2024 Summer Staged Reading Series
Beginning May 31 and through August 23, we’ll bring you 7 evenings of entertainment with readings of brand-new original works by budding playwrights at Napa Valley Unitarian Universalists at 1625 Salvador Ave in Napa.
Out of over 200 submissions, we have chosen 10 delightful brand-new plays. We look forward to bringing you these gems!
Performance Dates are:
May 31st, June 14th, June 28th, July 12th, July 26th, August 9th, and August 23rd, all at 7 pm.
Admission: $10
Buy a Summer Series Pass for $50
Get 2 tickets for free! Bring 6 friends to 1 performance or 2 friends to one and 3 to another: Mix and Match as you choose!
On May 31st at 7 pm
The Kindness of Strangers by Dan Borengasser
In an independent living facility for elderly actors, a young man, Darin Fisher, arrives under false pretenses to direct a Shakespearean play. Unbeknownst to the residents, he’s an undercover cop investigating suspicious deaths. When his cover is nearly blown, Darin must decide whether to uphold the law or protect the residents who have unwittingly befriended him.
On June 14th at 7 pm
Loving, Wendy by Kathryn Zaniboni
When two siblings discover a box of letters after the passing of their elderly parents, a suspicious relationship between their mother and an unlikely friend is revealed that starts a quest to find out who she really was and prompts them to ask who they want to be.
On June 28th at 7 pm
The Next to the Last Box by Karen Marguerite Caronna
Hollis is newly arrived at senior residence Sunset Vista Villas with early Alzheimer’s and a love of life. Harold lives there with his wheelchair bound wife. Hollis and Harold become attracted to each other, and fight for love, dignity, choice and Rolling Stones tickets in the final chapters of life.
On July 12th at 7pm
An Evening of Shorts
Don’t Just Sit There! by Diane H. Sampson
In a dentist’s waiting room, Carla, whose husband is leaving her, David, a man with a toothache and a fiance, and Shirley, the receptionist secretly in love with her employer, share confidences and, unexpectedly, kisses.
The Matchmaker by Mindy R. Roll
Carol, an older divorcee, is ready to re-enter the dating scene. Madison, a dating app coach, has built a wildly successful business on matchmaking for Gen Z. When Carol hires Madison to get her back on the scene, all dating hell breaks loose. Can a Gen Z dating approach work for an older crowd? Can Madison find Carol a good match?
Heartache Tonight by Laura Thoma
When Patrick refuses to help Melinda find her library hold; a DVD; it’s the last straw — Melinda’s tired of being ignored! What starts out as a confrontation has the potential to end as an unlikely powerful connection.
Speed Dating by Curt Strickland
A widow and a widower – each deeply affected by loss – reluctantly attend a dating meet-up in a hotel conference room, their back-and-forth banter leads somewhere different than they expected.
On July 26th at 7pm
In the Dream Castle by Drew Katzman
A generation gave us “make love, not war” and then the same generation gave us endless conflict, burgeoning economic inequality, and Trump. How did that happen? As that generation rounds the corner into the home stretch and gets ready to shuffle off the mortal coil, IN THE DREAM CASTLE explores this question by looking at the lives of two women and their lifelong friendship from early childhood through tomorrow.
On August 9th at 7pm
For a Brighter Tomorrow by Sophia Naylor
It’s 1974. Cosmonauts Dmitri and Yuri are onboard a secret Soviet space station, a tiny capsule miles above Earth. As the cosmonauts argue the mundane intricacies of life—particularly the best way to woo Pat Nixon—they’re interrupted by an urgent radio message. Suddenly the fate of the planet rests in the hands of these two unlikely heroes, who must work together to determine the right thing to do in a world gripped by secrets, suspicions, and lies.
On August 23rd at 7pm
The Patriarch by Shayne Kennedy
The deep Irish roots of a Chicago family are revealed to be rotten when their much-beloved patriarch does what he feels he must to keep his family’s legacy intact. The newest member-to-be finds herself parsing through Chicago heritage and Celtic myth, in an attempt to reconcile the nature of love and power, as she holds the future of the family line in her hands.
What is a staged reading? It’s a rehearsed read-through of a script, with actors and movement and emotion, but without a full set or costumes. It gives the playwright a chance to see their words “come alive”. But the most important part of a staged reading? You! As soon as the plays are over we’ll have a short talk-back, and that is where we need your help. See the living plays in person; your input is invaluable.