NEW WORKS IN ACTION Play Reading Series
Upcoming in 2023:
Feb. 6 at 7pm - Dawn by Tuyết Thị Phạm
Feb. 13 at 7pm- The Magician's Daughter by Lila Rose Kaplan
Admission is FREE.
Reservations are encouraged, but not required.
Come early for the TOAST BAR - partake of a free, self-curated sampling of breads and spreads in the lobby ahead of the reading.
Upcoming in 2023:
Feb. 6 at 7pm - Dawn by Tuyết Thị Phạm
Feb. 13 at 7pm- The Magician's Daughter by Lila Rose Kaplan
Admission is FREE.
Reservations are encouraged, but not required.
Come early for the TOAST BAR - partake of a free, self-curated sampling of breads and spreads in the lobby ahead of the reading.
Monday, February 6th at 7pm
DAWN
By Tuyết Thị Phạm
Directed by Raymond Caldwell (Artistic Director, Theater Alliance)
Featuring Regina Aquino, Elliott Kashner, Ashley Nguyen, Toni Rae Salmi, Jacob Yeh
with dramaturgy by Otis Ramsey-Zöe
Synopsis: Against the scarring trauma of historical violence, a mother and daughter navigate their own legacy of love and loss. Mary, a first-generation Cambodian American, struggles with guilt, anger, and grief as she wrestles with her parents’ experiences—and contrasting faiths—as survivors of the Khmer Rouge. She ultimately must find a way to reconcile her own beliefs with theirs to find a path to healing.
From the dramaturg:
"With DAWN, Tuyet Pham has spun a world in which our ancestors travel with us. Even ancestors we did not have the privilege of meeting surround, protect, challenge, frustrate, rival with, and attempt to make amends with us. DAWN is a transcendently beautiful play that adeptly juggles complexity as it moves through violence, grief, anger, devotion, and grace with sincerity and tenderness."
From the playwright:
"I remember watching tv at the height of the pandemic, where a news camera managed to catch a glimpse of sanitation workers dumping bodies into a mass grave just outside of NYC. I imagine most people in America see mass graves as a byproduct of war or genocide in far-off foreign countries, but I've always known that mass graves existed here in the US for all the bodies of the unclaimed: the homeless, the forgotten, or those who simply cannot afford a proper burial. I remember feeling crushing grief for those souls if indeed they had souls. To be buried without your name. Without your story. How lonely they must have felt. The immediacy of the moment propelled me to write, even if only as a meditation on finding a story to attach to someone's unmarked grave."
Tuyết Thị Phạm is a Helen Hayes Award-winning actor living in Washington, DC. Her play, Dinner and Cake, received its world premiere at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore MD, in the fall of 2022, and and where she was recently named an Associate Artistic Director. Tuyet was commissioned to write, co-direct, and perform in Ping Chong and Company’s Generation Rise presented at the Reston Arts Center in the spring of 2023.She served as Associate Director for Tripp Cullman on Kenneth Lin’s World Premiere play Exclusion at Arena Stage. She is a company member of Bodywise Dance, which allows her to continue her pursuit of inclusion and social justice in the arts.Tuyet received a Helen Hayes Award for best supporting actor in Spooky Action’s production of Room at the Top of the Stairs. She has been seen in over 40 productions in the Baltimore-Washington DC area that include roles at Centerstage, Everyman Theatre, Olney Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, RepStage, Roundhouse Theatre, Imagination Stage, Signature Theatre, The HUB Theatre, NextStop Theatre, The Inkwell, Ford’s Theatre, The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Arena Stage, and The Capital Fringe Festival.
Monday, February 13th at 7pm
THE MAGICIAN’S DAUGHTER
By Lila Rose Kaplan
Directed by Acadia Barrengos (Kennedy Center Keenan Fellow)
Featuring Frank Britton and Renee Elizabeth Wilson
with Stage Directions read by Ann Turiano (co-Artistic Director, Sisters Freehold) and
dramaturgy by Parker Robertson (Kennedy Center Keenan Fellow)
Originally produced by Geva Theatre Center, Rochester, New York Mark Cuddy, Artistic Director
Synopsis: The Magician Prospero and his daughter Miranda dazzle their audiences until the day Miranda quits. A magical, fantastical, shape-shifting, Shakespeare-meets-Kafka approach to the hero(ine)’s journey, where the line between reality and illusion is fluid and a true metamorphosis lies at its heart: the arc of a parent-child relationship, and all the shifting identities that come during that journey.
Lila Rose Kaplan writes plays that shine light on the stories we don't tell about women. Her heroines live in heartfelt zany comedies, bittersweet comic dramas, and imaginative musicals for young audiences. Productions include Huntington Theatre Company, Second Stage, New Victory Theatre, South Coast Rep, American Repertory Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Geva Theatre Center, Know Theatre, and Perishable Theatre. Development includes: Arena Stage, EST, Center Theatre Group, New York Theatre Workshop, Theatreworks, PlayPenn, and The Lark. Lila Rose is curently working on a commission from Theater J and a young adult novel, She lives in Somerville, MA with her marine biologist husband, her curious daughter, and her needy siamese. www.lilarose.org
The Magician's Daughter is presented through special arrangement with and all authorized performance materials are supplied by TRW PLAYS, 1180 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 640, New York, NY 10036. www.trwplays.com
Supported in part by The Kennedy Center Kenan Fellowship Program.
