New Works Play Festival 2023 at Theatre West

Here is a list of the scheduled Tuesday night readings at 7:30 p.m.

January 10: Trumpets and Table Tipping by Charlie Mount. The great magician Harry Houdini battles a clairvoyant at a country home in Sleepy Hollow. The cast: Nick McDow-Musleh, Mary Somers, Samantha Gregory, Amelia Vargas, Cecil Jennings, Benjamin Scuglia, Liv Denevi, David Baer.

January 17: The Feel Good Story America Needs Right Now by Mark Wilding. Six Americans- everyday folks- are set to appear on a 60 Minutes type news magazine a year after they escaped the clutches of the most notorious terrorist group on the planet. As far as America is concerned, they are heroes on the scale of Sully Sullenberger. But does the hype meet the reality?

January 24: MY UTERUS (a womb with a view) by Dina Morrone. Dina digs deep into her pelvic cavity to explore what the Uterus really is, what it means to own one, and to probe and examine how it continues to get screwed over and over again, by those who have no business being in there.

January 31: Muscle Memory by Nalsey Tinberg. Pain and Loss. History and memory. Can friendship survive?

February 7: How High the Moon by Barbara Beery. On July 4th, 1952, neighboring families in the San Fernando Valley fight over love, land and the changing times.

February 14: My Journey; Your Journey; Our Journey by David Lee Lindsey. From the end of enslavement to Donald Trump, the African-American experience in four one-acts.

February 21: Missing but Who’s Looking by Marc Littman. Native Alaskan women face greater danger than wild animals. This play spotlights a tragedy in the Arctic where domestic violence often is shrugged off, but the crime is repeated with little consequence all over the United States for thousands of women, especially those of color who too often are treated as both disposable and invisible,

February 28: Carpool by Tom Walla. An ordinary day at work for four ride sharing employees becomes anything but, as sudden company cutbacks ratchet up tension, manipulation and recriminations that force them all to re-examine their life choices as their stories build to an emotional climax none of them could have foreseen.

March 7: The extraordinary tale of the illustrious Mr. Kristoff’s last and most eccentric production featuring the William Desmond Taylor Players, a hostage audience, and his singular interpretation of theatrical history replete with digressions both ribald and remarkable by Michael Van Duzer.

March 14: SHE Is History by Amy Simon. Alarmed when her thirteen-year-old daughter plans to do her women’s history report on pop stars Cher, or Janet Jackson, Mom becomes obsessed with and gets inspiration and strength from the unknown, unheralded and forgotten women in history who overcome obstacles and fight for equality and justice. Weaving stories in and out of what turns out to be parallel universes spanning three centuries, she finds empowerment along the way in this funny, enlightening, politically and socially relevant, heart-breaking and emotionally charged slices of modern and herstorical life.

March 21: Nighty Night by Elayne Heilveil. When a tragic incident happens to a young girl in the Bayou, a mother, Pastor, and suspicious stranger struggle to put the pieces together of the puzzle that led to that haunting night.

March 28: Death and Cold Cuts by Garry Kluger. They say that “Love is a many splendored thing.” Wanna bet?

April 18: Cassatt by Arden Teresa Lewis. Mary Cassatt, the aging Impressionist, stands in her country estate and sets fire to most of her early paintings never to be seen by the art world again. What led this genius of printmaking and paint, the only American Impressionist in the very first show of 1875, to destroy a piece of her legacy?

April 25: FONDA/McQUEEN….the STARDUSTERS by Steve Nevil. This full-length play is a narrative of two separate stories as well as a meditation of the nature of celebrity, centering on two iconic actors of different generations, --Henry Fonda and Steve McQueen-- in the last complete year of their respective lives,1979 and 1981, when both actors are forced to confront their life choices, the experiences that shaped their character, their tragic flaws…and their impending death.

May 2: Esther, the Great Enabler by Benjamin Scuglia. This play will be presented via Zoom. Esther, age 70, has been her mother's caretaker for decades; when her mother passes at age 99, Esther sets off on a quixotic quest to remake her life and finally explore her untapped potential.

May 9: Heart Among the Ruins by Daniel Keough. As she escapes the police into a dead-end alley, a prostitute invades a homeless man's encampment. He wants her to leave, but she can't face arrest. Through their unwanted interaction, they discover the other's humanity, and briefly connect before she leaves.