Free Staged Reading Of A New Play To Be Presented At Cranford Community Center

The Theater Project and the Cranford Library will launch the autumn 2024 New Play Readings series 2pm, September 21, at Cranford Community Center's 110-seat theater. Admission is free, with no registration required.

“It's like watching a rehearsal,” says Theater Project artistic director Mark Spina. “Actors are on their feet, carrying scripts, entering and exiting, to give audiences a look at what happens before opening night.” The playwrights are members of The Theater Project's script development workshop.

The first play is Lynn Aylward's The Bishop of California, based on the life of James Albert Pike, an Episcopal bishop who hosted his own network-television program in the mid-1950s, The Dean Pike Show. He took controversial positions for the time on such issues as women's rights, gay rights, and abortion. Regarded as a heretic by conservative bishops, Pike left the Episcopal church in 1969. Later that year he fell to his death while climbing a canyon wall in the Judean Desert.         

Playwright Lynn Aylward says, “Hearing your new work read and discussed in front of an audience of theater enthusiasts is priceless -- you can't improve your play or become a better writer without it. The Theater Project New Play Reading Series provides this precious opportunity to New Jersey playwrights.” 

After the reading of The Bishop of California, members of the audience will have the opportunity to offer their feedback to the playwright.

“Don't save it for the car on the way home – that's how we encourage our audiences to participate frankly and respectfully,” said Mark Spina. “It truly helps the playwright and gives all of us a chance to practice giving and taking constructive feedback.”

The Friends of the Cranford Library will host the series, which is made possible in part through a Union County Local Arts Grant. Cranford Community Center is located at 220 Walnut Avenue. Large-print programs and scripts will be available with advance request.

Founded in 1994 and based in Union, The Theater Project introduces New Jersey audiences to new plays and supports rising playwrights and theater artists. It develops new audiences for theater by service to the community, providing programs for children, and using theater as a forum to address current issues.

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