Readings

  • The Word at the Road Reading

    The Word at the Road

    As part of our mission to foster the development of new plays, The Road hosts readings on Mondays at 8pm that are open to the public and tickets are pay what you can. Readings are followed by a talkback with the playwright. Check back often for new additions to the lineup and make sure to follow us for updates and reminders.
    • Mar 18th

      Williston

      The reading will be held at 8pm at The Road on Magnolia.

      Playwright: Adam Seidel

      Director: Ann Hearn Tobolowsky

      Featuring: Kris Frost, Meeghan Holaway (AEA), Stephen Tobolowsky (AEA), and Nina Sallinen (AEA).

       

      The year is 2013 and the domestic energy boom is in full swing. Larry and Barb, two veteran reps with a small oil company, travel to Williston, North Dakota to secure drilling rights on the last untouched parcel of oil-rich land when the arrival of a newbie shakes things up. It’s not business as usual in this boomtown. Williston is a play about generational conflict, the quest for legacy, the social and environmental impacts of industry on small communities, and asks: how far would you go to close the deal?

    • Mar 25th

      For Nina

      The reading will be held at 8pm at The Road on Magnolia.

      Playwright: Robert Emmet Lunney

      Director: Kenneth Meseroll

      Featuring: Meeghan Holaway, James Harper, Paris Perrault, Taylor Nichols, Geoffrey Wade, Kara Hume, and Amy Tolsky.

       

      Nina Dalton, a movie star too old for Hollywood, has returned to the stage in a new play by her much older, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist husband, Brian Bartov.  Brian is waging a dual battle against early-stage Alzheimer’s Disease and the temptation to rewrite Nina’s part for a young starlet in the play’s film version. Their bold-faced world is unsettled and challenged by the return of Gar Jackson, Nina’s first love, who re-appears after a twenty year absence. He comes with a commitment to Art over Commerce, and a play of staggering beauty and epic proportions, written especially for Nina.

    • Apr 8th

      The Book of Leonidas

      The reading will be held at 8pm at The Road on Magnolia.

      Playwright: Augusto Amador

      Director: Taylor Nichols

      Featuring: Paris Perrault, Mohammed Ali Ojarigi, Carlos Lacamara, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Geoff Rivas, Ray Wantanga, and Maurie Gonzalez.

       

      Lenny is a hustler selling loosies on the same street corner in Queens that his father, Leonidas, used to rule over as legendary crime lord in the ’70’s.  From his loosie profits he supports and lives with his repressive mother who derides him for not living up to Leonidas’ criminal legacy. Lenny finds an escape while working on his graphic novels until he stumbles into love with a pretty white girl, Lindsay.  As their relationship deepens, the pressure of who he wants to be and who he was meant to be, careen into a final conclusion. The Book of Leonidas was a finalist for the 2018 Princess Grace Award,  Winner of best play the Downtown Urban Arts Festival NYC and Semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neil Conference.  Staged readings include Stella Adler Studio NYC, Blank Theater, San Diego Rep and Latino Theater Company.

    • Apr 15th

      White Nights

      The reading will be held at 8pm at The Road on Magnolia.

      Playwright: Jason Karasev

      Director: Stewart J. Zully

      Featuring: Liz Fenning, Stephen Tyler Howell, Brian Ibsen, Ivy Khan, Tracey Silver, Ben Solenberger, Allan Wasserman, and Josh Zuckerman.

       

      White Nights follows first-generation American Maxim Ranevsky over 25 years as he grapples with the weight of his family’s past, in order to forge his future. Infused with music, surreal elements, and Russian language, the play explores the immigrant struggle to assimilate, what it means to be Russian in today’s social-political climate, and the burden of our forefathers’ expectations. Semi-autobiographical and loosely based on Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, White Nights was a 2018 O’Neill Semi-Finalist.

    • Apr 22nd

      Stuck

      The reading will be held at 8pm at The Road on Magnolia.

      Playwright: David Doubt

      Translator & Director: Pavel Cerny

      Featuring: Allison Blaize, Brian Graves, Stephen Tyler Howell, Karrie King, and Allan Wasserman.

