MTC's 2023 Ted Snowdon Reading Series to Feature Work by Lloyd Suh, Else Went & More

Manhattan Theatre Clubhas announced the lineup for the 2023 Ted Snowdon Reading Series.

The readings kick off Monday, March 6 and will be held on Mondays through March 27. The readings will take place at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street). All readings are free and open to the public, but space is limited and RSVPs are required.

To RSVP, please visit https://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/events/readingseries/.

Now in its 25th year, this rehearsed reading series is dedicated to the support and development of innovative new work, offering each playwright a week-long rehearsal period with directors and actors. This year, the series will feature four new plays, including one MTC commission, by an exceptional group of writers. MTC is grateful to Ted Snowdon for his generous support of the reading series.

Several plays developed in this reading series have gone on to full productions at MTC, including David Auburn's Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning Proof, Joe Hortua's Between Us, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's Based on a Totally True Story, Molly Smith Metzler's Close Up Space (Susan Smith Blackburn finalist), Abe Koogler's Fulfillment Center, Jaclyn Backhaus' India Pale Ale and Eleanor Burgess' The Niceties.

Plays from this reading series that have been produced elsewhere in New York and around the world include Jonathan Spector's This Much I Know, Lauren Yee's Young Americans, Jessica Dickey's Nan and the Lower Body, Brittany K. Allen's Redwood, Paola Lázaro's There's Always the Hudson, Sharyn Rothstein's Right to Be Forgotten, Kimber Lee's to the yellow house, Jen Silverman's Dangerous House, Nick Gandiello's The Blameless, Jocelyn Bioh's Nollywood Dreams, Nicky Silver's This Day Forward, Michael West's The Chinese Room, Halley Feiffer's I'm Gonna Pray for You So Hard, Joshua Harmon's Significant Other, Ethan Lipton's Tumacho, Rachel Bonds' Five Mile Lake, Ayad Akhtar's The Who and the What, Penelope Skinner's The Village Bike, Rona Munro's Donny's Brain, Jonathan Caren's The Recommendation, The Civilians' The Great Immensity, Heidi Schreck's There Are No More Big Secrets, Eric Simonson's Fake, David Adjmi's Stunning, Naomi Iizuka's Strike-Slip, Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Little Flower of East Orange, Julia Cho's Durango, Adam Rapp's Red Light Winter and Theresa Rebeck's The Scene.

March 6 at 4pm: The Heart Sellers
by Lloyd Suh, directed by May Adrales

For new Americans Jane and Luna/">Luna, life in the USA has left them feeling isolated and invisible - until a chance encounter brings them together on Thanksgiving. Giving voice to the Asian immigrant experience in the wake of the Hart-Celler Act, a funny and deeply moving new play about connection, friendship, and home.

Lloyd Suh (Playwright) is the recipient of the 2022 Harold and Mimi Steinberg Award, the 2020 Horton Foote Prize and the 2019 Herb Alpert Award for Theater. His play The Chinese Lady, premiered as a co-production by Barrington Stage Company and Ma-Yi Theater Company, was hailed a New York Times Critics' Pick during its NY run. It returned to NYC in a co-production between The Public Theater and Ma-Yi in 2022. In the 2022-2023 season, Lloyd's play The Far Country premiered at the Atlantic Theater and was also a New York Times Critics' Pick, and The Heart Sellers will open at Milwaukee Rep in February.

