The members of Welders 4.0 (Rebecca Dzida, Shaquille Stewart, and Taylor Payne) announce their first event, Let Them Eat Cake! A Welders Playreading Salon on Sunday, July 20 at 6:00 pm at the National Conservatory of the Dramatic Arts in Washington, DC. The event will kick off their tenure as the current playwriting cohort of The Welders and include a staged reading of a selection from Cake Eaters by Rebecca Dzida, the first Welders production since 2023, and the first upcoming production by a member of The Welders 4.0. In addition, the event will also feature readings of short plays by other local playwrights that share similar themes to Cake Eaters: Greenies by Amanda Zeitler (DMV playwright), Ghostfish by Deb Sevigny (Welders 2.0), and To Better See the View by Taylor Payne (Welders 4.0).
Welders 4.0 member Shaquille Stewart says: “Since its inception, this organization has always centered truly human stories spanning many themes and mediums. Continuing that legacy in a new flavor has been an honor, centering not just the stories, but the voices of the artists telling them…This is more than just a reading. It’s a welcome-back, a reintroduction, and a taste of what’s ahead.”
In addition to staged readings at the event on July 20, The Welders aim to fundraise for the upcoming full production of Cake Eaters by leaning into the theme and raffling off cupcakes from Sprinkles and Georgetown Cupcake, cakesicles by local DMV baking artist LaLa, and a gift certificate to Nothing Bundt Cakes.
After taking on the organization last year, Welders 4.0 has been working to re-establish and reimagine foundational structures for the new play development organization. They are excited to premiere Cake Eaters this coming fall 2025 in Washington, DC.
Let Them Eat Cake! A Welders’ Playreading Salon performs Sunday, July 20 at 6:00 PM at the National Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts, 1556 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC. Tickets are free; RSVP here.
About Cake Eaters by Rebecca Dzida
Cake Eaters is a gripping drama with twists and turns around every corner that takes place in a dystopian world similar to our own, set in a country controlled by a totalitarian government. Despite Rex’s best efforts to stay out of the rebellion against the reigning dynasty, he unwittingly finds himself tangled in the intrigue spun on both sides of the fight. Now he must take control of the game before he becomes a pawn, but that’s hard to do when Rex cannot decipher between what is or isn’t real.
About The Welders
The Welders is a DC-based playwrights’ collective that provides an evolving, alternative platform for play development and production. The Welders began with DC-area-based artists Bob Bartlett, Renee Calarco, Allyson Currin, Caleen Sinette Jennings, Jojo Ruff, and Gwydion Suilebhan in 2013 with the idea that a group of artists invested in the work of their peers can work together to “forge” platforms for playwrights whose stories can lead to artistic diversity and community enrichment. The term welder implies that fulfilling the mission of this collective requires hard work, collective responsibility, and passion for one’s craft. The name of the collective was inspired by a poem by poet Cherrie Moraga called “The Welder.” Since its inception, three new generations of Welders have accepted the torch of the organization and fulfilled its mission to support future generations of DC-area playwrights, by passing on the organization and its resources to a new cohort of playwrights at the end of their tenure.
 host their first event, 'Let Them Eat Cake! A Welders' Playreading Salon,' July 20.){kind=link}