Does the Success of Play Reading Programs Hold Out Hope for New Work in Seattle?

One of the big laments among Seattle theatre artists (and I’m wholly in agreement, by the way) is that there’s so little opportunity for new, original plays to get produced either on the fringe or at the big houses. Which is one of the reasons the success of staged reading programs, like Seattle Cold Readers and New Century Theatre Co.‘s the Pipeline, is a good sign.

An email popped into my inbox the other day from Seattle Cold Readers announcing that “so many Seattle theatre-goers have been enjoying their out-of-the-box, edgy reality theatre, the Seattle Cold Readers has had to expand to a larger venue just to accommodate standing-room-only audiences.”

---

SCR (if I can be so forward as to dub them that) now stages selections from three original playscripts or screenplays every third Thursday at the Spitfire in Belltown. Their next event is this Thursday, May 20, at 8 p.m., when they’ll be reading from new works by Frank Acosta, Bill Burnat, and Walter Dalton. Admission is only $6 at the door. (Join their Facebook group to keep up on events.)

---

As for NCTC’s Pipeline series, which takes place at Solo Bar in Lower Queen Anne (and is free), usually on the second Monday or so of the month, it started out as merely a reading series of various modern works (I saw a Durrenmatt piece there, as I recall) by the NCTC folks and their friends, who happen to be about the best actors in town. But this year, they’ve refocused on new works, in anticipation of presenting their first original play, Stephanie Timm’s On the Nature of Dust (which received a fairly good review from us). It’s also easiest to keep up on Pipeline events by joining their Facebook group.

Tonight happens to be the May installment of the Pipeline, at 7:30 p.m. Continuing with new plays that haven’t been produced, the company will be reading Tigers Be Still, by an up-and-comer out of Yale Drama named Kimberly Rosenstock, who’s already garnered some nifty attention (participating in Portland Center Stage’s JAW new work festival last year). Tigers Be Still will have its official debut at Roundabout Theatre’s Underground space this fall in NYC.

Now don’t get me wrong–I don’t remotely think that readings are anywhere near as important as full productions. But the combination of enthusiastic, engaged audiences, as well as the opportunity for playwrights to develop their works-in-progress, is a crucial step in rebuilding the base to support original, cutting edge theatre in Seattle. So if you’re interesting supporting and engaging the next generation of creative artists in town, these are the places to be. (And if there are other programs I’m leaving out, be sure to email them us here at The SunBreak.)