May Adrales (Director) is a director, artistic leader, teacher and mother; she has directed over 25 world premieres. Her work has been seen most recently at Second Stage (Rajiv Joseph's Letters of Suresh) Manhattan Theatre Club (Anchuli Felicia King's Golden Shield, Qui Nguyen's Vietgone) Signature Theatre, LCT3, The Public Theater, WP Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Rep, Milwaukee Rep and South Coast Rep. She was awarded the prestigious Ammerman Award at Arena Stage and Theater Communications Group's Alan Schneider award for freelance directors. She is a Drama League Directing Fellow, Van Lier Directing Fellow, WP Lab Director, SoHo Rep Writers/Directors Lab and New York Theatre Workshop directing fellow, TCG New Generations Grantee, SDC Denham Fellowship and Paul Green Directing Award. She served as an Associate Artistic Director at Milwaukee Rep; Artistic Associate at The Playwrights Center; Artistic Associate at The Public Theater; and Director of Artistic Programs and Artistic Director at The Lark. She serves on the board of Theatre Communications Group. May has directed and taught at Juilliard, Harvard/ART, ACT, Fordham, NYU and Bard College. May has served on faculty at the Yale School of Drama and Brown/Trinity MFA program. MFA, Yale School of Drama. She is currently the Director of the Theatre Program at Fordham University. (www.mayadrales.net)

March 13 at 4pm: As Above
by Christine Quintana

Jo, a once-prominent botanical researcher eight years sober, begins to rebuild her life. An estranged daughter, a grieving mother, and a lonely brother seek to communicate with one another through a noisy world. In As Above, complicated human relationships mirror the relationships between trees and the mycelial networks that connect them. Only in the quiet of the forest can things become clear again.

CHRISTINE QUINTANA (Playwright). Born in Los Angeles to a Mexican-American father and a Canadian mother of Dutch/British descent, Christine grew up on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people, also known as Vancouver, BC. An award-winning playwright, actor, and producer, Christine's plays have been performed in French, Spanish, German, and ASL. Creation highlights include Selfie (commissioned by Théâtre la Seizième and Young People's Theatre); Espejos: Clean (translated and adapted by Paula Zelaya Cervantes, premiered with Neworld Theatre and South Coast Repertory); Never The Last (co-created with Molly MacKinnon, premiered with Delinquent Theatre) and upcoming projects for Tarragon Theatre, Arts Club Theatre Company, and Belfry Theatre. She is the winner of a Dora Mavor Moore Award, Jessie Richardson Award, Sidney Risk Award, John Hendry Award, and was nominated for a Governor General's Award for Selfie. She was honoured with the 2017 Siminovitch Protégé Prize for Playwriting from Marcus Youssef, and holds a BFA in Acting from the University of British Columbia. christinequintana.ca

March 20 at 4pm: Watch Me
by Dave Harris

How can I get over slavery if I can't even get over my ex? Watch Me is the wild ass love story of a couple from their first date, to their first time, to a reckoning with sex, ancestry, desire, and Black Jesus.

Dave Harris (Playwright) is a poet and playwright from West Philly. Selected plays include Tambo & Bones (Playwrights Horizons, Center Theatre Group, 2022), Exception To The Rule (Roundabout Theatre Company, 2022), and Everybody Black (Humana Festival 2019). His first feature film, Summertime premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was released in 2021. Selected honors include: the 2019 Ollie Award, The Lorraine Hansberry Award and Mark Twain Award from The Kennedy Center, The International Commendation for The Bruntwood Prize, the Venturous Fellowship from The Lark, and a Cave Canem poetry fellowship amongst others. Dave is currently writing the feature adaptation of The Fortress Of Solitude amongst several other feature and television projects for AMC (Interview with the Vampire), ABC Signature, Goddard Textiles, and Amazon. His first full-length collection of poetry, "Patricide", was published by Button Poetry. UPCOMING: Incendiary (Woolly Mammoth, 2023), Tambo & Bones (Royal Stratford East, London Premiere, 2023).

March 27 at 4pm: An Oxford Man
by Else Went, directed by Emma Rosa Went

Join us, dear audience, for a buoyant and raucous mythologization of the life and times of the first "modern" transgender man, Laurence Michael Dillon. Commissioned by MTC through the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, An Oxford Man is a witty, surprising, and tender theatrical rollick.

