Free and open to the public, the Ted Snowdon Reading Series presents four 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!
To RSVP for the 2025 series, please click here.
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The 2025 Reading series
By Jake Brasch, Directed by Colm Summers
ABOUT THE PLAY
Aaron is a musical theatre-obsessed fifth grader who pogo sticks to school and wears a fanny pack at all times. Unable to write legibly or catch a ball, he is sent to work with Ms. Jimenez, a burnt-out occupational therapist. After a rocky start, the two form an unlikely bond. How to Draw a Triangle is a comedy about emerging queerness, the wreckage of our past, and the heroes who go out on a limb to help us become ourselves.
ABOUT THE WRITER
| Jake Brasch (Playwright) (he/they) is a writer + performer + composer + clown and a recent graduate of The Juilliard School. His play The Reservoir is in co-production between the Geffen Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, and Denver Center. They recently won both national awards named for Paula Vogel – from the Kennedy Center and The Vineyard Theatre. Jake is the inaugural recipient of the Terrence McNally Recovery Commission and was recently named a finalist for the Alliance/Kendeda Playwriting Competition. He’s a proud alum of the Page 73 Writers Group and Youngblood at The Ensemble Studio Theatre. Jake is currently developing work with the Manhattan Theatre Club, Alliance Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, Denver Center, South Coast Repertory, The Acting Company, The Farm Theater, and the EST/Sloan Project. With playwright Nadja Leonhard-Hooper, Jake is a Co-Founder of American Sing-Song, a collective that writes and performs filthy hour-long comedic musicals. Jake has long worked as a birthday party clown in the Tri-State area and is developing a sitcom based on his exploits. He has three brothers, owns 18 pairs of glasses, and lives in Brooklyn with his brilliant husband, Tyler Brasch. BFA: NYU Tisch. jakebrasch.com. |
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Photo by Lauren Zbarsky
COLM SUMMERS (Director) (he/him) is an award-winning queer, Irish director, based in NYC, and the new Artistic Director of the Working Theater. Recent credits include Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan (Geffen Playhouse) and The Comedians by Philip Dawkins (Raven Theatre). Colm has developed work with Berkeley Rep, Rattlestick Theater, Abbey Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, and more. He was a 2023 Ground Floor cohort member at Berkeley Rep and was the inaugural Resident Director at both the Geffen Playhouse and the Abbey Theatre, the National Theatre of Ireland. In 2023, he won Ireland’s most prestigious bursary for emerging artists, the Next Generation Artist Award.
By Alex Lin, Directed by Laura Dupper
ABOUT THE PLAY
A rideshare driver determined to get to the bottom of his unjust firing brings together a gang of unlikely allies, united against a powerful tech company. Following our heroes on a freewheeling cross-country quest, Let’s Ride investigates automation in algorithms and the unseen ways they shape our lives. Commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club through the Alfred P. Sloan Initiative.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Photo by Sub/Urban Photography
ALEX LIN (Playwright) is just a girl from Jersey. Lin’s plays have been developed at Roundabout, Second Stage Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Club, Rattlestick, the O’Neill, Two River, South Coast Repertory, Ojai, Cape Cod Theatre Project, Playwrights Realm, Central Square Theater, and Theater Mu. She has been a guest lecturer at Carnegie Mellon University, Rutgers University, and Union College. As an actor, Lin has appeared at NYTW, Actors Theatre of Louisville, New Victory, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Ma-Yi, Commonwealth Shakespeare, Amphibian Stage, Ojai, and Cape Cod Theatre Project. She was last seen in an industry workshop of a new musical about Wu Zetian, the only female emperor of China, playing the titular role. Lin is a recipient of the Elizabeth George Foundation Commission, a Manhattan Theatre Club Sloan commission, and the Working Theater inaugural playwright residency. Lin is a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist, Weissberger Award nominee, BMI Bookwriting Fellow, and Colt Coeur Resident Artist.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Photo by Jeavonna Coble
LAURA DUPPER (Director) is a NYC-based director originally from Tennessee. She has worked at Manhattan Theatre Club, Signature Theatre, Second Stage Theater, LCT3, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Drama League, HERE Arts, Dallas Theater Center, Columbia University, NYU, Ars Nova, and Playwrights Horizons; she has also worked with Playwrights Realm, Barrington Stage, P73. Some favorite assisting credits include The Minutes and Mary Page Marlowe by Tracy Letts, Morning Sun by Simon Stephens, and Stereophonic by David Adjmi. Most recently, she was the Associate Director on Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. She was a 24/25 Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow and directed Jeana Scotti’s A Necessary Killing for Winterworks. Laura has her Masters in Social Work and BFA from Southern Methodist University.