       

      STUCK tells the story of five people who are searching for a way out from being “stuck” in their lives.  Symbolized here by being stuck on the 23rd floor of a high rise. The idea for the comedy/psychodrama translated (from the Czech ZASEK) as STUCK, was developed years ago by a group of actors, dramaturges, and directors of the leading Prague stage. Pavel Cerny (previously at The Road with Terrence McNally’s “And Away We Go”) has translated the play from Czech.

    • Apr 29th

      Blood and Milk

      The reading will be held at 8pm at The Road on Magnolia.

      Playwright: John Lee

      Director: Rob Brownstein

      Featuring: Christina Carlisi, Bart Tangredi, Coronado Romero, Allison Blaize, Merrick McCartha, Wayne T. Carr, and J Downing.

       

      An ambitious District Attorney wants to execute someone to polish her resume as she announces her run for political office. Her chosen target is Willie Peters, a vicious, lifelong offender. The only hitch is, it seems Willie did not commit the murder for which he is being conveniently tried. Willie is assigned a Public Defender named, almost laughably, James Madison. Willie is about to drag everyone down the bloody rabbit hole of the American justice system as they swallow its bitterest pill, the Death Penalty.

    • May 6th

      Daughters of Love and War: A Quartet of Women Facing Nightmares of History

      The reading will be held at 8pm at The Road on Magnolia.

      Playwright: Angela J. Davis

      Director: TBA.

      Featuring: Cherish Monique Duke, Blake Young-Fountain, and Elisa Noemi.

       

      Teenage Russian princesses, a French Revolution assassin, a World War I courtesan-spy, and a modern female African president make up this quartet of award-winning one-act plays inspired by women who faced nightmares of history. Part of the 365 Women a Year International Playwriting Project, and recipient of multiple honors including British Theatre Challenge – Final Short List, Georgia Arts & Letters Prize Top 6, Frostburg Arts Center New Play Award – 2nd Place Winner, and Hidden River Arts Top-Ten Short Plays.

    • June 3rd

      Eureka Day

      The reading will be held at 8pm at The Road on Magnolia.

      Playwright: Jonathan Spector

      Director: Darin Anthony

      Featuring: Tisha Terrasini Banker

       

      At forward-thinking Eureka Day School, all decisions are made by consensus and everyone’s opinion is valued. But when a crisis puts their children in danger, it turns out that Eureka Day parents have different definitions of safety. The debate over vaccinations hits home in this comedy of liberal manners, as the school community confronts the central question of our era: how do you find consensus when you can’t agree on the facts?

  • Playwrights Festival | July 28th-Aug 4th

    The Road Theatre’s annual Summer Playwrights Festival has been held every summer since its inception in 2010. This year marks our 10th anniversary and SPF10 will take place from July 28-August 4, 2019. SPF mounts 30-40 staged readings of new plays in 8 exciting days. The festival is now the largest staged reading festival in the nation with playwrights from around the country and around the world participating. Each reading is followed by a talk-back with the playwrights, directors and casts and a reception featuring food, drink and live music in our gallery space and cantina. Readings are held in both our Historic Lankershim Arts Center Theater and Gallery and in our 77-seat theater in the NoHo Senior Arts Colony. Although we receive hundreds of submissions for our festival, new and established playwrights are encouraged to submit.

    Past playwrights have included D.L. Coburn, Lisa Loomer, Sharr White, Marisa Wegrzyn, Craig Wright, Wendy Macleod, Lucy Thurber, Mo Gaffney, Keith Huff, Brett Neveu, Scooter Pietsch, Craig Pospisil, Julie Marie Myatt. Guest artists have included Bryan Cranston, Laurie Metcalf, Kathy Baker, Jennifer Tilly, Perry King, Rondi Reed, Tom Irwin, Nancy Travis, Gregory Harrison, Gale Harold, Robert Pine, Michael O’Neill, Harold Gould, and many, many others.

    Click here for SPF10 submission info.

  • Photo Credit: Alex Portenko

    Common Ground

    Started in 2018, Common Ground is a new performance series that showcases the talent of our diverse company as they perform original short stories on themes central to our mission. Common Ground is free to the public.