Meet the Artist: New Play Readings 2023

Wednesday Evenings in May 

There will be no reading on 5/10, but there will be a reading on 5/31.

Vivid Stage hosts a forum that showcases new theatrical works. It provides audiences an opportunity to experience new shows and participate in discussions with playwrights, directors and actors. The goal is to expose the adult public to the evolution of a theatrical presentation and to give the playwright valuable feedback to be used in the development of the play.

1. Grief at High Tide 
by Richard Willett
Wednesday, May 3 @ 7 pm

A struggling New York photographer Jennifer Evers tells her husband Christopher that the photo she took of him by his mother’s deathbed—the one he never gave her permission to take and asked her not to show anyone—was secretly entered in a very prestigious competition.

2. Idée Fixe
by Joe Sutton
Wednesday, May 17 @ 7 pm

A young, ambitious doctor latches onto the notion that vaccinations cause more harm than good as his ticket to medical notoriety. A chorus of 5 actors play all the people he encounters as he dives deeper and deeper into the world of twisted proof and tainted evidence. How will the scientific world treat his quest for fame? Will ordinary people looking for an answer for their children's afflictions embrace or reject his flawed science?

3. The Festial Quartet
by David Lee White
Wednesday, May 24 @ 7 pm

Four high school seniors who make up a chorus struggle with the recent death of one of their friends, as they approach their own graduation and life choices in the world beyond. Against the backdrop of a Christian education, the students grapple with their own desires and the sometimes cloudy difference between right and wrong. When the adults in their orbit are also dealing with loss and moral quandaries, they turn to each other for support and clarity.

4. Acts of Creation
by Brianna Barrett
Wednesday, May 31 @ 7 pm

Thea and Reed have been married for 25 years, but now Thea is convinced that she's dying. Her legacy will be to write a play using technology that randomizes language, and she trusts her wife and two daughters to make sure it sees the light of day. With wit and humor, the play poses the question of whether art can be artificially created, and tells the story of a family mourning the loss of an actual person who has attempted to digitize her memory.