The MAC ONE-ACTS Play-Reading Festival at Middletown Arts Center

The Middletown Arts Center is excited to present the sixth edition of The MAC ONE-ACTS Play-Reading Festival, featuring original, one-act works by NJ playwrights read theatrically by local actors.

THE MAC ONE-ACTS 2025 SELECTIONS

A Growing Autonomy by Justin Del Valle Messy by Eleanor Kennedy Searching for Matteo by JD Watson The Current Eurydice by Jessica Freeland Nothing Lasts by Kate Schwartz

The Card Game by Rob Kristie

For more information, call 732.706.4100 or visit middletownarts.org. The Middletown Arts Center is located at 36 Church Street in Middletown, NJ (next to the Middletown train station). Free parking is available onsite with additional free parking available in the train station metered lot on weekday evenings after 6 p.m. and weekends.

MEET THE PLAYWRIGHTS

JUSTIN DEL VALLE (A Growing Autonomy) is a Junior at Seton Hall University, majoring in Theatre and obsessed with writing. Acting and a part of the theatre world since he was seven, he’s only put one other show on stage for a Hispanic heritage festival entitled A Random Play Written by a Random Guy with Random People in it. Justin is beyond honored to have his first one-act play submittal accepted by The MAC ONE-ACTS. He would also like to thank the actors within the play for pushing the multiple drafts and rewrites the script underwent, and would like it known that there is no play without Vivian and Elaina.

ELEANOR KENNEDY (Messy) has had plays produced from New York City to Dubuque, Iowa. Her New Jersey credits include the Jersey Voices festival in Chatham and the New Jersey Renaissance Kingdom in Somerset, although this is her first effort in Middletown. Originally a native New Yorker, she lives in Chatham with her husband, John.

JD WATSON (Searching for Matteo) is delighted to be a part of the MAC One-Acts Play Reading Festival. He has been an actor, director, and stage manager throughout NJ, NYC, and Boston for 41 years. A construction safety professional and award-winning freelance journalist, he lives in Toms River with his wife and children. He is also a founding member of the protest folk group, The Good Trouble Singers. Searching for Matteo is his first play.

JESSICA FREELAND (The Current Eurydice) is a writer, actor, and musician. Her storytelling mostly focuses on feminism, conservation, and mental wellness via dark and abstract settings that can be explored both literally and figuratively. She graduated magna cum laude from Montclair State University having earned a Triple Bachelor of Arts in English, Latin, and Classics. This May, her poem, "Daughters of Daughters of Daughters," was included in McCarter Theatre Center's Healing Voices: Caregiver Stories on Stage. Her debut play, The Lovely Lucille, was an Official Selection for Holmdel Theatre Company’s Evening of New Works, and her second play, You Left Me Behind, premiered last year at Middletown Arts Center’s One-Acts Play-Reading Festival. Jessica is currently developing four new original works, including a full-length Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley piece she aims to produce and lead. As always, she thanks her family for their endless love and support.

KATE SCHWARTZ (Nothing Lasts) earned her MFA in Writing for Stage and Screen at the University of Nebraska Omaha. In March 2019, Kate’s play, LEAR/LOMAN, was awarded “Festival Feature” at 2 Cent Theatre’s Acting Out INK Fest (Hollywood, CA). It was chosen “Best of INK Fest” and won five more performances at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June 2019. In October 2019, Kate had a staged concert-reading of Venus and Mars for Chicago Dramatists/Playwrights Aloud. Retreat in the Berkshires was included as part of the 2020 Fringe Festival of the Playwriting Symposium at the Mid-America Theatre Conference (Chicago) in March 2020.

ROB KRISTIE (The Card Game) was born in South Philadelphia, but now resides in Southern NJ. He has been writing music since he was 16. When he was in his twenties, he was delighted to learn that Kenny Gamble of “Gamble and Huff” music fame (“The Sound of Philadelphia”) liked his songs and their “show tune” quality. Robert then wrote the musical, THE DOLL - a Magical Christmas, which had six full production performances at the Sketch Club in Woodbury, NJ, in 2010 and eight performances at Village Playbox in Haddon Heights, NJ, in 2019. The play was nominated for a PERRY AWARD in the category of Outstanding Production of an Original Musical in 2011 and again in 2020. Since then, Robert has written two other musicals entitled GODS, a mythical musical, and SHOWPLACE , the story of Steel Pier. SHOWPLACE will have its area premiere in November 2025 at Village Playbox in Haddon Heights, NJ. GODS was nominated for a Perry award in 2015. He has also written three one-act plays and two children’s books.