DAWN
By Tuyết Thị Phạm
Directed by Raymond Caldwell (Artistic Director, Theater Alliance)
Featuring Regina Aquino, Elliott Kashner, Ashley Nguyen, Toni Rae Salmi, Jacob Yeh
with dramaturgy by Otis Ramsey-Zöe
Synopsis: Against the scarring trauma of historical violence, a mother and daughter navigate their own legacy of love and loss. Mary, a first-generation Cambodian American, struggles with guilt, anger, and grief as she wrestles with her parents’ experiences—and contrasting faiths—as survivors of the Khmer Rouge. She ultimately must find a way to reconcile her own beliefs with theirs to find a path to healing.
From the dramaturg:
"With DAWN, Tuyet Pham has spun a world in which our ancestors travel with us. Even ancestors we did not have the privilege of meeting surround, protect, challenge, frustrate, rival with, and attempt to make amends with us. DAWN is a transcendently beautiful play that adeptly juggles complexity as it moves through violence, grief, anger, devotion, and grace with sincerity and tenderness."
From the playwright:
"I remember watching tv at the height of the pandemic, where a news camera managed to catch a glimpse of sanitation workers dumping bodies into a mass grave just outside of NYC. I imagine most people in America see mass graves as a byproduct of war or genocide in far-off foreign countries, but I've always known that mass graves existed here in the US for all the bodies of the unclaimed: the homeless, the forgotten, or those who simply cannot afford a proper burial. I remember feeling crushing grief for those souls if indeed they had souls. To be buried without your name. Without your story. How lonely they must have felt. The immediacy of the moment propelled me to write, even if only as a meditation on finding a story to attach to someone's unmarked grave."
Tuyết Thị Phạm is a Helen Hayes Award-winning actor living in Washington, DC. Her play, Dinner and Cake, received its world premiere at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore MD, in the fall of 2022, and and where she was recently named an Associate Artistic Director. Tuyet was commissioned to write, co-direct, and perform in Ping Chong and Company’s Generation Rise presented at the Reston Arts Center in the spring of 2023.She served as Associate Director for Tripp Cullman on Kenneth Lin’s World Premiere play Exclusion at Arena Stage. She is a company member of Bodywise Dance, which allows her to continue her pursuit of inclusion and social justice in the arts.Tuyet received a Helen Hayes Award for best supporting actor in Spooky Action’s production of Room at the Top of the Stairs. She has been seen in over 40 productions in the Baltimore-Washington DC area that include roles at Centerstage, Everyman Theatre, Olney Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, RepStage, Roundhouse Theatre, Imagination Stage, Signature Theatre, The HUB Theatre, NextStop Theatre, The Inkwell, Ford’s Theatre, The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Arena Stage, and The Capital Fringe Festival.
Monday, February 13th at 7pm
THE MAGICIAN’S DAUGHTER
By Lila Rose Kaplan
Directed by Acadia Barrengos (Kennedy Center Keenan Fellow)
Featuring Frank Britton and Renee Elizabeth Wilson
with Stage Directions read by Ann Turiano (co-Artistic Director, Sisters Freehold) and
dramaturgy by Parker Robertson (Kennedy Center Keenan Fellow)
Originally produced by Geva Theatre Center, Rochester, New York Mark Cuddy, Artistic Director
Synopsis: The Magician Prospero and his daughter Miranda dazzle their audiences until the day Miranda quits. A magical, fantastical, shape-shifting, Shakespeare-meets-Kafka approach to the hero(ine)’s journey, where the line between reality and illusion is fluid and a true metamorphosis lies at its heart: the arc of a parent-child relationship, and all the shifting identities that come during that journey.
Lila Rose Kaplan writes plays that shine light on the stories we don't tell about women. Her heroines live in heartfelt zany comedies, bittersweet comic dramas, and imaginative musicals for young audiences. Productions include Huntington Theatre Company, Second Stage, New Victory Theatre, South Coast Rep, American Repertory Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Geva Theatre Center, Know Theatre, and Perishable Theatre. Development includes: Arena Stage, EST, Center Theatre Group, New York Theatre Workshop, Theatreworks, PlayPenn, and The Lark. Lila Rose is curently working on a commission from Theater J and a young adult novel, She lives in Somerville, MA with her marine biologist husband, her curious daughter, and her needy siamese. www.lilarose.org
The Magician's Daughter is presented through special arrangement with and all authorized performance materials are supplied by TRW PLAYS, 1180 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 640, New York, NY 10036. www.trwplays.com
Supported in part by The Kennedy Center Kenan Fellowship Program.
The New Works in Action Program provides you the chance to see fresh new full-length plays that push the boundaries of reality and tell human stories in a magical way. Stories too big for the small screen, too lively for a living room, and too urgent to stay on the page. Bring your imaginations and enjoy some of Washington’s best artistic talent and freshest new voices!
New Works in Action is made possible in part through support from the DC Commission on the
Arts and Humanities, the Dupont Circle Citizens Association, The Kennedy
Center Kenan Fellowship Program and individual donors.
THANK YOU!
Admission is FREE.
You may make reservations below if you'll be attending. Encouraged, but not required.
New Works in Action is made possible in part through support from the DC Commission on the
Arts and Humanities, the Dupont Circle Citizens Association, The Kennedy
Center Kenan Fellowship Program and individual donors.
THANK YOU!
Admission is FREE.
You may make reservations below if you'll be attending. Encouraged, but not required.
