Pioneer Productions Company of Morristown, who brought Neil Simon’s "Lost in Yonkers" to downtown Morristown last fall, is back with a new play reading series at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 4, at the Morristown & Morris Township Library, at 1 Miller Road in Morristown.
Pioneer Productions Company of Morristown, who brought Neil Simon’s "Lost in Yonkers" to downtown Morristown last fall, is back with a new play reading series at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 4, at the Morristown & Morris Township Library, at 1 Miller Road in Morristown.
The local nonprofit community theater company has partnered with the Morristown & Morris Township Library to launch a New Play Reading Series that will include a night of original short plays by renowned local playwrights from New Jersey and the surrounding areas. Plays will be performed by some of Pioneer’s most talented actors in an intimate setting designed to facilitate meaningful interaction between the audience, the actors, and the playwrights.
Three pieces will be performed each night, approximately 10-15 minutes each, and will be followed by an open Q&A with the audience. Local dramaturg John Kenrick, who is a regular guest lecturer at the library on theater and film, will be attending the reading on April 4 to help facilitate the conversation and offer his own thoughts. Dramaturgs are a behind-the-scenes resource for directors, actors, and playwrights, providing context, research, and feedback to help improve the quality or accuracy of a production.
No tickets are required. These events are free and open to the public thanks to the generosity of the Morris & Morris Township Library and a grant provided to Pioneer Productions Company from Morris Arts.
Reading dates and play synopses for the April 4 performances are as follows:
"Exit Strategies" by Andrew R. Heinze. Chris, a writer, makes a last desperate phone call to a company that caters to the suicidal. The call is taken by Jordan, a sales rep who delivers much more than the product Chris had intended to buy. The reading features Tom Olori and Daniel Peter Vissers.
"The Wait" by Stuart Brown. A theater critic and his friend are caught in the gridlock of audience members leaving the theater after a performance of Mamma Mia! How they impatiently wait forms the basis for this humorous commentary about today’s theater. The reading features Doug McLaughlin and Susan Mathias.
"Daisy's Day" by Kristyn Leigh Robinson. Gina has a problem. Her pet betta fish, Daisy, has eaten insulation that fell from the ceiling. And her wife has moved out. Will her dying pet help her overcome the problems in her marriage? Featuring Shanna Levine-Phelps and Miriam Salerno
Funding for this series has been made possible in part by funds from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Pioneer Productions was incorporated in 2003 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit theatre company by founding members Dan Vissers, Shanna Levine-Phelps, and Jon Mantes. The company’s mission is to share the collective human story through live theatrical performance by producing shows that are relevant to our time and inspire audiences to attend live theater.
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