Cast Set for The First Annual Awakenings Reading Series at The Studio Theatre

The inaugural Awakenings Reading Serie is pleased to announce an accomplished group 16 actors will take part in their upcoming reading series. The series features a powerful lineup including the plays Still All Told by Erik Ehn, Trip of a Lifetime by Catherine Filloux, Someone Should Start by Kelsey Puttrich, Your Name Means Dream by José Rivera, and Exhibit by Regina Taylor. 

Notable talent includes Regina Taylor (Golden Globe Award, 3 NAACP Image Awards & 2 Emmy Award nominations) who will be performing her new solo show Exhibit, Mahira Kakkar (Life of Pi/Broadway, The Headlands/Lincoln Center Theatre) helms the solo show Trip of a Lifetime by Catherine Filloux, and José Rivera (BAFTA, Writers Guild Award, and Goya Award) will perform in a reading of his new play Your Name Means Dream. Please see the full line up below for complete casting.

The First Annual Reading Series runs August 1 – 3 at The Studio Theatre at 520 8th Avenue. Select readings will also support charitable causes, including City Harvest and Girls Write Now. Tackling timely themes such as artificial intelligence, homelessness, racial justice, immigration, and mental health, the series promises a thought-provoking theatrical experience. 

The First Annual Reading Series runs August 1 – 3 at The Studio Theatre at 520 8th Avenue. Select readings will also support charitable causes, including City Harvest and Girls Write Now. Tackling timely themes such as artificial intelligence, homelessness, racial justice, immigration, and mental health, the series promises a thought-provoking theatrical experience. 

Performances run Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm, 4pm, and 7pm. Tickets range between $33.85 - $55.20 and are available at www.roaringquill.com. Performances take place at The Studio Theatre at 520 8th Avenue (between 36th and 37th street), in Midtown Manhattan. 

The creative/production team includes Susan Tenney (choreography), Alex Wade and Ian Werhle (sound designs), Ben Ehrenreich (lighting designer), Xander Jackson (line producer), and Andrew Dobbie, Samantha Goldman, Clarissa Mota, and Bill Toles (stage management). Produced by The Roaring Quill in association with Planet Connections Festivity Inc.

FULL READING LINEUP

Friday, August 1st at 8pm

Exhibit written and directed by Regina Taylor

Featuring Regina Taylor (Golden Globe Award, 3 NAACP Image Awards & 2 Emmy Award nominations)

EXHIBIT is a powerful exploration of erasure, memory, and the battle to preserve history. At the center of the story is Iris, an African American artist whose work is being removed from museums and whose biography is vanishing from databases. Faced with the threat of cultural erasure, Iris is triggered to recall fragments of her own martyred childhood—memories of integrating a school during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

These flashbacks are windows into a sharply divided America, a nation at a crossroads—caught between progress and regression. Iris grapples with the haunting question: Are we moving forward, or are we moving backward?

Saturday, August 2nd at 8pm

Still All Told by Erik Ehn, directed by Glory Kadigan, choreographed by Susan Tenney 

Featuring Veronica Dang (Founder of all Asian American comedy team Model Majority), DJ Davis (Pride and Prejudice/Atlantic Stage 2), Onni Johnson (Director of The Trojan Women Project), and Eugene Poogene (Great Jones Repertory Company at La MaMa).

A benefit reading for City Harvest.

Centers on a woman, in and out of homelessness. Her daughter looks for
(and sometimes finds) her while going through internal struggles of her own. Contemporary Albuquerque.

Sunday, August 3rd at 2pm

Trip of a Lifetime by Catherine Filloux, directed by Arpita Mukherjee

Featuring Mahira Kakkar (Life of Pi/Broadway, The Headlands/Lincoln Center Theatre)

Accompanied by her ceremonial anthem, the Second Lady hides beneath the veneer of diplomacy and white blouses, while a deeper truth flickers, one that resists containment. In muscular, spiraling monologues, she veers between rehearsed compassion and imaginative rationalizations as she navigates topics of immigration, war, addiction, identity, and sexual misconduct. All the while, insisting on the kindness, decorum, and sanctity of her family. As she omits and distorts, we watch her unravel in abstract performance, not always certain of who is her ultimate choreographer. Filloux’s play illuminates how truth may not always be determined by fact or reality but could instead be engineered out of language and the need for ascension. Trip of a Lifetime is a lyrically blistering meditation--an urgent and captivating mirror of our present.

Sunday, August 3rd at 4pm

Someone Should Start written by Kelsey Puttrich, directed by Glory Kadigan

Featuring Chrystal Campbell (City on a Hill/Showtime), Christina Catechis (No Hard Feelings/Netflix), DJ Davis, Katie Elman (The Office! A Musical/Off Broadway), Matt Giroveanu (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel/Amazon), Mark McNeil (Shooting Stars/Peacock), Lee Tyler (In Search of Elaina/The Players Theatre), Shelby Rebecca Wong (The King & I/Broadway), and stage directions by Xander Jackson (Lights Out/Pressure Players).

A benefit reading for Girls Write Now.

Someone Should Start is an absurdist comedy with a beating heart. In a riotous and raunchy first scene, we meet a group of friends in New York City desperately seeking connection. At the fringes is Marv– awkward, earnest, and hopelessly in love with Karen, a kind soul who would rather blend into the wallpaper than be seen for who she really is. Although everyone hates Marv, Karen likes him…and she’s not sure why.  

What follows is a time-hopping, emotional journey through sex, spirals, self-discovery, and the masks we wear (and sometimes glue on). By embracing the ridiculous and the raw while pushing experimental form, Someone Should Start unpacks what it means to be seen, heard, and intensely, excruciatingly human.

Sunday, August 3rd at 7pm

Your Name Means Dream written and directed by José Rivera

Featuring Sara Koviak (YOUR NAME MEANS DREAM/Contemporary American Theatre Festival), José Rivera, and stage directions by Xander Jackson.

A benefit reading for Girls Write Now.