The Champagne Staged Reading Series
Far from your average staged reading, we give our actors just enough blocking, light and sound design to get started and then we let adrenaline do the rest! Yes, there will be scripts in hands, but there will also be bold action and riveting drama. Subscribe to the CSRS for a perfect pairing to our mainstage season.
March 31 & April 1
How to Defend Yourself
- Liliana Padilla, PLAYWRIGHT
- Gracie Brakeman, DIRECTOR
Seven college students at a DIY self-defense workshop fight back against the insidious ways rape culture steals one’s body and sense of belonging. With sharp humor and brutal honesty, How to Defend Yourself explores what we want, how to ask for it, and the autonomy we can cultivate despite it all.
June 9 & 10
A BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO
- Mat Smart, PLAYWRIGHT
- Mary Ann Rodgers, DIRECTOR
Brooklyn birdwatchers unite at Prospect Park in a close-knit group that is turned upside down over a rare bird sighting. A comedy that explores the complexities of loss, the power of wonder, and how to move on after missing out.
August 4 & 5
GLITTER IN THE GLASS
- R. Eric Thomas, PLAYWRIGHT
- Elizabeth Carter, DIRECTOR
The director of Wolf Play (2023), Elizabeth Carter, is back to tell the story of Chelle, a Black artist whose time is running out to deliver on a grant – a piece of art set to replace a Confederate monument in Baltimore. As her brother plans a Juneteenth festival in the park where the monument once was, Chelle catapults on a journey between the past, present and future.