Free and open to the public, the Ted Snowdon Reading Series presents four or five new plays at Manhattan Theatre Club’s City Center Stage I each year. These public readings follow a week-long developmental workshop complete with a director, a cast of actors, and the full support of MTC’s Artistic Development staff.
We hope to see you in 2025 for our next Reading Series!
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The 2024 Reading series
By Abby Rosebrock, Directed by Colette Robert
ABOUT THE PLAY
South Carolina, 1999. A mother tamps down her gargantuan rage at the President to make sure her 12-year-old daughter wins a speech contest. Over the course of a morning, trapped by a flood in their intimate world of two, Wilma and Tally contend with mass media, each other, and the most brutal stages of life, as radioactive secrets are pushed into the light. An MTC/Bobbie Olsen Play Commission and the first play in Rosebrock’s Good Girl Trilogy, Wilma is an intergenerational story of two women, three decades apart, as desperate to master the cult of American striving as they are to find some permanent relief from it.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Photo by Molly Hagan
ABBY ROSEBROCK (Playwright) is a playwright, screenwriter and actress from South Carolina. Her plays have been commissioned and produced throughout New York City and across the country. Additional full-length works include Monks Corner, Blue Ridge, (Atlantic Theater), Ruby the Freak in the Woods (EST/Sloan Foundation commission), Dido of Idaho (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Singles in Agriculture, and Different Animals (Cherry Lane), several of which are available for purchase and licensing from Theatrical Rights Worldwide. A proud alum of writers’ groups at Clubbed Thumb, EST, The Orchard Project, and more, Abby is currently gearing up for the West Coast premiere of Dido of Idaho and developing several audio and TV projects.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Photo by Daniel J. Vasquez
COLETTE ROBERT (Director) is a director and playwright from Los Angeles, currently based in New York. Most recently, she wrote and directed The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel (The Movement Theatre Company/New Georges.) Other New York directing credits include: the first New York revival of Lynn Nottage’s Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Keen Company), and the world premieres of Stew (Page 73, Pulitzer Prize Finalist) and Behind the Sheet (Ensemble Studio Theatre). Regional credits include The Wanderers (City Theatre Company), Weathering (Penumbra Theatre), Egress (Salt Lake Acting Company), and Celebrating the Black Radical Imagination: Nine Solo Plays (Williamstown Theatre Festival). She was the Associate Director for the Broadway revival of Caroline, or Change. Colette is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, a New Georges affiliated artist, and an adjunct lecturer at NYU. M.A., RADA and King’s College, London. B.A., Yale University. Member, SDC. SDCF Denham Fellow. https://www.coletterobert.com/
By Aurora Real de Asua, Directed by Morgan Green
ABOUT THE PLAY
Three retired best friends. One hotrod surf instructor. The currents of the Pacific Ocean. What could possibly go wrong? Set on surfboards, Wipeout is a poignant comedy about friendship, grief, and the unpredictable tides of life.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Photo by Janna Giacoppo
AURORA REAL DE ASUA (Playwright) is a playwright, filmmaker, and performer. Her play Wipeout will receive a rolling world premiere in 2024 through the National New Play Network, with productions at Rivendell Theatre, B Street Theatre, and Gloucester Stage Company. Wipeout was developed at Williamstown Theatre Festival, the New Harmony Project, the Old Globe, and Rivendell. Her other plays have been developed with The Playwrights Realm, Victory Gardens, Chicago Children’s Theatre, and Sideshow Theatre. Her short film Heartsong debuted on Short of the Week and screened at various festivals. It is available to stream on Mitú.tv. She holds a BA in Theatre from Northwestern University and an MFA in film from Columbia University.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Photo by Vicente de Paulo
MORGAN GREEN (Director) is a director of plays, films, radio, and dinnertime. She is currently a Co-Artistic Director at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia where she recently premiered the Pulitzer Prize winning Fat Ham by James Ijames, Eternal Life Part 1 by Nathan Alan Davis, and School Pictures by Milo Cramer which went on to Playwrights Horizons in New York where it was lauded as best production of the year in NY Magazine 2023. She was also a co-founder of the award winning theater company, New Saloon, best known for Minor Character: Six Translations of Uncle Vanya at the Same Time (The Invisible Dog, The Public Theater, Sharon Playhouse). Other credits include: The Music Man (The Sharon Playhouse), The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe (Marin Theatre Company), and Cute Activist by Milo Cramer (The Bushwick Starr). Her short film One More Time With Feeling premiered at the Raindance Film Festival in London October 2023. Morgan has developed new work at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Bric, Baryshnikov Art Center, Mabou Mines, and Mercury Store. She is a New Georges Affiliated Artist and proud member of SDC. MorganClaireGreen.com
by Dipika Guha, Directed by Jess McLeod
ABOUT THE PLAY
In 1975, a group of scientists gathers in Asilomar, California to discuss the safety and regulation of a cutting-edge new technology: genetic engineering. Decades later, gifted scientist Dr. Annie Roy devotes herself to this field of study, facing breakneck competition towards a discovery with nuclear implications for the human species. Commissioned by MTC through the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Asilomar is a thrilling new play about the culture of competition in science, the ethics that accompany scientific discovery, and the implications of gene editing technology in our quest for advancement.
