First Stages, 2008 Readings

BOSTON PLAYWRIGHTS' THEATRE PRESENTS:

FIRST STAGES
Annual staged readings of plays by this year's graduate playwrights:

Steve Barkhimer
Wesley Savick
K. Alexa Mavromatis
Richard Snee
Lydia Diamond

Readings are performed by some of the best professional actors in the Boston area. A talk-back with the playwrights & actors will follow each reading

Monday, 7 PM, April 21
THE FISHBOWL by Steve Barkhimer
Directed by Diego Arciniegas
A fiercely devoted artist and independent spirit, Dora Jordan (1765-1816) was not only the most acclaimed comic actress of her day, but the acknowledged – and unapologetic – mistress of the man who would become King William IV of England.  They sustained a relationship for twenty years, but whereas he eventually ascended to the throne, she perished in obscurity.  The Fishbowl examines their unconventional intimacy and the pressures upon it, both internal and external, in an age when the glittering wits and celebrities of the theatre and politics intermingled, and the private lives of the privileged were subjected to increasing public scrutiny.

Sunday, 7 PM, April 27
MISS MARGARET LARUE IN “MILWAUKEE” by Wesley Savick
Directed by Wesley Savick
The search for an enigmatic former movie star becomes a nocturnal expedition into memory, yearning and enchantment.  Replete with song, vaudeville and a cast of eccentric characters, Miss Margaret …evokes a twilight world where faded dreams once again twinkle. From the author of Shouting Theatre in a Crowded Fire and Waters Rising.

Monday, 7 PM, April 28
THE BACK ROOM by K. Alexa Mavromatis
Directed by Andrea Southwick
For almost fifty years, the back room of a Rhode Island sub shop has played host to regional and national politicians…and to the regulars who frequent there. But just like a mayor’s tenure, or even the President’s, nothing lasts forever.

Sunday, 7 PM, May 4
THE BAPTISMS OF GENESIUS by Richard Snee
Directed by David Gram
Legend has it that while performing for the Emperor Diocletian in a play satirizing Christian rituals, Genesius was instantly converted and proclaimed his faith in Christ. An enraged emperor tortured Genesius in an effort to make him recant, and what happened then is more than a legend. A story of power and faith and the power of faith.

Monday, 7 PM, May 5
DISTURBING GENIUS by Lydia Diamond
Directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary
A startling scientific discovery, a baby, and a bunch of really smart people. What happens when reality invades illusion?  When privilege and perspective collide?  When life continues to happen around the edges? Ginny, Brian, Valerie and Jackson navigate this tricky terrain and more in the newest play by the author of The Bluest Eye and Stick Fly.