ELSE WENT (they/she) (Playwright) is a playwright and sound designer based in Brooklyn. Their work has been developed through writing labs and groups at The Public Theater (EWG), Ars Nova (Play Group), WP Theater (Lab), Playwrights Realm (Fellowship), Trans Theatre Lab, and Bechdel Project (FifE Fellow). Recipient of new play commissions from MTC through the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (An Oxford Man), Breaking the Binary Festival, Weston Playhouse, Parity Productions, and Period Piece. She has been in residence with MacDowell, The Mercury Store, Stillwright, and Barn Arts Collective. Further development with support from NYTW, The Tank, The Brick, and ISC. Semifinalist for ASC's Shakespeare's New Contemporaries (Courage! to the Field!) and twice for the O'Neill Conference (Initiative; The Hard Work). Finalist for Princess Grace Award (Degenerates), Shakes. New Contemps. (Whate'er), and the Carlo Anoni Prize (An Oxford Man).

Emma Rosa Went (Director) is a New York based freelance theatre director who makes new and classic-text plays. Recent work includes: Much Ado About Nothing (Opera House Arts, Stonington ME); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Connecticut Shakespeare Festival, 2021 Regional Broadway World Award for Best Direction of a Play); and readings at NYTW (Degenerates), Red Bull (Gallathea), and others. Also this spring: Romeo and Juliet (HVSF Educational Tour), Kit Marlowe (Revelation Reading, Red Bull), Initiative (Spotlight Series, The Public). Emma is currently under commission at HVSF, working on The Two Noble Kinsmen. Drama League Classical Directing Fellow 2020, Drama League First Stage Residency 2019. SDC Associate Member. More at www.emmawent.com

Ted Snowdon has supported new plays and playwrights his entire career, working in both the commercial and non-profit sides of theater. His producing credits reach back to 1979's Tony Award-winning The Elephant Man and include more recent plays and musicals like Buyer & Cellar, The Visit, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, The Mountaintop, Reasons To Be Pretty, The Little Dog Laughed, Spring Awakening, and Souvenir. With MTC he co-produced Master Class, Time Stands Still, and LoveMusik. He has long championed the arts and LGBT causes. He is on the boards of Primary Stages and the Glimmerglass Festival. In 2018 he produced Allan Leicht's comedy about Wagner, My Parsifal Conductor, and also Michael McKeever's play Daniel's Husband at The Westside Theatre. In 2019 he was a producing partner on Broadway's The Great Society, starring Brian Cox as LBJ; and then he co-produced Charles Busch's hit comedy The Confession of Lily Dare with Primary Stages. Last year he came back from the pandemic co-presenting Selina Fillinger's madcap POTUS on Broadway and Clarence Coo's On That Day in Amsterdam at 59E59.

ABOUT MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB

The 2022-23 season marks Lynne Meadow's 50th Anniversary as Artistic Director of Manhattan Theatre Club. Meadow was joined by Executive Producer Barry Grove in her third season, and together they have helmed MTC for 48 years. MTC's mission, which Meadow created in 1972 and has implemented since, is to develop and present new work in a dynamic, supportive environment; to identify and collaborate with the most exciting new as well as accomplished artists; and to produce a diverse repertoire of innovative, entertaining, and thought-provoking plays and musicals by American and international playwrights. Since 1989, MTC Education, which uses the power of live theatre and playwriting to awaken minds, ignite imaginations, open hearts, and change lives, has also been an important part of our work.

Over five decades, MTC has grown from a small off-off-Broadway showcase into one of the country's most prestigious and award-winning theatre companies, creating approximately 600 world, American, New York and Broadway premieres. Our productions have earned 7 Pulitzer Prizes, 28 Tony Awards, 50 Drama Desk Awards and 49 Obie Awards amongst many other honors. Our Broadway home is the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) and our two Off-Broadway theatres are at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street). MTC is an anti-racist organization that respects and honors all voices, and upholds the values of community and equity.

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