ABOUT THE WRITER
DIPIKA GUHA (Playwright) was born in India and raised in UK and Russia. Her plays include Yoga Play (South Coast Rep, SF Playhouse, Playmakers Rep and others), The Art of Gaman (Theatre 503, London) and Unreliable (Kansas City Rep). She was the inaugural recipient of the Shakespeare’s Sister Award, the Hodder Fellowship at Princeton, and the Venturous Fellowship for her play Passing. She is currently under commission from South Coast Rep and Berkeley Rep and is adapting a novel for TV for A24. For TV, she’s written on “American Gods,” “Sneaky Pete,” “Black Monday,” “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel,” and currently “Quarter Life” by Riz Ahmed. Dipika is a proud member of New Dramatists, an alumnus of the WP Lab, Ars Nova’s Play Group, Soho Rep W/D Lab, Geffen Writers Room, Playwrights Foundation, Ma Yi Writers Lab, and Playwrights Center. Dipika received her BA in English Literature at University College London, was a Frank Knox Fellow at Harvard University, and was awarded her MFA from the Yale School of Drama under Paula Vogel.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
| JESS MCLEOD (Director) is a first-generation Korean/Filipina/Scottish director and social justice advocate specializing in risky new work about America. NYCLU/Creatives Rebuild Artist-In-Residence; Roundabout Refocus Project Curator; Woolly Mammoth BOLD Resident Director; Resident Director, Hamilton Chicago. Recent NY credits include Atlantic, Roundabout, EST, and Little Island. Regional credits include Woolly Mammoth, Steppenwolf, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Goodman, IAMA, Victory Gardens, San Diego Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Long Wharf, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Chicago Shakes, The Gift, A Red Orchid Theatre, and developmental work at the O’Neill, NAMT, WTF, and The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep. Jess also works frequently at the intersection of art and activism, and has created operas with community groups (Lyric), the #STOPASIANHATE video campaign for NY Rep, Grace Meng’s 3/26 Day of Action & Healing (co-creator), and curated Broadway Advocacy Coalition’s first Arts In Action Festival. Currently under commission at La Jolla Playhouse and Co-Chair, with Michael Korie, of the Dramatists Guild Foundation’s Musical Theatre Fellows. MFA, Northwestern. www.jess-mcleod.com | @mcjessmc |
By a.k. payne, Directed by Ibi Owolabi
ABOUT THE PLAY
On a three-day furlough from prison, Sade stays with her only cousin, Mina. On a brief reprieve from her life in the West Coast, Mina returns to her hometown for her aunt’s funeral. The cousins try to make sense of grief, home, love, and kinship as time ticks towards the correctional officer’s arrival.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Photo by Nomè SiDone
| a.k. payne (Playwright) (she/they) is a playwright and theatermaker with roots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her plays love on and engage Black lives and languages beyond the confines of linear time to find/remember stories that might create conditions for our collective liberation(s). They hold a B.A. in English and African-American Studies from Yale College and an MFA in Playwriting under Tarell Alvin McCraney from fka Yale School of Drama. Their work has been finalist for the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. They are a grandchild of the Great Migration; a queer & non-binary abolitionist affected in community by the ‘New Jim Crow’; and of a great lineage of Black women storytellers and living-room archivists; all of which deeply informs, uplifts, and amplifies their work as a playwright, community organizer, and spacemaker.
