Calendar: Play Readings, Workshops, and Theater Events in the DMV

Play readings and workshops offer a chance to see exciting new work at various stages of development. Want to see the next big thing while it’s still being crafted? Get in on the ground level and see the creative process in action. Featuring new plays and musicals by local and national artists, here are the upcoming play readings and workshops in the DMV.

OCTOBER

Transformation Theatre presents a virtual reading of Madame Quixota’s Last Words, Tuesday, October 17 at 7:00 PM. Hollywood movie star Alonsa, whose artistic name is “Ella,” is trying to clean her image after a Twitter scandal implicating Johnny Depp by mistake. She is rehearsing a big-time musical Broadway production of Romeo and Juliet in “Woke version.” Greedy sponsors and producers are forcing actors to follow ridiculous, even unsafe stage directions. This play starts right after Ella fell off Juliet’s balcony into a secret corridor which magically connects to a small, off-off-off Broadway theater where every past memory becomes true. Ella meets Sancha Panza, aka Sally, a struggling actor working as a janitor. Getting out of that place becomes Ella’s adventure as Madame Quixota, accompanied by Sancha Panza. She needs to travel into her memories and stories with the love of her life, her saving knight Daryl (the equivalent of the female “Dulcinea”). Daryl disappointed her when they were lovers, before she became a movie star. She now needs his imaginary presence to remember who she was and why it is important for her to always tell the truth. Tickets to the virtual reading are pay-what-you-can (minimum $5) and available here.

Classic Theatre of Maryland announces the launch of the David W. Frank Play Reading Series, honoring the late David Frank. Though he enjoyed a long career as a teacher, director and actor in Boston, he remained a loyal son of Baltimore and a devout Orioles fan. In his starring role as a high school English and drama teacher, he staged scores of plays and musicals, from “Ten Nights in a Barroom” and “The Mouse that Roared” to “Curtains.” In the first installment of CTM’s inaugural play reading series on Monday, October 16 at 7:30 PM, two old friends reveal long-buried secrets in the shadow of the Colosseum in Roman Fever, a new adaptation of Edith Wharton’s classic story, by Maryland playwright Greg Jones Ellis. Tickets are $20 (free to CTM season subscribers!) and available here.

Best Medicine Rep presents Stories I May Not Tell, written by John Morogiello and directed by Stan Levin, Sunday, October 15 at 3:00 PM. In this unique performance, Morogiello shares three stories that have been rattling around in his head for years, but which he has not been able to turn into plays. At the Rosbrough Theatre, Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg. Use the entrance on the corner of Lost Knife Road and Odendhal Avenue. Tickets are only $10. Residents of Asbury Methodist Village and their guests attend for free.

The Little Theatre of Alexandria presents two staged readings of The Laramie Project, October 6 at 8:00 PM and October 12 at 8:00 PM. A play by Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project in response to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man, in Laramie, Wyoming. Kaufman and the other company members visited Laramie on six occasions and interviewed residents, members of the police force, and Matthew’s friends, in an attempt to understand what happened, and why. They were also interested in the possibility that theater, more than any other medium, would allow people to engage with and reflect on the issues brought to public attention by Matthew’s murder, such as homophobia, hatred, intolerance, and fear. The Laramie Project takes those real interviews and weaves them into the story of events surrounding the murder and the months beyond. This staged reading at LTA, directed by Paul Di Salvo, will be performed exactly 25 years from the date Matthew was attacked and the date he died in the hospital. Tickets are $23 and can be purchased here.

Guillotine Theatre and Georgetown Neighborhood Library present BANNED BALDWIN, a Banned Books Week Read-Out featuring selections from books by James Baldwin that were or are banned and challenged. DC-area actors will read selections from Giovanni’s Room, Go Tell it on the Mountain, Another Country, and unpublished works collected under the title I Am Not Your Negro.

BANNED BALDWIN is presented as part of Georgetown Neighborhood Library’s James Baldwin Centennial Celebration, “James Baldwin, 100 Years of Life.” The event is free and open to the public and will be held Sunday, October 1, at 2:00 PM at Georgetown Neighborhood Library, 3260 R St NW.

SEPTEMBER

MetroStage presents “Find Your Light Act 2,” a song cycle celebrating the Matt Conner and Stephen Gregory Smith songbook, Tuesday, September 26 at 7:30 PM at the Lyceum, 201 S. Washington St, Alexandria, VA. Featuring song selections from The Turn of the Screw, Witch, Kaleidoscope, Silver Belles, On Air, and Nevermore, this musical revue features Natascia Diaz, Susan Derry, Sarah Anne Sillers, and a few surprise performers! Tickets are $25 and can be purchased here.

