The First Annual AWAKENINGS Reading Series to Feature Works by José Rivera, Regina Taylor and More

This August, the inaugural Awakenings Reading Series debuts in Midtown Manhattan, showcasing powerful new works by renowned playwrights Erik Ehn, Catherine Filloux, Kelsey Puttrich, José Rivera, and Regina Taylor. Tackling timely themes such as artificial intelligence, homelessness, and racial justice, the series promises a thought-provoking theatrical experience. The series runs August 1 - 3 at The Studio Theatre at 520 8th Avenue.

The lineup includes 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. Select readings will also support charitable causes, including City Harvest and Girls Write Now.

Performances run Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm, 4pm, and 8pm. 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 Tenny (choreography), Alex Wade and Ian Werhle (sound designs), Xander Jackson (line producer), and Andrew Dobbie, Samantha Goldman, and Clarissa Mota (stage management). Produced by The Roaring Quill in association with Planet Connections Festivity Inc.

FULL LINEUP

Friday, August 1st at 8pm

Exhibit written and directed by Regina Taylor

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

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

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

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 8pm

Your Name Means Dream written and directed by José Rivera

A benefit reading for Girls Write Now.

We're in the 2050s. Álom, a hoarder and shut-in, elderly and trapped in the past. His ramshackle home is a visual metaphor for his loneliness and melancholy. Into this messy world comes a super-advanced AI entity named Stacy with abilities beyond anything Álom can imagine. Stacy's job is to keep Álom alive and healthy. As Stacy says, "All this must seem like magic to you."