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ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Photo by Casey Gardener-Ford
IBI OWOLABI (Director) is the current Drama League Stage Directing Fellow, with a residency at Manhattan Theatre Club that led to her recent Broadway debut as the AD on Cost of Living. Her work has been seen at 7 Stages, Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Theatre Emory, The Weird Sisters Theatre Project, and the DC Black Theatre Festival. Ibi is a graduate of Georgia Southern University, the Actor’s Express directing internship, and the Kenny Leon fellowship. Ibi’s recent in person productions include The Bluest Eye at Synchronicity Theatre, Intimate Apparel at Actor’s Express, the world premiere of Good Bad People at True Colors’ Theatre, and The Light at University of South Carolina.
About the Ted Snowdon Reading Series
In 1999, MTC first launched a public reading series to help support the development of new works. The first year of the series featured David Auburn’s Proof, which MTC went on to produce in 2001, and which garnered a Tony Award® for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Manhattan Theatre Club’s reading series is named in recognition of generous support from Ted Snowdon, an MTC friend and co-producer who has championed new plays and playwrights in both the commercial and non-profit sectors. From 2006 and through 2016, the reading series was funded by the Ernst C. Stiefel Foundation, which contributed almost $1 million in support of more than 65 new plays. Ted Snowdon began underwriting the series in 2017.
TED SNOWDON has supported new plays and playwrights his entire career, working in both the commercial and non-profit sides of theater. His Broadway producing credits reach back to 1979’s Tony Award-winning The Elephant Man and include many plays and musicals like Chita Rivera in 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. More recent Broadway offerings include two White House plays, The Great Society starring Brian Cox as LBJ and Selina Fillinger’s farce POTUS at the Shubert. Off-Broadway presentations were Michael Urie in Jon Tolins’s Buyer & Cellar, Charles Busch’s The Tribute Artist and The Confessions of Lily Dare, plus Daniel’s Husband, My Parsifal Conductor, On That Day in Amsterdam, Robert Montano’s solo hit Small, and this season’s acclaimed Sondheim-Ives-Mantello musical collaboration at The Shed, Here We Are. Coming up is another Charles Busch comedy, Ibsen’s Ghost, at 59e59 Theatre. He has long championed the arts and LGBTQ causes, and he serves on the boards of Primary Stages and the Glimmerglass Festival.
Highlights Reel
This reading series has helped develop more than 100 new plays. Several plays have gone on to full productions at MTC, including Joe Hortua’s Between Us, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s Based on a Totally True Story, Molly Smith Metzler’s Close Up Space, 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 Lloyd Suh‘s The Heart Sellers, Christine Quintana‘s As Above, 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.
Reading Series Spring 2023:
The Heart Sellers by Lloyd Suh, directed by May Adrales
As Above by Christine Quintana, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch
Watch Me by Dave Harris, directed by Miranda Haymon
An Oxford Man by Else Went, directed by Emma Rosa Went
Reading Series Spring 2022:
This Much I Know by Jonathan Spector, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
Let it Use You by Vivian J.O. Barnes, directed by Taylor Reynolds
Color Girls by Ife Olujobi, directed by Taylor Reynolds
Declaration of Conscience by Sharyn Rothstein, directed by Jo Bonney
Reading Series Fall 2020 (virtual):
Long by Charlie Oh, directed by Dustin Wills
(An Audio Guide for) Unsung Snails and Heroes by Julia Izumi, directed by Natsu Onoda Power
Ball Change by Brittany K. Allen, directed by Margot Bordelon
As Is: Conversations with Big Black Women in Confined Spaces by Stacey Rose, directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene
Friendly Monsters by Penelope Skinner, directed by Nicole Charles
Reading Series Spring 2020:
Good Time Charlie by Ryan J. Haddad, directed by Danny Sharon
The Collapse by Selina Fillinger, directed by Margot Bordelon
Laughs in Spanish by Alexis Scheer, directed by David Mendizábal*
(An Audio Guide for) Unsung Snails and Heroes by Julia Izumi, directed by Jenny Koons*
* Cancelled due to COVID-19.
