THREE BY ONE Free Staged Reading Comes to the Cranford Community Center

The Theater Project’s 2026 New Play Readings series will present a staged reading of three short plays by Rosemary Parrillo at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 21, at Cranford Community Center’s 110-seat theater. Admission is free, with no registration required. Following the reading, the audience will be able to engage in conversation with the playwright, cast, and director.

Collectively titled Three by One, Parrillo’s plays deal with the proverbial “no good deed goes unpunished” (Sheila and the DMV), the perils of seeking employment in a foreign country (Our Man in China), and bizarre family dynamics, when people in their 50s are still eating Thanksgiving dinner at The Kids’ Table.

“I always look forward to having my work produced by The Theater Project,” said Parrillo. “The audiences are always enthusiastic and so generous with their feedback.” Both a playwright and a journalist, Parrillo has seen her work performed at festivals and community theaters throughout the country and in Canada. Her drama The Waiting Room was selected as Best Play in the Ritz Theater Company’s 2025 One-Act Play Festival in Haddon Township. The Nature of Stars was a finalist in the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival’s 2024 One Act Play competition.

“The discussions after the readings are always exciting for the audiences and the playwrights,” said Mark Spina, artistic director of The Theater Project. “Audiences get to be part of the action behind the scenes, and playwrights get direct feedback from the spectators, actors and director."

The Friends of the Cranford Library host the series at the Cranford Community Center, located at 220 Walnut Avenue. It is made possible by funds from the Union County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. For further information, visit https://www.thetheaterproject.org/new-play-readings or call Gary Glor, 908-809-8865.

Founded in 1994 and based in Union, The Theater Project introduces New Jersey audiences to new plays and supports rising playwrights and theater artists. It develops new audiences for theater by service to the community, providing programs for children, and using theater as a forum to address current issues.