The 20th anniversary season of Manhattan Theatre Club’s Ted Snowdon Reading Series will feature readings of new works by Mfoniso Udofia, Paola Lázaro, Jessica Dickey, Brittany K. Allen, and Jaclyn Backhaus. The readings will begin February 12 and will be held on Mondays at New York City Center – Stage I through March 12.
Kicking off the series will be Nan and the Lower Body (The Pap Smear Play) by The Amish Project playwright Dickey with direction by Gaye Taylor Upchurch (The Last Match). Inspired by a true story, the new play follows a young scientist who was instrumental to mid-century research into women’s health.
Also featured on February 12 will be a sneak-peek developmental workshop reading of Backhaus’ India Pale Ale, which will debut Off-Broadway as part of MTC’s upcoming season. Will Davis (Charm, Men on Boats) directs.
Next up will be Allen’s play Redwood, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Broadway’s Present Laughter). Featuring a hip-hop dance class Greek chorus, long-dead ancestors, and an interracial couple, the play is billed as a “fearless time and space-bending dramedy of manners gone very far South.”
On March 5, the series will feature There’s Always the Hudson, a new play by Tell Hector I Miss Him playwright Lázaro, about two support group members ready to take matters into their own hands. A director has not yet been announced.
The series will conclude March 12 with a reading of Adia and Clora Snatch Joy by Udofia (Sojourners). The presentation will be directed by Awoye Timpo, director of the acclaimed The Homecoming Queen, now playing Off-Broadway, starring Udofia. The playwright and actor’s newest work is part of her Ufot Family Cycle of plays, two of which have been staged at New York Theatre Workshop.
Several plays developed in this reading series have gone on to full productions at MTC, including David Auburn’s Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning Proof, Joe Hortua’s Between Us, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s Based on a Totally True Story, Molly Smith Metzler’s Susan Smith Blackburn finalist Close Up Space, and Nick Jones’ Important Hats of the Twentieth Century.
To register for a reading, click here.