Readings

  • 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 (if available). Check back often for new additions to the lineup and make sure to follow us for updates and reminders.
    • Nov. 18th

      Bethany

      Join us for a reading of Steve Burleigh’s Bethany on November 18th, 2019 at 8 PM at The Road on Magnolia. This reading is open to the public and tickets are Pay What You Can at the door.

      Playwright: Steve Burleigh

      Director: Judith Moreland

      Featuring: Cherish Duke, Moe Irvin, Tom Badal, David Gianopoulos, David Meyers, Allison Blaize, Christian Telesmar, and Kaitlin Huwe.

      1896. Bethany, Arkansas. The Southern Cross Saloon. Forty days after the lynching of young African American, Samuel Oakes, for allegedly raping the mistress of saloon owner, “Bloody” Bill Honeycutt, African American anti-lynch activist, Ida B. Wells, arrives with her friend “Stagger” Lee Felton to investigate the lynching.

       

    • Dec. 2nd

      This Bitter Earth

      Join us for a reading of Harrison David Rivers’ This Bitter Earth on December 2nd, 2019 at 8 PM at The Road on Magnolia. This reading is open to the public and tickets are Pay What You Can at the door.

      Playwright: Harrison David Rivers

      Director: Michael Shepperd

      Producer: Ray Paolantonio

      Featuring: Blake Young-Fountain and Anthony Sorrells.

      Jesse, an introspective black playwright, finds his choices called into question when his boyfriend, Neil, a white Black Lives Matter activist, calls him out for his political apathy. As passions and priorities collide, this couple is forced to reckon with issues of race, class and the bravery it takes to love out loud.

       

    • Dec. 9th

      Martyr of Moscow

      Join us for a reading of Stephanie Satie’s Martyr of Moscow on December 9th, 2019 at 8 PM at The Road on Magnolia. This reading is open to the public and tickets are Pay What You Can at the door.

      Playwright: Stephanie Satie

      Director: Hannah Wolf

      Featuring: Christina Carlisi, Rob Brownstein, Brian Ibsen, Christian Prentice, Liz Fenning, and Carlyle King.

      A timely and troubling new play about murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and the impossible price one pays for truth-telling.

       

    • Feb. 10th

      A History of Stone

      Join us for a reading of Gay Walch’s A History of Stone on February 10th, 2019 at 8 PM at The Road on Magnolia. This reading is open to the public and tickets are Pay What You Can at the door.

      Playwright: Gay Walch

      Director: Susan Diol

      Featuring: Julia Manis, Kris Frost, Rob Brownstein, Janet Chamberlain, and Dor Gvirtsman.

      It’s Memorial weekend and 37-year old Melissa arrives at her family’s ancestral home to celebrate the holiday.  She shows up with good news only to discover a web of entrenched conflict awaiting her.  A History of Stone is a family drama which wrestles with the bargains and barters that family members make in the name of love and loyalty but which contain elements of self-sabotage.  The play asks, “Even well into adulthood is it ever possible to escape the God-like hold of a parent?”

  • Summer Playwrights Festival 10 | July 28th-August 4th

    Come celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Summer Playwrights Festival at The Road Theatre, July 28th through August 4th!

    Summer Playwrights Festival 10 Schedule

  • Summer Playwrights Festival Submission Info

    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.