A 2011 series of staged readings of new plays.
A gathering point for local theatre professionals and anyone else who happened to stop by.
Produced by Talya Kingston.
SPRING SEASON @ Amherst Brewing Company
MONDAY FEBRUARY 7
The Metal Children by Adam Rapp
directed by Talya Kingston
In small-town America, a young adult novel about teen pregnancy is banned by the local school board, igniting a fierce and violent debate over abortion, religious beliefs and modern feminism. When the novel's directionless New York City author arrives in town to defend the book, he finds that it has inspired a group of local teens to rebel in strange and unexpected ways. A timely and unforgettable drama about the failure of urban and heartland America to understand each other, The Metal Children explores what happens when fiction becomes a matter of life and death.
MONDAY MARCH 7
The Real McGonagall by Willy Holtzman
directed by Keith Langsdale & starring Steve Pierce as McGonagall
On the eve of his return voyage to Scotland, Sir William Topaz McGonagall recites his outrageously bad poetry at a saloon in New York. Is he a fool? A joke? Or is the joke on any of us who has ever secretly yearned for artistic self-expression but not dared go public? A hilarious account of the true life-story of the world’s worst poet and his dubious (but loveable) place in history. A play set in a pub, performed in a pub - ending with a sing-along!
MONDAY APRIL 4
The Aliens by Annie Baker
directed by Greg Josselyn
Two angry young men sit behind a local coffee shop and discuss music and Bukowski. When a lonely high-school student arrives on the scene, they decide to teach him everything they know. A play with music about friendship, art, love and death from a celebrated Amherst playwright.
MONDAY MAY 2
Collapse by Allison Moore
Directed by Talya Kingston
Inspired by the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse, a story about picking up the pieces and moving on when our lives fall apart. As Hannah tries to hold her perfect life together amidst being laid off and fearing infertility, her husband David calls in sick to work for days on end and waters the plants with beer. When Hannah’s flakey sister blows in from Los Angeles unannounced with all her worldly possessions and a strange package to be delivered, the family sets off on an odyssey full of hysterical surprises and moving turns.
FALL SEASON @ Sam's Pizza & Cafe
ESCAPE: a series of comedic plays by women.
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 12
ELEMENO PEA by Molly Smith Metzler
Directed by Talya Kingston
When Devon visits Simone for an end-of-summer weekend on Martha's Vineyard, she finds her little sister changed beyond recognition. As personal assistant to wealthy and demanding trophy wife Michaela Kell, Simone enjoys a lavish beachfront lifestyle that these girls never could have imagined growing up in blue-collar Buffalo—but is all this luxury really free of cost? Worlds collide and sisters square off in this keenly observed comedy about ambition, regret and the choices that shape who we become.
MONDAY OCTOBER 3
THE INTERNATIONALIST by Anne Washburn
Directed by Scott Braidman
Lowell, an American on a business trip, is met at the airport by a beautiful colleague. They spend the night together and he thinks he's in one of those great American movies where you go to a foreign land and there's romance and adventure and the experience changes you. The next day at the office he discovers that he's not in one of those movies, he's in one of those foreign films where nothing is as it seems, where there is no moral, and most importantly: no subtitles.
MONDAY NOVEMBER 7
BAGGING FOR RALPHS written and performed by Rita Brandt-Meyer
Sammy escapes summer with her New England family and joins her boyfriend in Studio City, California. In order to make ends meet she gets a job bagging groceries at the local Ralphs supermarket. Casual conversations with her colleagues enable her to enter their lives (if only for a moment) and give her a completely different perspective on her own. Rita Brandt-Meyers is a gifted actress with a compelling story to tell.
MONDAY DECEMBER 5
SIRENS by Deborah Zoe Laufer
Directed by Keith Langsdale
Sound Design by Matt Callahan
When Sam Abrams first fell in love with Rose he wrote her a song that has been covered by every recording artist and translated to every language. It is heard in every elevator and on every cell phone ringtone. And for twenty-five years, Sam has been looking for the creative spark that this first flush of love had inspired in him - to no avail. Sam and Rose are now celebrating their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with a cruise in the Mediterranean. And while on this cruise, Sam hears the most sublime music ever heard, jumps overboard, and winds up with a Siren. And there on her island he must struggle with the terrors of middle age, the tortures of creative failure, and the desire to live in his past rather than face his uncertain future. And he must find a way to get home and win his wife back.
