Join us on June 11 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. for an afternoon with Jim Fisher. Fisher is the author of The Lindbergh Case, the book that many experts consider to be the definitive tome on the Lindbergh kidnapping.  In conjunction with Terra Nova’s production of Violet Sharp, Fisher will be at the Grey Box to talk about this most notorious of American crimes.  Stay for the show that night and for the talkback afterward with Jim Fisher, the playwright and members of the cast. Amateur sleuths and conspiracy theorists welcome.

Inspired by conversations during the Town Hall meeting of the Dramatists Guild of America last October, local Pittsburgh playwrights are joining together with the Terra Nova Theatre Group to present new plays in “The Underground Readings” from June 13 to June 22. All readings will be performed at 7:00 pm in the Grey Box Theatre in Lawrenceville on the off nights of Violet Sharp by William Cameron.

The Terra Nova Theatre Group is dedicated to showcasing the works of Pittsburgh area playwrights.  Since 2008, TNT has sponsored Friday Night ‘Wrights, a summer play-reading series.  Held in Washington PA, Friday Night ‘Wrights has presented a total of 14 previously unproduced plays by 9 area playwrights.  Tammy Ryan’s A Confluence of Dreaming was featured in the 2008 season and has since received its world premiere at the Pittsburgh Playhouse.

Local playwrights represented in the six-day Underground Readings series include: Kyle Bostian, Gab Cody, Ginny Cunningham, Kim El, T.S. Frank, Matt Henderson, Robyne Parrish, and Dennis Schebetta. The content of the plays range from a Minotaur in Crete finding his identity (T.S. Frank’s “The Minotaur: A Tragedy with Puppets”) to a couple finding healing on a fishing trip after witnessing a murder (Kim El’s “Just Fishing”), to a nun grappling with the 1960’s movement (Ginny Cunningham’s “Mere Woman”) and a contemporary take on King Arthur (Kyle Bostian’s “The Death of Art”).  Also included is Dennis Schebetta’s play, “The Albatross”, winner of the John Gassner New Play Award.

Many celebrated local actors will perform in the various readings, including Elena Alexandratos, Theo Allyn, Ken Bolden, Lisa Anne Goldsmith, Laurie Klatscher, Sam Turich, and Robin Walsh.

“The Dramatists Guild of America is excited to see Pittsburgh’s playwrights coming together to support each other and share their work with Pittsburgh audiences,” says Tammy Ryan, local playwright and Dramatists Guild Regional Representative. “It’s my hope that introducing Pittsburgh’s diverse and talented playwrights to the community will lead to more productions of local writers by area theaters.”

All readings are free and will begin at 7:00 pm at the Grey Box Theatre in Lawrenceville (3595 Butler Street).

SCHEDULE OF UNDERGROUND READINGS:

Week One: June 13-15:

Monday, June 13 – “The 2^nd American Revolution” by Gab Cody.  Everyone is mad as a hatter at this Tea Party.  Directed by Sam Turich and featuring Michael Fuller and Laurie Klatscher.

Tuesday, June 14 – “Just Fishin’” by Kim El. Set in1968, a fishing trip helps urban siblings to cope with witnessing a murder. Directed by Kim El; “The Safe Place” by Robyne Parrish.  A dark comedy-romp that explores the idea of finding a “safe place” to be one’s “true self”. Directed by Maggie Balsley and featuring Elena Alexandratos, Theo Allyn, Ken Bolden, Lisa Ann Goldsmith, Kate Gross, Laurel Schroeder, Justin Patrick Mohr, Matt Lamb and Ron Seibert.

Wednesday, June 15 – “The Minotaur: A Tragedy with Puppets” by T.S. Frank.  The sins of the people of Crete come back to haunt them when a young prince sails from Greece to slay the Minotaur at the center of the Labyrinth. Plagued by visions of the young adventurer and frightened that he will soon die, Asterion the Minotaur sets out to discover the truth about his past and the secret of his birth.

Week Two: June 20-22:

Monday, June 20 – “The Albatross” by Dennis Schebetta. Winner of the John Gassner Play Award (2009). Years after his wife’s suicide, a still-grieving poetry professor collides with a brilliant student he is mentoring, setting off events that will eventually stir him from his alcohol-induced denial and drown him in the watery weight of the past. Directed by Lisa Jackson-Schebetta and featuring Jeffrey Carpenter.

Tuesday, June 21 – “Strutting and Fretting” by Matt Henderson. Three members of a senior amateur theater group rehearse a play with dreams of moving to New York and making it big before time runs out. Directed by Denise Pullen; “Le Morte d’Art (The Death of Art)” by Kyle Bostian.  Is Art really dead? If so, who’s to blame: Art’s adulterous wife and best friend? A fairy (drag) queen or a drug-addled wizard? The quest for the holy grail of Art inevitably leads to Shakespeare in this contemporary romp through medieval legend. Featuring Gab Cody, Sam Turich and Robin Walsh. “Speakeasy” by Kim El. Suburban Coffee House fronts for illegal drug activities when a female narcotics agent comes to make an arrest of the owner only to find that they share a past history.  Directed by Wali Jamal.

Wednesday, June 22 – “Mere Woman” by Ginny Cunningham.  A nationally prominent nun attempts to control the fallout of the 1960s movement as its sweeps through the nation and her convent, but traumatic events force her to confront a life-changing question: can a woman awakened be faithful to herself, her sisters and her church? Directed by Claire Syler and featuring Nancy Bach, Nathan Hart, Susan MacGregor-Laine, Ingrid Sonnichsen and Cathy Yonek.