Staged Readings Presented

Long Beach, CA - This year, the Long Beach Playhouse celebrates its 34th New Works Festival, a national competition for plays which have never been produced. Scripts are submitted and read by members of the New Works committee. The committee ultimately selects two plays which are presented as staged readings. There is one local winner from California, and a non-local winner with no location restrictions.

This year’s staged readings will be presented on March 29 and 30. Following the readings, a moderated talkback session allows the audience to ask questions of the actors, director, and if attending, the playwright. The winners also receive a written critique from Cecilia Fannon, a professional theater critic. Playwrights receive a copy of the recorded reading and a $100 cash prize.

This year, the non-local winner is If I Could Turn Back Time by Gerry Rodriguez. It will be presented on Friday, March 29. The local winner is First Aid by Jeff Kaufman, and it will be presented on Saturday, March 30.

If I Coud Turn Back Time is a story of a family brought together by the need to plan a funeral for the unexpected death of their daughter and their reaction to their non-gender conforming son’s life as Sharona, their chosen drag persona. It’s both funny and heart-wrenching as the family grapples with its own history, biases, expectations, and ultimately acceptance.

First Aid imagines Pat Nixon, having run away from her husband on the eve of the 1968 presidential election, hiding in a Missouri motel. When she encounters Cat, a young African-American woman, the two find themselves baring their souls and hatching a plan to escape their situations. Their plan falls apart when Nixon campaign operatives knock on the door.

“We receive as many as 100 submissions from playwrights each year,” said Carmen Tunis, New Works Committee Co-Chair of the Long Beach Playhouse.

Co-Chair, Roxanne Martinez, adds “We are honored to read their plays and appreciate the willingness of the authors to put forth their work for our review.”

“Because these plays are performed as readings, the focus is on the words and inflection. The audience pays attention in a different way because there’s nothing to distract from the script,” said Madison Mooney, Long Beach Playhouse Executive Director.

“One of the most important things we can do is encourage playwrights. New Works exemplifies what it means to be a community theater,” said Sean Gray, Artistic Director for the Playhouse. “I encourage the public to watch. It’s a chance to see something new and actually participate in the dialogue about the plays.”

Thanks to a generous sponsorship by the Port of Long Beach this event will be free for all of the community. Reservations can be made online at www.lbplayhouse.org or by calling or visiting the Playhouse box office.

For more information on the New Works Festival events go to www.lbplayhouse.org and click on New Works Festival.

The Long Beach Playhouse is located at 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach, CA, 90804, directly across from the Recreation Park golf course. The Playhouse is community-supported theatre with programs and events that cut across age, gender, ethnic, and cultural boundaries.

For more information or to reserve tickets visit LBPlayhouse.org or call 562-494-1014

2024 New Works

Playwrights, Directors and Actors

If I Could Turn Back Time by Gerry Rodriguez

Rodriguez is a poet and playwright from Mission, TX. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and works as a Lecturer in English Composition and Rhetoric. She is the founder of the Rio Grande Valley Playwrights Circle which provides workshop opportunities for local playwrights. Her published work has appeared in Chaotic Merge Magazine, decomp journal, and others. Forthcoming poems will be published in Southwestern American Literature.

Directed by: Brandon Ferruccio

Cast:
Jose Orozco - Julio/Sharona
Karina Rodriguez - Angela
Alli Ramirez - Elva
Stephen Saatjian - Luis
Sonia Aguirre - Gabriela
Marina Portillo - Carmen
Geo Herrera - Matthew
Michael Marmont - Father Philip
Gabriel Myers Prunty - Stage Directions/Narrator

First Aid by Jeff Kaufman

Kaufman directed, produced, and wrote the Emmy-nominated American Masters’ documentary “Terrence McNally: Every Act Of Life” (with Angela Lansbury, Meryl Streep, Nathan Lane, Christine Baranski, and Billy Porter), and the Critic’s Choice-nominated “Nasrin” (narrated by Olivia Colman) about Iranian human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, plus “The Savoy King” (with John Legend, Billy Crystal, and Tyne Daly), and short films for Amnesty International and Time Magazine. He also contributed cartoons to The New Yorker and illustrations to The Los Angeles Times, wrote for The Washington Post, CNN, and Ms. Magazine, hosted an Associated Press Award-winning daily radio talk show in Vermont, and exhibited paintings in several Los Angeles galleries.

Directed by: Jason Edward Brown

Cast:
Alison Boole - Pat
Phoebe Ray McHenry - Cat
Christopher Hutchinson - Pizza Delivery Guy
Dustin Ehlrich - Boyd
Dianna Beckman - Jess
Jack Murphy - Frank
Melissa Adylia Calasanz - Stage Direction Narrator

Date and Time:
March 29 & 30, 2024 at 7pm

Location:
Long Beach Playhouse,
5021 E. Anaheim Street,
Long Beach, CA 90804.

Tickets:
Free

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