Reading Series 2019:
The Botanists by Jaclyn Backhaus, directed by Annie Tippe
Hockey Messiah by Kristin Slaney, directed by Tyne Rafaeli
White History by Dave Harris, directed by Miranda Haymon
Young Americans by Lauren Yee, directed by Margot Bordelon
Reading Series 2018:
Nan and the Lower Body (The Pap Smear Play) by Jessica Dickey, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch
Redwood by Brittany K. Allen, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
There’s Always the Hudson by Paola Lázaro, directed by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Adia and Clora Snatch Joy by Mfoniso Udofia, directed by Awoye Timpo
Reading Series 2017:
The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess, directed by Mike Donahue
The Dangerous House of Pretty Mbane by Jen Silverman, directed by Saheem Ali
to the yellow house by Kimber Lee, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
Right to be Forgotten by Sharyn Rothstein, directed by Kel Haney
Reading Series 2016:
Nollywood Dreams by Jocelyn Bioh, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz
Women Laughing Alone with Salad by Sheila Callaghan, directed by Kip Fagan
The Blameless by Nick Gandiello, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch
Fall by Tom Holloway, directed by Lynne Meadow
Reading Series 2015:
This Day Forward by Nicky Silver, directed by Lynne Meadow
Now or Later by Christopher Shinn, directed by Doug Hughes
In Bloom by Gabriel Jason Dean, directed by Lucie Tiberghien
Talk Show by Alistair McDowall, directed by Trip Cullman
Reading Series 2014:
I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard by Halley Feiffer, directed by Trip Cullman
The Franco-Prussian War by Joshua Harmon, directed by Stephen Brackett
The Chinese Room by Michael West, directed by James Macdonald
Happy Place by Joe Tracz, directed by Carolyn Cantor
Reading Series 2013:
The Who & The What by Ayad Akhtar, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch
Odyssey Room by Greg Pierce, directed by Daniel Aukin
The Morning the Sun Fell Down by Jonathan Caren, directed by Evan Cabnet
Tumacho by Ethan Lipton, directed by Leigh Silverman
Provenance by Ben Ockrent, directed by Trip Cullman
Mrs. Hughes Book by Janine Nabers, Music & Lyrics by Sharon Kenny, directed by Kate Whoriskey
Five Mile Lake by Rachel Bonds, directed by Daniella Topol
Reading Series 2012:
Death of the Author by Steven Drukman, directed by Lynne Meadow
Phaedra by Adam Bock, directed by Trip Cullman
Important Hats of the Twentieth Century by Nick Jones, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
The Village Bike by Penelope Skinner, directed by Kate Whoriskey
Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England by Madeleine George, directed by Ken Rus Schmoll
The Seduction Community by Greg Keller, directed by Kip Fagan
Donny’s Brain by Rona Munro, directed by Dexter Bullard
Reading Series 2011:
Reverberation by Matthew Lopez, directed by Leigh Silverman
Carl’s Sister by Alfred Uhry, directed by Lynne Meadow
The Recommendation by Jonathan Caren, directed by Evan Cabnet
Tender by Kelly Younger, directed by Lynne Meadow
The Chooky Brae by D.C. Jackson, directed by Garry Hynes
A Lasting Mark by Michael Elyanow, directed by Michael Wilson
The Great Immensity written & directed by Steven Cosson, directed by Steve Cosson
Reading Series 2010:
Retreat by Steven Levenson, directed by Evan Cabnet
Nocturama by Annie Baker, directed by Sam Gold
Pieces of Vincent by David Watson, directed by Lynne Meadow
There Are No More Big Secrets by Heidi Shreck, directed by Kip Fagan
Stunt Girl Book and Lyrics by Peter Kellogg, directed by Brian Yorkey
How the World Began by Catherine Trieschmann, directed by Carolyn Cantor
Oblivion by Carly Mensch, directed by Evan Cabnet
Reading Series 2009:
Dreams of Violence by Stella Feehily, directed by Kate Whoriskey
Night for Day by Nicholas Kazan, directed by Sarah Benson
Magic Forest Farm by Zayd Dohrn, directed by Steve Cosson
Recall by Eliza Clark, directed by Kip Fagan
Close Up Space by Molly Smith Metzler, directed by Evan Cabnet
The Color of Desire written & directed by Nilo Cruz
Funked Up Fairytales Book, Music & Lyrics by Kirsten Childs, directed by John Rando
