The Acting Company Announces Residency At The Public Theater For Their Annual Reading Series

The Acting Company has announced the New York performances for their annual Louanna O. Carlin & John McDonald Reading Series.

The series of one-night-only readings will feature five insightful interpretations of vivid stories about the human condition, featuring the work of acclaimed artists Ntozake Shange (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf), Ann C. James (Broadway's The Heart of Rock and Roll, Lempicka, The Outsiders, Sweeney Todd, Pass Over, and Hamilton), Ian Belknap (Off-Broadway's X: or, Betty Shabazz v. The Nation at The New Victory), Seán O'Casey (Juno and the Paycock, The Plough and the Stars), Nathan Winkelstein (Off-Broadway's Medea: Re-Versed at Red Bull Theater) Virginia Woolfe (Mrs. Dalloway, A Room of One's Own, To the Lighthouse), Kevin Kuhlke (Professor, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts), Anthony Burgess (Broadway's Cyrano de Bergerac, the West End's A Clockwork Orange and Chatsky), and Artistic Director Kent Gash (Off-Broadway's Miss Ever's Boys, Call the Children Home, and Samm-Art Williams' Home).

Each season, The Acting Company hosts a series of staged readings. A mixture of new texts, classics of the canon, and forgotten favorites, these readings are a showcase of The Acting Company's alumni and a chance to explore other works by playwrights and directors featured in the company's National Tours. The Acting Company gratefully recognizes the generous supporters of The Louanna O. Carlin and John McDonald Reading Series, including Richard J. Reilly, Jr. (Producer).  

The Acting Company's Louanna O. Carlin & John McDonald 2024-2025 Reading Series includes:

Spell #7

By Ntozake Shange

Directed by Ann C. James

Produced in association with Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre as part of Expand the Canon's 4th Season

Monday, October 21, 2024
7:00 pm

The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place), New York

A striking choreopoem by the playwright of for colored girls..., this bold play examines the irony of Black performers in a white-led entertainment industry. Written in the 1960s, its language, rhetoric, and intent are blisteringly relevant to this day.

The Shadow of a Gunman

By Seán O'Casey

Directed by Ian Belknap

Monday, November 4, 2024
7:00 pm

The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place), New York

Set against the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence, this is a tale of a young poet who lets the rumor that he is an IRA assassin run wild as he enjoys the mysterious allure this lends him in the eyes of his neighbors, including a young woman. Moving from the comedic to the tragic, this is one of O'Casey's Dublin Trilogy, exploring conflict, national identity, and the human cost of revolution.

The Tragedy of Hoffman, or Revenge for a Father

By Henry Chettle
Directed by Nathan Winkelstein
Produced in association with Red Bull Theater

Monday, January 27, 2025
7:30pm
Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre
2537 Broadway (at 95th St), New York

The captivating story of a young man seeking to avenge the murder of his father with the help of a diabolical servant. He joins the household of his enemies, enacting convoluted plots of deceit, betrayal, poisoning and violence to pursue his ends. But unchecked vengeance has a way of catching up with you. This is a gripping tale of revenge, and betrayal that sweeps an audience along to a conclusion not to be missed.

Orlando and Virginia

Adapted and Directed by Kevin Kuhlke
Music is by Heather Christian

Monday, February 17, 2025
7:00pm
The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place), New York

Loosely based on Virginia Woolfe's fictional biography Orlando, as well as writing by and about Virginia Woolfe, this openhearted text playfully embraces the fluidity of identify, location, and time as only the theatre can.

A Clockwork Orange

By Anthony Burgess

Directed by Artistic Director Kent Gash

Monday, March 17, 2025
7:00pm
The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place), New York

A theatrical adaptation of the controversial and provocative book by the author, Anthony Burgess, himself, this authoritative theatrical text is filled with "ultra-violence," capturing the chaotic tone of the novella in a dramatic experience both dystopian and satirical.

Reserved and General Admission Series ticket packages are now available. Seating is subject to availability. Visit theactingcompany.org/reading-series or call 212-258-3111 to learn more and reserve tickets.

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