New Works fest offers free readings of new plays
Theaterworks event returns with mix of live, virtual offerings
Theaterworks Hartford is known for Connecticut premieres of recent off-broadway hits or shows by up-and-coming regional theater talents. The theater is also known for developing new works on its own and has a history of sharing that development process through public readings.
That process changed during the pandemic when Theaterworks presented readings in a virtual format.
This year, for the return of its six-day, free New Works Festival, Theaterworks is offering both live and virtual. Three play readings will be pre-recorded and streamed for the duration of the festival, May 16 to 22, with special live talkback events for each. One play will be done live on the Theaterworks stage on May 21, followed by a talkback, a panel discussion and a cocktail party.
“Some people don’t feel completely comfortable going to the theater,” says Tracy Brigden, who helped organize the festival.
The three streaming events are:
“The Drop Off” by James Anthony Tyler, directed by Shariffa Ali, with a live online talkback on May 20 at 7 p.m. The theater describes the play as “the heartfelt and moving story of a mother/ daughter relationship overcoming the challenges of Alzheimer’s, aging and the past.”
“Egress” by Melissa Crespo and Sarah Saltwick, directed by Caitlin Sullivan, described as “a provocative psychological thriller that draws us into the mind of an architecture professor struggling to share her expertise while facing her own fears.” The online talkback is May 21 at 7 p.m.
“Andy Warhol Presents: The Cocaine Play” by Terry Guest, directed by Mikael Burke, which Theaterworks calls “a surreal and emotional examination of fame, art, beauty, love and betrayal through the lens of Andy Warhol and friends, reimagined as Black characters. The online talkback is May 22 at 1 p.m.
The full day of live events on May 21 at Theaterworks, 233 Pearl St., Hartford, are:
A live onstage reading of “Dearly Beloved” by Brooke Berman, directed by Michael Barakiva at 2 p.m., followed by a talkback at 3:45 p.m. The script is described as “a witty, Gen-x coming-of-age comedy set in the East Village when it was still the East Village.”
A “New Work” panel discussion at 4:30 p.m. featuring Brigden, Ruggiero, Michael Barakiva of the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, New York (and the director of the “Dearly Beloved” reading) and Long Wharf Theatre artistic director Jacob Padrón. The panel intends to discuss “what makes a great play,” the play development process and the current state of regional theater in America.
A cocktail reception in the Theaterworks lobby at 5:30 p.m.
Brigden was the associate artistic director at Hartford Stage in the late 1990s, where she helped start the “Brand New” play-reading series there. She left Hartford in 2001 to become the artistic director of City Theatre in Pittsburgh, where she stayed for 16 years.
Now back in Connecticut, Brigden directed “The Lifespan of a Fact” at Theaterworks in 2020. She is serving as an artistic consultant to Theaterworks Hartford while that company continues its search for a new associate artistic director. She chose not to direct any of the readings in this year’s festival, preferring to act as a producer.
Developing new works is “different for every theater,” Brigden says. “I generally am in the know in terms of who’s writing what. Theaterworks already had a bunch of scripts that had been sent to them for consideration in the regular season. We were able to come up with an interesting, diverse and exciting roster of four plays in various states of development.”
Of the four readings, two are by Black playwrights, and three have female directors.
“Theaterworks, in a heartfelt and real way, is committed to diversity,” Brigden says. Arranging the festival, she says, was similar to programming a theater season: “These are four very different plays, with four very different writers who have four very different points of view.”
Theaterworks’ producing artistic director Rob Ruggiero says Tyler’s script, “The Drop Off,” is “something I had in the works already,” but that the other three selections for the festival “are all Tracy’s,” though he helped make the connection with Terry Guest in Chicago.
Ruggiero says he’s committed to more New Works Festivals, and he’s also insistent on paying all the artists involved, something that doesn’t always happen for readings.
Theaterworks’ New Works Festival is living up to its name by making sure the works are as new as possible.
“We wanted them to be plays that weren’t finished,” Brigden says, so that the writers could take full advantage of the five-day development period that Theaterworks was offering on top on the reading. A lot of play-reading events are limited to a single rehearsal just prior to the reading.
Brigden likes the idea of bringing an audience into the development process early: “My metaphor is that when you visit a vineyard and see how the wine is made, you have a better appreciation for it.”
Actors in the plays range from well-known performers such as Lisa Gay Hamilton to those familiar to Theaterworks audiences (including cast members from the theater’s current show “Zoey’s Perfect Wedding”) to new faces.
Brigden says that at least one of the readings would not have been able to happen if it were not virtual. Both the writer and director of “Andy Warhol Presents: The Cocaine Play” are based in Chicago, and the cost of bringing them to Hartford for the desired week of development time would be prohibitive.
All events at Theaterworks Hartford’s New Works Festival, May 16 to 22, are free but require tickets from twhartford.org.