A gathering point for local theatre professionals and anyone else who happened to stop by.
Produced by Talya Kingston.
SPRING SEASON @ Amherst Brewing Company
MONDAY FEBRUARY 7
The Metal Children by Adam Rapp
directed by Talya Kingston
In small-town America, a young adult novel about teen pregnancy is banned by the local school board, igniting a fierce and violent debate over abortion, religious beliefs and modern feminism. When the novel's directionless New York City author arrives in town to defend the book, he finds that it has inspired a group of local teens to rebel in strange and unexpected ways. A timely and unforgettable drama about the failure of urban and heartland America to understand each other, The Metal Children explores what happens when fiction becomes a matter of life and death.
MONDAY MARCH 7
The Real McGonagall by Willy Holtzman
directed by Keith Langsdale & starring Steve Pierce as McGonagall
On the eve of his return voyage to Scotland, Sir William Topaz McGonagall recites his outrageously bad poetry at a saloon in New York. Is he a fool? A joke? Or is the joke on any of us who has ever secretly yearned for artistic self-expression but not dared go public? A hilarious account of the true life-story of the world’s worst poet and his dubious (but loveable) place in history. A play set in a pub, performed in a pub - ending with a sing-along!
MONDAY APRIL 4
The Aliens by Annie Baker
directed by Greg Josselyn
Two angry young men sit behind a local coffee shop and discuss music and Bukowski. When a lonely high-school student arrives on the scene, they decide to teach him everything they know. A play with music about friendship, art, love and death from a celebrated Amherst playwright.
MONDAY MAY 2
Collapse by Allison Moore
Directed by Talya Kingston
Inspired by the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse, a story about picking up the pieces and moving on when our lives fall apart. As Hannah tries to hold her perfect life together amidst being laid off and fearing infertility, her husband David calls in sick to work for days on end and waters the plants with beer. When Hannah’s flakey sister blows in from Los Angeles unannounced with all her worldly possessions and a strange package to be delivered, the family sets off on an odyssey full of hysterical surprises and moving turns.
FALL SEASON @ Sam's Pizza & Cafe
ESCAPE: a series of comedic plays by women.
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 12
ELEMENO PEA by Molly Smith Metzler
Directed by Talya Kingston
When Devon visits Simone for an end-of-summer weekend on Martha's Vineyard, she finds her little sister changed beyond recognition. As personal assistant to wealthy and demanding trophy wife Michaela Kell, Simone enjoys a lavish beachfront lifestyle that these girls never could have imagined growing up in blue-collar Buffalo—but is all this luxury really free of cost? Worlds collide and sisters square off in this keenly observed comedy about ambition, regret and the choices that shape who we become.
MONDAY OCTOBER 3
THE INTERNATIONALIST by Anne Washburn
Directed by Scott Braidman
Lowell, an American on a business trip, is met at the airport by a beautiful colleague. They spend the night together and he thinks he's in one of those great American movies where you go to a foreign land and there's romance and adventure and the experience changes you. The next day at the office he discovers that he's not in one of those movies, he's in one of those foreign films where nothing is as it seems, where there is no moral, and most importantly: no subtitles.
MONDAY NOVEMBER 7
BAGGING FOR RALPHS written and performed by Rita Brandt-Meyer
Sammy escapes summer with her New England family and joins her boyfriend in Studio City, California. In order to make ends meet she gets a job bagging groceries at the local Ralphs supermarket. Casual conversations with her colleagues enable her to enter their lives (if only for a moment) and give her a completely different perspective on her own. Rita Brandt-Meyers is a gifted actress with a compelling story to tell.
MONDAY DECEMBER 5
SIRENS by Deborah Zoe Laufer
Directed by Keith Langsdale
Sound Design by Matt Callahan
When Sam Abrams first fell in love with Rose he wrote her a song that has been covered by every recording artist and translated to every language. It is heard in every elevator and on every cell phone ringtone. And for twenty-five years, Sam has been looking for the creative spark that this first flush of love had inspired in him - to no avail. Sam and Rose are now celebrating their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with a cruise in the Mediterranean. And while on this cruise, Sam hears the most sublime music ever heard, jumps overboard, and winds up with a Siren. And there on her island he must struggle with the terrors of middle age, the tortures of creative failure, and the desire to live in his past rather than face his uncertain future. And he must find a way to get home and win his wife back.
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