by Justice Hehir, Directed by Joan Sergay
ABOUT THE PLAY
Salome, Tara, and Chris share an apartment building and a system for navigating the unspeakable. A pandemic-era play about neighbors, proximity, and the many permutations of care, the dowagers is a meditation on loss and lust – set on a single stoop.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Photo by Caroline King
JUSTICE HEHIR (Playwright) is a playwright and doula whose work explores sexuality and resilience. She is a Lila Acheson Playwriting Fellow at Juilliard, member of Youngblood at EST, and a New Georges Affiliated Artist. Her play WATCH ME was produced as part of Clubbed Thumb’s Winterworks Festival in January 2024. In March 2024, her play the dowagers received a Special Commendation from the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She received a Clubbed Thumb Constitution Commission from Heidi Schreck and the producers of What the Constitution Means to Me in 2021, and with the support of New Georges co-authored the wish: a manual for a last-ditch effort to save abortion in the united states through theater, a free, downloadable play about abortion rights post-Roe, released online in 2022 (winner of the 2023 A is For Playwriting Prize). Her plays have been developed with New York Theatre Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, New Georges, the Miranda Family Fund, and Clubbed Thumb. She graduated from Hunter College in 2018 with an MFA in Playwriting (under the tutelage of Annie Baker and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins) and from Rutgers University/Douglass College in 2016 with a BA in Women’s and Gender Studies and English.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Photo by Ella Pennington
| JOAN SERGAY (Director) is a Brooklyn-based director of new work. She has directed and developed work at New York Theatre Workshop, Lucille Lortel Theatre, Ars Nova, Clubbed Thumb, Ensemble Studio Theatre, No Guarantees, The TEAM, Colt Coeur, Geffen Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Westport Country Playhouse. On Broadway, Joan has served as the US Associate Director to Sam Mendes on The Hills of California by Jez Butterworth as well as the Associate Director to Rachel Chavkin on Lempicka. She has also been an associate/assistant to directors including Danya Taymor, Les Waters, and Lee Sunday Evans at theaters such as Playwrights Horizons, Vineyard Theatre, The New Group, The Play Company, Primary Stages, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Studio Theatre. As an audiobook director, Joan has directed over 150 titles for Penguin Random House. Joan is a New Georges Affiliated Artist, a 2024-25 Resident Artist at the cell theatre, a 2023-24 Audrey Resident at New Georges, a 2023 New York Theatre Workshop Adelphi Resident, and a former Directing Fellow at Clubbed Thumb, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. BA: Northwestern University. |
Written and Directed by Ngozi Anyanwu
ABOUT THE PLAY
For a long time, LIL has been obsessed with fighting, and one fighter in particular: her older brother BIG, an aging but successful figure in the local Mixed Martial Arts circuit. But she’s been doing it all from afar… until one day when she decides to show up on his doorstep. THE MONSTERS is a sibling love story about reunions, resentment, reconnection, and wrestling with demons.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT/DIRECTOR
Photo by Lelund Thompson
| NGOZI ANYANWU (Playwright and Director) is a multihyphened storyteller, and most recently a 2020 Steinberg Playwright Award winner. Anyanwu recently had the world premiere of her newest play Leroy and Lucy at The Steppenwolf Theatre, in the fall of 2024. Previous productions include Last of the Love Letters (Atlantic Theater Company), Good Grief (Vineyard Theatre in NYC / Center Theatre Group in LA) in which she also starred, and The Homecoming Queen (sold-out world premiere run at the Atlantic Theater). Good Grief was on the Kilroys List 2016 and a semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Award, and won the Humanitas Award. The Homecoming Queen was on the Kilroys List in 2017 and was a Leah Ryan Finalist. Her play Nike… (Kilroys List 2017) was workshopped at The New Black Fest in conjunction with The Lark and The Strand Festival in conjunction with A.C.T and Space on Ryder Farm. Ngozi also has been commissioned by NYU, The Old Globe, Two River Theater, Atlantic Theater, and Steppenwolf. Anyanwu has also received residencies from LCT3, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Space on Ryder Farm, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, The New Harmony Project, New York Stage and Film, and Page 73. She attended Point Park University (BA) and received her MFA in Acting from the University of California, San Diego. |
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. Broadway offerings include two White House plays, The Great Society starring Brian Cox as LBJ and Selina Fillinger’s farce POTUS. Off-Broadway presentations were Michael Urie in Jon Tolins’s Buyer & Cellar, Charles Busch’s three capers The Tribute Artist, The Confessions of Lily Dare, and Ibsen’s Ghost, plus Daniel’s Husband, My Parsifal Conductor, On That Day in Amsterdam, Robert Montano’s solo hit Small, and last season’s acclaimed Sondheim-Ives-Mantello musical Here We Are, heading to London this spring. Currently on until April 13 is Chisa Hutchinson’s provocative Amerikin at 59E59 Theaters. Ted 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 Aurora Real de Asua’s Wipeout, a.k. payne’s Furlough’s Paradise, 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 2024:
Wilma by Abby Rosebrock, directed by Colette Robert
Wipeout by Aurora Real de Asua, directed by Morgan Green
Asilomar by Dipika Guha, directed by Jess McLeod
Furlough’s Paradise by a.k. payne, directed by Ibi Owolabi
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