Burning Coal Theatre Co Announces BLUE Stage Reading 5/14, THESIS Reading 6/16

Burning Coal Theatre Company's New Works Program will present two staged readings this spring, Blue by Raleigh playwright Kelly Doyle, directed by Emily Ranii, on Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 7 p.m. and Thesis by Tom Bryant of Bristol, Tennessee, directed by Jay O'Berski on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 7 pm. Both plays will be read at Meymandi Theatre at the Murphey School, located at 224 Polk St. in Raleigh. Admission is free with a suggested donation of $5. No reservations are necessary. For further information, please contact Burning Coal's managing director, Simmie Kastner, at (919) 834-4001.

The public is invited to witness these exciting new plays and participate in an informal discussion following each performance.

According to Doyle, Blue features "a young woman from a conservative family in an arranged marriage who is suddenly plagued with visions and voices drawing her to places that don't exist, giving her ideas that can't exist. Gifted with an imagination so real, so powerful and so seductive, she must follow her visions or suffer insanity."

According to Bryant, Thesis is the story of Craig Matthews, "a Ph.D. candidate who believes that academic stardom is worth any sacrifice. When he finally meets his idol, Dr. V.L. Williams, Craig learns that some sacrifices are too great."