Signature Theatre is thrilled to announce that works by local playwrights Audrey Cefaly, Jennifer Barclay, and Nayna Agrawal have been selected for the 2023 season of SigWorks: Monday Night New Play Readings. Their plays, Trouble (at the Vista View Mobile Home Estates) (Audrey Cefaly), Behave Yourself (Jennifer Barclay), and Dharma (Nayna Agrawal) will be read on February 6, March 27, and June 5, 2023, respectively. Free tickets are required for attending either in-person at Ali’s Bar or streaming online, and can be reserved at SigTheatre.org starting two weeks prior to each reading.
“We had a record number of submissions for the SigWorks: Monday Night New Play Readings series this year, and I was blown away by the talent of the writers in the DMV area,” said Anika Chapin, Signature’s new Director of Artistic Development. “The three plays chosen are all gems — funny, moving, and unique — and I can’t wait to share them with Signature audiences. I’m looking forward to working with Audrey, Jennifer, and Nayna to develop these new plays in my first year overseeing this exciting program nurturing the work of local playwrights at Signature.”
SigWorks: Monday Night New Play Readings is an initiative that highlights and supports the work of DMV playwrights. This series is an opportunity for playwrights, actors, directors, and patrons to explore new plays in a fun and informal environment. Each reading will include a post-show Q&A with Anika Chapin, the playwright, and the director.
Over the last six years, four plays developed as part of the SigWorks program have gone on to full productions at Signature Theatre including The Gulf by Audrey Cefaly, 4,380 Nights by Annalisa Dias, Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by Heather McDonald, and Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes by Dani Stoller. The Gulf has gone on to major international productions and was the winner of the 2018 Lammy Award for LGBTQ Drama and a recipient of the Edgerton New American Play Award.
SigWorks: Monday Night New Play Readings
TROUBLE (AT THE VISTA VIEW MOBILE HOME ESTATES)
by Audrey Cefaly
Monday, February 6, 2023, at 7 PM
Directed by Audrey Cefaly
FREE, available to reserve starting January 23
In small-town Alabama, ex-mill worker Euba desperately does not want the birthday party her mother insists on throwing for her. On the eve of the celebration with their mutual friends, underlying tensions erupt to the surface in this surprising and compassionate dramedy of generational scars and the complicated relationship between mothers and daughters.
BEHAVE YOURSELF
by Jennifer Barclay
Monday, March 27, 2023, at 7 PM
Directed by Kimberly Senior
FREE, available to reserve starting March 13
When Isadora steals her sister’s ashes and disappears into Glacier National Park, she unleashes an exhilarating tangle of four intertwining stories. Inspired by a true event, two actresses play all the roles from fairytale characters to bears in a wild and whirlwind comedy of grief, friendship, and what it takes to break the rules and seize the day.
DHARMA
by Nayna Agrawal
Monday, June 5, 2023 at 7 PM
Directed by Ethan Heard
FREE, available to reserve starting May 22
After their father’s heart attack, three siblings resolve to take care of their aging parents. However, no one wants to house both parents because of their dysfunctional marriage. When they ask their parents to divorce, secrets fly and painful memories resurface in this touching play of familial responsibility and the cultural dissonance between immigrants and their first-generation children.
ABOUT SIGNATURE
Signature Theatre is a Tony Award®-winning regional theater that broadens and brightens the region’s cultural landscape with its bold productions of challenging new and established works and engaging education and outreach programs. Founded in 1989 by Eric Schaeffer and Donna Migliaccio, and currently under the leadership of Managing Director Maggie Boland and Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner, musical theater is Signature’s “signature,” and the Theatre is renowned for its definitive Sondheim productions, inventive adaptations of overlooked or forgotten works, and investment in fresh new projects. Signature combines Broadway-caliber productions with intimate playing spaces and aims to be a leading force in U.S. musical theater.
Since its inception, the Theatre has produced 60 world premiere works—including 19 new musical commissions. Signature opens its doors to more than 100,000 people annually from the Washington, DC region and beyond and reaches more than 10,000 students every year through its innovative education programs, including the award-winning initiative Signature in the Schools. Signature has won 134 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in the Washington, DC region’s professional theater and has been honored with 452 nominations.
