:00am
How the Light Gets In by E.M. Lewis
Directed by Emilie Beck
A travel writer who never travels. A Japanese architect who can’t figure out how to build a simple tea house. A tattoo artist who refuses to draw on a woman’s skin. And a homeless girl who lives under a weeping willow tree in the Japanese Garden. Four lonely people find each other when one of them falls apart.
Saturday, July 21 at 2:00pm
Pairi Daiza by Nahal Navidar
Directed by Jennifer Chambers
When 24-year-old Iranian Independent-Fighter Zahra learns she is 7 months pregnant in the heat of the Iran-Iraq war, she rejects her maternal instincts and chooses to remain in combat. As her impending due date approaches, Zahra must learn how to deal with the traumas of her past life and open herself up to hope and love.
Thursday, July 26 at 7:00pm
Festival Preview and Playwright Discussion – Week 2
A preview of the coming weekend’s plays, a discussion of what makes a “Boston Court Pasadena play” and an inside look at the play development process. Literary Manager Emilie Beck and Artistic Directors Jessica Kubzansky and Michael Michetti will be joined by the festival playwrights for a lively discussion and an audience Q&A.
Saturday, July 28 at 11:00am
Ladies by Kit Steinkellner
Directed by Michael Michetti
Ladies is a fictional account of a year in the life of The Blue Stocking Society, the world’s first major feminist movement in 1750’s London, and explores the tangled knot of electric and jagged relationships that comprise this group. These women are pioneers and revolutionaries, emboldened by the call to arms to be the first of their kind and burdened by the misfortune of being born far ahead of their time.
Saturday, July 28 at 2:00pm
Drunk at the Base of the Bodhi Tree by Julie Hébert
Directed by Jessica Kubzansky
A woman with a broken ankle washes up at the base of a Bodhi tree in the foothills of SoCal seemingly out of nowhere. When another woman hiking in on a solitary mission to commune with a dead man encounters this intruder, sparks fly as they navigate the tricky terrain of understanding–until a real brush with danger changes everything once more.
