Winning Plays To Be Read On Phillips' Mill Stage To Live Audience

NEW HOPE, PA — The lights will come up on the Phillips' Mill stage on Saturday for the first live play reading to a live audience since the COVID-19 pandemic closed theater doors.

Twelve actors will bring the six winning short plays from the Phillips' Mill 4th Annual Juried Emerging Playwright Competition to life. Jurors Judy Hallberg, Kimberly Kalaja, and Wilbert Turner selected the following plays:

• "The Wonderer" by Lynda Crawford
• "Beware the Kraken" by Sherry Friedman
• "Northern Lights" by Nancy Vander Zwan
• "The Advocate" by Kate Thomas
• "Blighted" by Dominique Cieri
• "The Eulogy" by Jeff Stolzer

The Emerging Playwright Competition cultivates original works for the stage and brings to the audience talented playwrights at all stages of their writing careers.

"We welcome the community to attend the readings and participate in a Q & A,” says Phillips' Mill Drama Chair Valerie Eastburn. She added, “the Mill is creating a valuable opportunity for the playwright to gain insight into how an audience responds to their play. This feedback is critical for further development of the play and playwright, and the audience is an integral part of that process.”

Presenting actors are Cecily Laidman, Thomas Metelski , Rick Goodwin, Tabitha Dell’Angelo, Sarah LeClair, Laura Scotti, Tim Wade, Kevin Nalty, Keith Maliszewski, Matt DiMarino, MillieLevy, JaQuinley Kerr, and Fran Young.

“I'm honored to be selected as a winning playwright in the EPC, and thrilled for the opportunity to see my work read live after almost two years of having my plays done in virtual performances," said Friedman, one of the playwrights. "Sharing the space with live actors once again who can relate to each other while we experience the reactions of a live audience will mean so much to me in the development of my work.”

One actor spoke to the unique experience of a live reading, rather than a full production.

“When a play is being read, the challenge is delivering the experience without physical movement, props or visual animation," she said. "The vocal delivery is even more important and gives the playwright the opportunity to continue to explore their creative process.”

To be eligible for the competition, playwrights must live within a 100-mile radius of the Phillips’ Mill Community Association of New Hope. Submissions close after fifty plays are submitted or the deadline is reached. It is a blind competition, meaning the scripts are identified to the judges only by a number. The name of the playwright is revealed only after the six winning scripts have been chosen.

The plays selected this year come from Pennsylvania, New York,Brooklyn and New Jersey.

The readings will take place at the historic Phillips’ Mill at 2619 River Road, just north of New Hope, and a moderated question-and-answer session between audience and playwrights will follow. A wine reception will wrap up the evening to allow judges, playwrights, actors, sponsors of the event, and the audience a chance to mingle.

There is no admission fee but a donation of any amount is appreciated. For the safety and protection of all, proof of COVID-19 vaccination and masking will be required.

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