Carlsbad Playreaders Announce 2019 Season

Carlsbad Playreaders is pleased to announce its 2019 season. This season marks the most diverse and inclusive selection of playwrights, directors, and subject matter in over twenty years of the company's history. The 2019 Season maintains the Playreaders' focus on quality, professional staged readings of new and classic works, and strives for greater inclusivity across all areas of the theatre-going experience in North County San Diego. The season features Tony- and Pulitzer-winning plays, new works, and a balance of humor and drama, while the selection of plays has been curated to focus on works that are socially, culturally, and politically relevant.


AN ACT OF GOD
by David Javerbaum
directed by Gerilyn Brault
Monday, January 14

The One with the first and last word on everything has finally arrived to set the record straight. After many millennia, and in just 90 minutes, God (assisted by Their devoted angels) answers some of the deepest questions that have plagued mankind since Creation. (Comedy)
"Deliriously Funny!" - The New York Times
"Clever and even refreshingly positive" -Time Out (New York)


NEXT TO NORMAL
by Tom Kitt & Brian Yorkey
Directed by Manny Fernandes
Music Direction by Tony Houck
Monday, March 18

Next to Normal explores how one suburban household copes with crisis and mental illness with humor, heartbreak, and love. Featuring Melissa Fernandes and Zackary Scot Wolfe. (Musical)
Winner of three 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Musical Score and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, Next to Normal was also chosen as "one of the year's ten best shows" by critics around the country, including The Los AngelesTimes, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone and The New York Times.
a "brave, breathtaking musical" - The New York Times


in a word
by Lauren Yee
Monday, April 29

Today is the two-year anniversary of Fiona's son's disappearance, and still, nothing makes sense to her. As Fiona delves back into her memories of that fateful day, to uncover that crucial missing piece, grief and comedy collide, and ordinary turns of phrase take on dangerous new meanings. (Dramatic Comedy)
CRITICS PICK! "...sad and breathless and often pretty funny play about the ways in which loss mangles our world and garbles our speech." - The New York Times
"In a Word is - in a word - riveting. It's also powerful, moving, funny..." - SF Examiner


TOPDOG/UNDERDOG
by Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Jacole Kitchen
Monday, June 17

A darkly comic fable of brotherly love, family identity, and the way we are defined by history. The play tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foretelling a lifetime of sibling rivalry and resentment. Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future. (Dark Comedy, Drama)
Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize.
"Utterly Mesmerizing!" -Variety
"The issues are gripping, the characters are dynamite...a must-see play." -Backstage


TWO SISTERS AND A PIANO
by Nilo Cruz
Directed by Nadia Guevara
Monday, August 19

Set in 1991, during the Pan American Games in Havana and while the Russians are pulling out of Cuba, this play portrays two sisters, Maria Celia, a novelist, and Sofia, a pianist, serving time under house arrest. Passion infiltrates politics when a lieutenant assigned to their case becomes infatuated with Maria Celia, whose literature he has been reading. (Drama)
"It's one of the most fascinating cat-and-mouse games to be seen on the stage." -Star-Ledger
"An authentic study of oppression that bends but never breaks the human spirit." -Variety


THE MOUSETRAP
by Agatha Christie
Directed by AJ Knox
Monday, October 21

A group of strangers is stranded in a boarding house during a snow storm, one of whom is a murderer. The world's longest-running play features another famous Agatha Christie switch finish! Chalk up another superb intrigue for the foremost mystery writer of her time. (Thriller, Comedy)
"The Mousetrap is not a star vehicle; the play and its author are the stars... [it is] a curious mixture of 1950s drawing-room comedy and murder mystery." - The Guardian
"[delivers an] atmosphere of shuddering suspense!" - The Daily Express


SIGNIFICANT OTHER
by Joshua Harmon
Monday, December 9

Jordan Berman would love to be in love, but that's easier said than done. So until he meets Mr. Right, he wards off lonely nights with his trio of close girlfriends. But as singles' nights turn into bachelorette parties, Jordan discovers that the only thing harder than finding love is supporting the loved ones around you when they do. (Romantic Comedy)
"A tenderly unromantic romantic comedy, as richly funny as it is ultimately heart-stirring." - The New York Times
"Frighteningly funny [...] strikes the perfect balance between comedy and pathos." - Variety


All performances take place at the at the Carlsbad Dove Library Schulman Auditorium.
1775 Dove Lane, off El Camino Real in Carlsbad

Doors open at 7 p.m.. No reservations. Curtain at 7:30 p.m.

Suggested donation: $1 Student, $5 adult, $10 Support The Arts. Cash only.

Carlsbad Playreaders is made possible in part by the Carlsbad Library and Arts Foundation, Robert H. Gartner Cultural Endowment Fund.

For more information, visit www.carlsbadplayreaders.org. Doors open at the Schulman Auditorium 7 p.m. No reservations. Curtain at 7:30 p.m.
Suggested donation: $1 Student, $5 adult, $10 Support The Arts. Cash only.

Carlsbad Playreaders is made possible in part by the Carlsbad Library and Arts Foundation, Robert H. Gartner Cultural Endowment Fund. For more information, visit www.carlsbadplayreaders.org.

Produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.