Reading Theater Project Reveals 2024/2025 Season: ILLUMINATE

 The ​Reading Theater Project​ has announced the next season of new and locally inspired theater, all centered around the theme “Illuminate.” 

The season opens with the world premiere of a new play with music by D.W. Gregory, native of Lititz, Pa. graduate of Warwick High School, and award-winning playwright of Radium Girls. Intimate Exposures is set in Reading, 1892. A society photographer with ambitions to create “real art” discovers both muse and mentor among the “sporting girls” in the city’s most prosperous brothel. A play about lust, longing, and the power of art to transform every life, Intimate Exposures was inspired by the work of Reading photographer William I. Goldman, as featured in “Working Girls: An American Brothel 1892,” Robert Flynn Johnson, editor. The production will be directed by Jody Reppert, and performed at the WCR Center for the Arts, Reading, Pa. over two weekends: November 8 - 10 and 15 - 17, 2024. 

Following is the 10th Annual 5-Minute Fringe Festival, this year with the theme of “Inspired by True Events.” Performers and playwrights from around the region push their personal creative boundaries to develop new work. Theater, dance, music, poetry and more will be presented in a showcase, opening Thursday, February 27, 2025, and playing through Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Yocum Institute in West Lawn, Pa. The director of this year’s Fringe is Vicki Haller Graff, and the stage manager is Sean Sassaman. 

Our Play Reading Series with the theme of “Revelation” will feature three plays by local and regional playwrights. Each is performed as a staged reading followed by a facilitated talkback with the playwright, director, and actors. Literary Manager Adam Richter will coordinate the series, which will be held on three Thursday evenings, April 24, May 29, and June 26, 2025, at GoggleWorks’ Boscov Theatre in Reading, Pa. The selected plays and playwrights will be announced in February.

In Nature’s Studio, an outdoor theater experience, where the performers are stationed around the Reading Public Museum Arboretum and the audience walks the path to see them, will be Sunday, July 20, 2025. The theme will be announced in the spring, with the summer exhibits of the Museum. This performance is free to the public and appropriate for all audiences, including animals! 

Finally, Reading Reading, where we talk with local playwrights and read new plays, will air each Thursday night at 7:30pm on BCTV, with new episodes airing every two months. It’s also available on our YouTube channel anytime. 

New for this season, enthusiastic audience members may purchase a season subscription, to show their commitment to the work of Reading Theater Project and enjoy perks like reserved seating and complimentary drinks for certain productions. A season subscription is a great way to support new work in Reading, Pa., and never miss a show!