Reading Series 2008:
Shoe Story by Ben Snyder, directed by Thomas Kail
Calvin Berger Book, Music & Lyrics by Barry Wyner, directed by Josh Prince
Wisdom by Simon Vinnicombe, directed by Sam Gold
Willing by Amy Herzog, directed by Carolyn Cantor
The Imprisonment of the Eye by Sam Marks, directed by Anne Kauffman
Fake written & directed by Eric Simonson
Kissing the Floor by Ellen McLaughlin, directed by Les Waters
Reading Series 2007:
Horse Latitudes by Hillary Fannin, directed by Carolyn Cantor
Stunning by David Adjmi, directed by Anne Kauffman
A Sleeping Country by Melanie Marnich, directed by Trip Cullman
The Front Music & Lyrics by Paul Gordon & Jay Gruska, Book by Seth Friedman, directed by Nell Balaban
The Last Best Place by Bathsheba Doran
Human Voices by Sarah Treem, directed by Jo Bonney
Reading Series 2006:
Men of Tortuga by Jason Wells, directed by Lynne Meadow
Strike-Slip by Naomi IIzuka, directed by Daniel Aukin
Good Boys and True by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, directed by Michael Bush
The Little Flower of East Orange by Stephen Adly Guirgis, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
Fallout by Shelagh Stephenson, directed by Lou Jacob
The Girl in the Frame Book, Music & Lyrics by Jeremy Desmon, directed by Jeremy Dobrish
Reading Series 2005:
Based on a Totally True Story by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, directed by Michael Bush
Durango by Julia Cho, directed by Tim Vansen
American Klepto by Allison Moore, directed by Casey Stangl
Edible Oils and Fats by Phil Porter, directed by David Auburn
Story of My Life Music & Lyrics by Neil Bartram, Book by Brian Hill, directed by Michael Bush
The Hopper Collection by Mat Smart, directed by Pam MacKinnon
Reading Series 2004:
The Ugly American written & performed by Mike Daisey, directed by Jean-Michele Gregory
Red Light Winter written & directed by Adam Rapp
The Scene by Theresa Rebeck, directed by John Benjamin Hickey
A Likely Story written & performed by David Cale, directed by Michael Wilson
The Adventures of Barrio Grrrl! by Quiara Alegría Hudes, directed by Loretta Greco
Dance the Holy Ghost: A Play on Memory by Marcus Gardley, directed by Jackson Gay
Reading Series 2003:
Not Waving by Ellen Melaver, directed by Mark Nelson
The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove by Regina Taylor, directed by Michael Greif
Dissonance by Damian Lanigan, directed by Kate Whoriskey
Chrysalis words and music by Gilles Chiasson, directed by Gus Reyes
Drug Buddy by David Folwell, directed by Will Frears
Bay Windows and Shakes by Joe Hortua, directed by Brendan Fox
Reading Series 2002:
40 Years in the Sunshine by Annie Weisman, directed by Doug Wright
Motherhouse by Victor Lodato, directed by Leah C. Gardiner
Coming Up Next, Music & Lyrics by Norman Noll, Book by Itamar Moses, directed by Michelle Tattenbaum
Pro Bono Publico by Peter Morris, directed by Ethan McSweeney
Jump/Cut by Neena Beber, directed by Lou Jacob
Eyolf by John Belluso, directed by Maria Mileaf
Reading Series 2001:
Slag Heap by Anton Dudley, directed by Daniel Aukin
Preserve by Courtney Baron, directed by Annie Dorsen
Placement by Blair Singer, directed by Dave Mowers
Carol Mulroney by Stephen Belber, directed by Michael Sexton
3 1⁄2 Catholics by Julia Jordan, directed by David Auburn
Joe! Book, Music & Lyrics by Dan Lipton & David Rossmer, directed by Bill Fennelly
Reading Series 2000:
97 Orchard Street Music & Frederick Freyer, Book & Lyrics by Patrick Cook, directed by Patrick Cook
Jerusalem by Seth Greenland, directed by Michael Greif
Crazy Jane on God by Dan O’Brien, directed by Mary Robinson
Underneath the Lintel by Glen Berger, directed by Randy White
Suicide Weather by Jeff Whitty, directed by Lori Steinberg
Illuminating Veronica by Rogelio Martinez, directed by Linda Lavin
The Tulip Craze by Jay Reiss, directed by Alyse Rothman
Reading Series 1999:
Innocence is a Sin by Lucy Thurber, directed by David Mowers
Intrigue With Faye by Kate Robin, directed by Michael Sexton
Peaking by Eric Winick, directed by Andrew Dickey
A Hole in the Dark by Hilly Hicks, directed by Steven Williford
Proof by David Auburn
Musical of Musicals Music by Eric Rockwell, Lyrics by Joanne Bogart, directed by Michael Bush