African American Collective Theater presents “Man 2 Man Talks,“ three LGBTQ+ short plays by Alan Sharpe streaming online Monday, September 25 at 8:00 PM. The plays include The OTHER One, an inevitable encounter between the only two Black students at an elite private school, performed by Davon Harris and Jordan Brown; Personal Space, a pair of astronauts (one a veteran, the other a rookie) cross one final frontier while lost in space, performed by Maurice T. Olden and Darnell Morris; and Turnovers, former college roommates confront secrets and regrets from their freshman year on the eve of graduation, performed by Deon Harness and Uvakeious McGee. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased on Eventbrite here.

Dr. Jacqueline Leary-Warsaw, founding dean of Catholic University’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Drama, and Art, will be the first fall 2023 speaker at The Georgetowner’s monthly series of Cultural Leadership Breakfasts, Thursday, September 21 at 8:00 AM at the Four Seasons Hotel, 2800 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC. A classically trained soprano who previously taught at Birmingham-Southern College, serving as chair of the music department and artistic director of the conservatory, she will talk about the changing role of higher education in the arts and describe the innovative undergraduate and graduate degree programs recently introduced at the Rome School. Tickets are $35; register on Eventbrite here.

The Woman’s National Democratic Club will present the East Coast premiere of a staged reading of First Ladies and the Big White Lie by Janine Sternlieb with Lennie Dean, directed by Shanara Gabrielle. The reading will be presented Wednesday, September 20 at 2:00 PM and Thursday, September 21 at 6:00 PM at the Club Headquarters in the historic Whittemore House, 1526 New Hampshire Ave NW in Dupont Circle. Tickets are $40 for WNDC members and $50 for guests, and include light refreshments. Lunch is available at 12:30 PM prior to the Wednesday afternoon reading for an additional $30 for members and $35 for guests. Register here for September 20 and here for September 21.

Alliance for New Music-Theatre will present two public readings of selected short works by Ukrainian playwrights, Wednesday, September 20 at 7:30 PM at the Lyceum, Alexandria, VA and Thursday, September 21 at 7:30 PM at the Kay Spiritual Life Center on the campus of American University. In this project, Alliance for New Music-Theatre joins in solidarity with the Center for International Theatre Development (CITD), which commissioned over several dozen plays since Putin’s army invaded Ukraine, calling their endeavor the Ukrainian Hope Initiative, and with John Freedman, translator and friend of so many of the country’s leading theatre artists. All readings of these plays (which were presented in May at Dumbarton UMC and in July at the DC Capital Fringe) are offered to support Ukrainian artists. Tickets are $10, and generous donations are encouraged. Register here for September 20 and here for September 21.

Live Garra Theatre presents open dress rehearsals/staged readings of The Window King by Playwright Bless ji Jaja, Saturday, September 16 and Sunday, September 17 at the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre. The Window King is about a young African-American couple who decide not to bring a child into the world. Their modest Park Slope apartment in Brooklyn, NY turns into a free-for-all when an image appears on the window of what looks to be the Virgin Mary holding the Baby Jesus. The neighbors are captivated by the image. Crowds gather outside the brownstone and want to pray, sing and dance to the ‘Window King.’ Soon the hype is so widespread the couple is swept up in this whirlwind of a spiritual spectacle.

The audience gets to see how a play becomes a musical and how the orchestration and choreography are conceived right before their eyes! Showcase presentations will be done in phases, performed as staged readings, workshops, and musical revues. Presentations are 8 PM on Saturday, and 3 PM on Sunday. Advance tickets are $15 for seniors and students, $20 general admission and can be purchased here.

Theatre Prometheus presents Dua: The Monster’s Story by Playwright Robin Berl on Saturday, September 2 at 10:15 AM at The Kennedy Center’s REACH Justice Forum. Dua: The Monster’s Story reclaims the Medusa myth, giving voice to the woman called “monster.” Local playwright Berl is workshopping Dua with Theatre Prometheus through its Pitch Your Passion Project, and is presenting its first public staged reading at The Kennedy Center’s Local Theatre Festival. This is a free, non-ticketed event and seating is first come, first served.

The Kennedy Center presents the 2023 Local Theatre Festival, Saturday, September 2 from 9:45 AM to 10:00 PM at the REACH. The Local Theatre Festival includes free performances of works-in-progress, along with free workshops in playwriting, vocals, improv, lighting design, stage combat, and puppetry. All events are free and non-ticketed, although registration is required for workshops. For more information and to register, visit the Local Theatre Festival website here.