Boston Court Pasadena Announces Selections for the 15th Annual New Play Reading Festival

Boston Court Pasadena announced the full details of its 15th annual New Play Reading Festival, April 13-14, 2019. Curated by Literary Manager Emilie Beck, in concert with Artistic Directors Jessica Kubzansky and Michael Michetti, the New Play Reading Festival is a key component of Boston Court Pasadena's commitment to nurturing playwrights and new work, and continues the company's core mission of developing and programming works that are inherently theatrical, textually rich, and visually arresting.

This year's Festival includes Alma by Benjamin Benne, Normaler Than Everyone by Brian Joseph, Three Girls Never Learnt The Way Home by Matthew Paul Olmos, and Two Lakes, Two Rivers by Laura Jacqmin.

Last year's New Play Reading Festival included Kit Steinkellner's Ladies and E.M. Lewis' How the Light Gets In, which will both have World Premiere productions at Boston Court Pasadena during the 2019 Season.

"This year each playwright has ties to Los Angeles, whether they grew up here, wrote about the city, or live here now," said Emilie Beck. "The plays show hidden experiences that happen behind closed doors. They shine light on the most personal decisions and heart-wrenching relationships. The New Play Reading Festival offers us the opportunity to meet new works and writers, and to explore forms that we haven't yet considered, and this year's slate includes a more intimate naturalistic play, and a one-person musical, as well as the theatricality that our audiences have come to expect from us. We're thrilled to share these scripts with our community."

Since Boston Court Pasadena opened in 2003, the theater has mounted 63 productions, 34 of which have been world premieres - 18 of those world premieres were first discovered as part of the New Play Reading Festival.

In addition to the readings, on Sunday, April 7 at 5pm, there will be a free preview of the Festival including a discussion of what makes a "Boston Court Pasadena play" and an inside look at the play development process. Literary Manager Emilie Beck and Artistic Directors Jessica Kubzansky and Michael Michetti will be joined by some of the festival playwrights for a lively discussion and an audience Q&A.

The New Play Reading Festival is open to the public and free-of-charge, but reservations are recommended. Information and reservations are available online at bostoncourtpasadena.org, by calling 626-683-6801.


About the Playwrights

Laura Jacqmin is a Los Angeles-based writer for television, video games, and the live theater. She's currently a Writer-Supervising Producer on "Get Shorty" (MGM/Epix) and is a founding member of The Kilroys.

Selected plays: Residence (40th Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville); January Joiner (Long Wharf Theatre); Ski Dubai (Steppenwolf Theatre); A Third (Finborough Theatre London); Look, we are breathing (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble; Sundance Theatre Lab); Dental Society Midwinter Meeting (Williamstown Theatre Festival; Chicago Dramatists/At Play, 16th Street Theater); Ghost Bike (Buzz22 Chicago). Awards: Wasserstein Prize, two NEA Art Works Grants, ATHE-Kennedy Center David Mark Cohen Playwriting Award, two MacDowell Fellowships, Illinois Arts Council Individual Artist Grant.

Other television: "Grace and Frankie" (Netflix); "Lucky 7" (ABC). Video Games: "The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - A New Frontier", "Minecraft: Story Mode" (both with Telltale Games), and "Life 2.0" (forthcoming, Fogbank Entertainment). She received her BA from Yale University, and earned an MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University.

Benjamin Benne's plays include at the very bottom of a body of water, q u e r e n c i a: an imagined autobiography about forbidden fruits, and Alma. He is the American Blues Theater's Blue Ink Playwriting Award winner, a recipient of the Kennedy Center Latinx Playwriting Award, a Robert Chesley/Victor Bumbalo Playwriting Award winner, and a Playwrights' Center Affiliated Writer (McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting & Jerome Many Voices Fellowship). His plays have been produced/developed by the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, The Playwrights Realm's Scratchpad Series, The Lark's Playwrights' Week, Two River Theater, Pillsbury House Theatre, Teatro Milagro, Seattle Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, Theatre Battery, Annex Theatre, Forward Flux, Umbrella Project, and Parley, among others. Most recently, Benjamin's work was featured on Steppenwolf Theatre Company's The Mix and 50 Playwrights Project's Best Unproduced Latin@/x Plays 2018 & 2019 lists. He is a first-year MFA Playwriting candidate at the Yale School of Drama.

Brian Joseph is an award-winning composer and singer-songwriter from Los Angeles who can dunk a basketball. Brian's 4th cd is called "If I Never Sleep Again," and is widely known to be the greatest thing in the history of recorded music. Listening to it is guaranteed to make you more sexually attractive, and will increase your odds of winning the lottery. Same goes for the other three brilliant Brian Joseph records. Brian has written music for numerous television shows including America's Next Top Model, How I Met Your Mother, Trick My Truck, and many more. He is only slightly embarrassed to admit his lifetime love of musical theater.

Matthew Paul Olmos is a three-time Sundance Institute Fellowship/Residency recipient, Actors' Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival Commissioned Playwright, New Dramatists Resident Playwright, Center Theatre Group LA Playwright Workshop Writer, Oregon Shakespeare Festival BLACK SWAN Lab Playwright, Humanitas Play LA Workshop Playwright, Princess Grace Awardee in Playwriting, National Latino Playwriting Awardee, and La MaMa e.t.c.'s Ellen Stewart Emerging Playwright Awardee as selected by Sam Shepard.

He spent two years as a Mabou Mines/SUITE Resident Artist being mentored by the late Ruth Maleczech and is a former New York Theatre Workshop's Emerging Artist Fellow, Baryshnikov Arts Center Artist in Residence, Dramatists Guild Fellow, Primary Stages' Dorothy Strelsin New American Writer, INTAR H.P.R.L Playwright, Echo Theater Company Resident Playwright and an Ensemble Studio Theater lifetime member. He is a proud Kilroys nominator.

His work has been presented both nationally and internationally, taught in university, and is published by Samuel French and NoPassport Press. He's currently working on a devised piece, AMERICAN NATIONALISM PROJECT, developed through New York Theatre Workshop's Adelphi Residency. He is also collaborating with composer April Guthrie on a play with music, entitled WE WALK ALONG THE CHRISTMAS BRIDGE, exploring the racial polarization of the left and right; as part of Center Theatre Group's LA Workshop. He is currently developing the 2nd play of THE PRESIDENTIAL PLAYS, which explore Americans tumultuous relationship to our presidents. He was recently selected by Taylor Mac for Cherry Lane's Mentor Project and will be completing his 3-play cycle, SO GO THE GHOSTS OF MEXICO, PART THREE, with a world-premiere of the final play in April 2019 at Undermain Theatre, Dallas, TX. www.matthewpaulolmos.com.

Boston Court Pasadena
70 N Mentor Ave. Pasadena, CA 91106
Prices: Free. Reservations Recommended
Website: BostonCourtPasadena.org
Phone: 626.683.6801