Hudson Theatre Works Presents 'Playworks' - Readings Of New Plays

There is nothing more important to the long-term vitality of American theatre as an art form than the nurturing of new voices. PlayWorks is the first step in this process. PlayWorks presents readings of new plays by contemporary, often local playwrights, giving them an opportunity to share their work and include the audience in the creative process.

Each reading is followed by a audience discussion with the author, giving our supporters a rare opportunity to become an important part of the creative process and to engage the playwright with questions, comments and their personal insight into the work.

PlayWorks 2018 features:

June 5 @7:30PM
My Dead Wife by Michael Folie
Magical thinking and talking cats: A man's surprising and often bizarrely comic journey as he deals with the sudden death of his beloved wife. Mike Folie's MY DEAD WIFE is about survival and moving forward; on nurturing hope and humor in the face of tragedy; on finding the courage to live and love again.

Mike Folie's follow up to his enormously successful solo show 3 MEN, winner of Best Non-Fiction Show at the 2015 United Solo Festival, and Best Encore Award at the 2016 United Solo Fest. 3 MEN was first developed at Hudson Theatre Works' PlayWorks series before moving on to the Solo Fest and this will be the first opportunity to hear the My Dead Wife before it moves on to this years Solo Fest in the fall. Both shows were and will directed by Artistic Director Frank Licato.

Mike Folie is a playwright, actor, and monologist whose plays have been produced Off-Broadway, regionally around the U.S. and internationally, winning several awards. His one-person play, 3 MEN, developed at Hudson Theatre Works and directed by Frank Licato, won awards at both the 2015 and 2016 United Solo Festivals on NYC's Theatre Row. His play, THE ADJUSTMENT, was produced Off-Broadway, played in Los Angeles for six months, and toured Great Britain starring Stefanie Powers. NAKED BY RIVER has had many regional productions in the U.S., as well as a run at the Tristan Bates Theater in London's West End. Mike's latest play, MY DEAD WIFE, also developed in HTW's Forge workshop, will be presented during the opening weekend of the 2018 United Solo Festival this September, also directed by Frank. This spring, Mike's photo portrait was featured at Lincoln Center Library as part of Bronwen Sharp's American Playwrights Series.

June 7 @7:30PM
LIFE&DEATH&IN-BETWEEN by Cynthia Babak
Life&Death&In-Between is set in modern-day hospice in Ohio.
Emily who lives in NY has been stretched to her limits in this "suspended animation" waiting to hear if her mother can go home, and what that means for her and her aging dad. She watches old movies on the TCM channel with her mom and it seems the walls between this and the next world grow thin. Characters from Emily and Joseph's parents' past begin to appear. They are lively interesting people in their prime. They engage in a carefree way with Kate and Joe Sr. unseen by Emily and Joseph and the staff at the hospice.

The play is punctuated by monologues, the characters in hospice speaking about near-death experiences, how they DIDN'T die when they very well could have. "It wasn't my time" - there is a sense of wonder to it.

Cynthia Babak (is a multi-disciplinary theater artist, and 2015 recipient of the Tanne Foundation Award. Her play, She She She, devised with Hook & Eye Theatre, premiered this spring at the Actors Fund Arts Center; Where I Dwell, was showcased at Florida Rep Theatre's PlayLabs 2015; Too Much Candy, was produced by Brave New World Rep 2010; In the Skin was a semi-finalist at the O'Neill NPC 2007. She recently appeared on stage in Hook & Eye's God is a Verb and Loading Dock Theatre's, The Twelfth Labor. Her two-woman comedy show with Michael Huston, Babes in the Woods, continues to amuse in venues throughout NYC, including the monthly variety show, The Mosquito, at Dixon Place.

The reading will be directed by Chris Clavelli with Cynthia Babak, Viki Boyle, Stephanie Fagan, Frank Licato, Asia Marks, Vinny Sagona and Maria Argentina Souza.

Hudson Theatre Works is a member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.

This program is made possible by Mayor Richard Turner and the city of Weehawken and by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a division of the Department of State, and administered by the Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, Thomas A. DeGise, Hudson County Executive & the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

To post a comment, you must register and login.