Kirsten Vangsness Leads Staged Reading of THE PARENTS

BESPOKE PLAYS - a bicoastal new play development series - announces Michael Matthews (The Color Purple, Failure; a Love Story) to direct Kirsten Vangsness (CRIMINAL MINDS; Mess; Cleo, Theo, & Wu) in the first staged reading of a new brute farce by Phinneas Kiyomura (Supper, Lydia in Bed). June Carryl (Y: THE LAST MAN HELSTROM, MIND HUNTER), John Colella (BROOKLYN 99, SILICON VALLEY, FAMILY GUY) and Feodor Chin (BIG LITTLE LIES, Overwatch, League of Legends) complete the cast, with stage directions by Dana Shaw. Produced by Bespoke Plays in collaboration with Eric Emery and Ryan McCurdy.

Loosely inspired by a school shooting that shocked the playwright's high school, THE PARENTS is a four-character drama leavened with cutting comedy that explores the absurdity of America's violently mad gun culture. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, this boundary pushing play shatters us and then heals us without giving easy answers. THE PARENTS asks hard questions with humor and pathos. And answers those questions with love. Because that's what parents do.

The readings will take place June 24 and 25 at 8pm at The Pico (10508 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064). Masks and proof of vaccination will be required. General admission tickets are $20, with some $10 tickets available for each performance. As part of our commitment to accessibility, Bespoke Plays also offers virtual tickets which may be purchased for any date to watch On Demand for a limited time after the initial run.

Kirsten Vangsness is most well known for playing the tech kitten on 324 episodes of Criminal Minds but can also be seen in many Theatre of NOTE plays where she is a member, the features Kill Me, Deadly, Dave Made a Maze and two seasons of her YouTube show about art and self-actualization "Kirstens Agenda". This month Kirsten originated the lead role of Justin Elizabeth Sayers queer extravaganza play "Lottie Pratchett Took A Hatchet" which will be going to Ed Fringe and SFSF.

Phinneas Kiyomura is a half-Japanese/half-Irish playwright, screenwriter, actor and former skate punk from Long Beach, CA. His plays (LYDIA IN BED, FIGURE 8, PHRAZZLED, SUPPER) have been produced at Theatre of NOTE, Padua Playwrights, Sacred Fools and Bespoke Plays (LA and NYC). He is a FIND Screenwriters Lab Fellow, an ABC Disney Writers Lab Alum, and has written for ABC (3 pilots), Freeform and Amazon. Variety has called him an "impressively original voice". He has worked with Mark Gordon Company, Erica Messer Productions, 20K and is currently developing a project with George Takei.

BESPOKE PLAYS is a bicoastal industry reading series founded by Christine Boylan and Ellie Pyle. We seek to create opportunities for exchange between Los Angeles and NYC for writers with diverse stories and worldviews using staged readings customized to the goals of the writer and readiness of the play. The direct intention is getting new plays published and programmed. Find out more at www.bespokeplays.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.