Boston Court’s 14th Annual New Play Reading Festival in Pasadena

The New Play Reading Festival exhibits new plays that you won’t see elsewhere. – Courtesy photo / Boston Court

Join Boston Court for readings of exciting new works-in-progress that bring you risky, adventurous plays that you won’t find anywhere else in Southern California. Many the Court’s most memorable productions have been found as part of the New Play Reading Festival.

Tickets are free, but reservations are strongly recommended.

Below is the schedule for the festival:

Festival preview and playwright discussion: July 19 at 7 p.m. 

A preview of the coming weekend’s plays, a discussion of what makes a “Boston Court Pasadena play” and an inside look at the play development process. Literary Manager Emilie Beck and Artistic Directors Jessica Kubzansky and Michael Michetti will be joined by the festival playwrights for a lively discussion and an audience Q&A.

“How the Light Gets In” by E.M. Lewis, directed by Emilie Beck: July 21 at 11 a.m.

A travel writer who never travels, A Japanese architect who can’t figure out how to build a simple tea house, a tattoo artist who refuses to draw on a woman’s skin, and a homeless girl who lives under a weeping willow tree in the Japanese Garden. Four lonely people find each other when one of them falls apart.

“Pairi Daiza” by Nahal Navidar, directed by Jennifer Chambers: July 21 at 2 p.m.

When 24-year-old Iranian Independence-Fighter Zahra learns she is seven months pregnant in the heat of the Iran-Iraq war, she rejects her maternal instincts and chooses to remain in combat. As her impending due date approaches, Zahra must learn how to deal with the traumas of her past life and open herself up to hope and love.

Festival preview and playwright discussion: July 26 at 7 p.m.                                                                   

A preview of the second week’s plays, a discussion of what makes a “Boston Court Pasadena play” and an inside look at the play development process. Literary Manager Emilie Beck and Artistic Directors Jessica Kubzansky and Michael Michetti will be joined by the festival playwrights for a lively discussion and an audience Q&A.

 “Ladies” by Kit Steinkellner, directed by Michael Michetti: July 28 at 11 a.m.

Ladies is a fictional account of a year in the life of The Blue Stocking Society, the world’s first major feminist movement in 1750s London, and explores the tangled knot of electric and jagged relationships that comprise this group. These women are pioneers and revolutionaries, emboldened by the call to arms to be the first of their kind and burdened by the misfortune of being born far ahead of their time.

“Drunk at the Base of the Bodhi Tree” by Julie Hébert, directed by Jessica Kubzansky: July 28, 2 p.m.

A woman with a broken ankle washes up at the base of a Bodhi tree in the foothills of Southern California seemingly out of nowhere. When another woman hiking on a solitary mission to commune with a dead man encounters this intruder, sparks fly as they navigate the tricky terrain of understanding–until a real brush with danger changes everything once more.