2020-2021 Reading Series!

Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, our New Works in Action program has moved to a virtual meeting space on our YouTube Account.

Access to our readings is FREE and we invite our audience to stay for a talk-back with actors, director and playwright. Join us at the appointed time. Do not miss this opportunity since these virtual readings will only be available for a limited time.

By joining us for these readings, you help keep theater alive. We have more new scripts waiting in the wings.  We hope you will consider making a donation now and help keep New Works in Action streaming!

THE IMPOSSIBLE PLAY CYCLE
​Short play virtual reading series

This past Summer, we asked playwrights to send us their most impossible short play, those that they thought could never be put on stage. We received 115 scripts!

We have selected nine scripts that will be presented digitally in November and January as part of our New Works in Action festival, ​“THE IMPOSSIBLE PLAY CYCLE.”

JANUARY 14-17

Water Doesn't Kill by Alaina Messineo
Directed by Craig Baldwin
With Beth Hylton, KenYatta Rogers, Joe Mucciolo and Ariel Russell

A mother yearns to communicate with her dead daughter through dreams and dives deep -- maybe too deep.

​*Warning: This play deals with death and suicide 

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JANUARY 21-24

The Devil Exclusive by Jeff Dunne
Directed by Samantha Wyer Bello
With Nat Cassidy and Kelley Rae O'Donnell

A simple, overworked journalist thinks, at least initially, that he is interviewing a mentally disturbed person in jail until he finds out that the person is actually the Ruler of Hell, Satan...you know, that guy.​ 

Welcome to Hell!: An Orientation by Bridget Grace Sheaff
Directed by Samantha Wyer Bello
With Holly Twyford, James Finley, Jacob Yeh, Ashley Buster, Temadaiyo Moriamo, Victoria Reinsel, Lauren Lawrence

A new group of The Damned are welcomed into Hell. A Lesser Demon gleefully gives them a tour.

reserve your tickets

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JANUARY 28-31

The World Is Sand by Jacob T. Zack
Directed by Elizabeth Dinkova
With Marium Khalid and Aysha Khalid

​Two Muslim women have tea in a mass grave.

History of Love by Robert Bowen Smith
Directed by Shanara Gabrielle
Cast Keith Tyrone Williams, Ashleigh King, Da'Von Moody, Solomon Parker, Erica Chamblee, Mya King

A man struggles to document how love changes him into a friend, husband, and father. His figurative struggle becomes literal.

RESERVE YOUR TICKETS

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In November, we presented:

​NOVEMBER 19-22

By A Lady by Laura Shamas 
Directed by Kathryn Chase Bryer
With Colleen Delany and Emily Sucher

​The Very Furious Kugel by Clare Bierman 
Directed by Kathryn Chase Brye
With Sasha Olinick and Molly Shayna Cohen 

Jane Austen delivers an oration on the dangers of vampirism, complete with free garlic cloves.

Your grandfather was visited by a malevolent demon yesterday, and they really  did not hit it off. Worst of all, now you don't get to have any leftover kugel. 

​NOVEMBER 27-30

Run Out of Sky by Leslie Bramm
Directed by Alec Wild
With Shanara Gabrielle

A Dog Is a Creature of a Nose by Emma Gibson
Directed by Craig Baldwin
With Jaysen Wright, Kimberly Gilbert and Megan Huynh

A poem for theater.  Like an air traffic controller, a woman navigates her married love.  A jetliner in sudden danger becomes a marriage on course to crash and burn.

​​Beth has a dog.  A fantastic casserole of a dog. The spaniel makes her loyal. The pit bull makes her fierce, and the bloodhound makes her hunt.  
And today she’s onto a passionate scent.

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Script Submissions

Script submissions for the next round will open July 2020!

About NWIA

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New Works in Action presents staged reading and workshops for the Greater Washington Area. Learn more in past workshops.

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