The Workshop Reading Series

Studio Roanoke offers area playwrights and intrepid audiences a new way to be involved in the exciting process of new play development.  Building on the success of our Lunchbox Series, we'll be presenting well-rehearsed, script-in-hand readings of full-length plays at various stages of development.  Some will be production-ready offerings that we're considering for upcoming seasons; others will be near-final drafts of scripts that playwrights need to hear aloud before they make the next set of revisions.  Moderated talkbacks with the audience and creative staff will be held immediately following each reading, allowing audiences to share their reactions and providing playwrights with a forum to ask questions and get valuable input from the community about how effectively their work is achieving its aesthetic goals.  The Workshop Reading Series combines the multiple components of Studio Roanoke's mission statement, providing cutting-edge theatrical experiences, educational programming, and community involvement. 

For the remainder of our 2010-2011 season, Workshop Readings will be presented at 8:00 p.m. sharp on the fourth Sundays of alternate (odd-numbered) months, i.e.. January, March, May, and July.  Admission to these engaging, entertaining, thought-provoking, interactive experiences in theatre-making is only $5, and no advanced reservations are required.  We invite you to become a part of the conversation and play a valuable role in turning good ideas into great theatre.

NEXT SHOW:  CITY OF THE DEAD by Nate Eppler

Sunday, November 27th at 2PM,  $5 at the door

Charlene Riley has just buried her father. After the funeral, her estranged sister Anne Marie and her sister-in-law Fiona return with her to the family home in Memphis. Charlene has brought the family together one last time to tell them she’s done with the family. Charlene intends to leave town with her underage boyfriend Oliver and never look back. But before she can tell them her plans, Richard, her father, knocks on the door. He broke out of Hell to see them again. Agents of Hell are right behind him, demanding that the family give up their father or face the consequences. Charlene decides she can’t let go of her father a second time and will defend the house at whatever the cost.
Originally developed as part of the 2010/2011 Ingram New Works Residency at the Tennessee Repertory Theatre under the tutelage of playwright John Patrick Shanley (Doubt), Rene Copeland (Tennessee Rep Artistic Director), and Lauren Shouse (Tennessee Rep Artistic Associate)

Nate Eppler is a playwright and teaching artist based in the southeastern United States. His plays include Keeping Up With the Joneses, The Shorty Hawkins Play, Modern Love and Long Way Down. Keeping Up With the Joneses, originally produced at the University of Memphis, was an official selection of the Kennedy Center/ American College Theatre Festival and was named runner-up for the American College Theater Festival National Student Playwriting Award. Nate was further awarded for his work on Keeping Up With the Joneses with the Larry Riley Rising Star Award, the Chattanooga Theatre Centre New Play Award and was named to the Top Ten Artists in Memphis by Memphis Magazine and best new artist by The Commercial Appeal. From 2002-04 Nate served as Playwright-in-Residence for Breezeway Theatre Company where he developed The Shorty Hawkins Play and Modern Love, which was subsequently adapted into a screenplay and produced for ArchAngel Media. Nate has participated in the Charter Theatre Company First Draft Project, the Bloomington Playwright’s Project and the Kennedy
Center Playwriting Intensive. In 2005, Nate was commissioned by the Kennedy Center and the White House Historical Association to develop the play The Amazing (Unbelievable) and (Almost) True Story of Eisenhower’s (Golfing) Squirrels for young audiences. Nate is a proud recipient of both the Tennessee Arts Commission Professional Development Support Grant and the Individual Artist Fellowship. Nate currently serves as Playwright-in-Residence for the Tennessee Repertory Theatre. For more information, please visit www.nateeppler.com