New Jersey Stage logo
New Jersey Stage Menu



 

Dreamcatcher Offers "Meet the Artist" New Play Readings Online In May

originally published: 04/27/2020


(SUMMIT, NJ) -- Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre, professional Theatre in Residence at the Oakes Center in Summit, will present its annual Meet the Artist new play reading series on Wednesdays, May 6, 13, and 20 at 7:00pm. All readings will take place on Zoom, and require advance registration.

The new play reading series is a chance for the audience to participate in the development of new works, both to hear the plays read by professional actors and also to discuss the projects with the playwright, director and actors afterward. Although the readings will take place online this year, there will be an opportunity for the audience to provide feedback to the team. 

The May 6 reading, Steve Harper’s Black/Out Stories, is supported in part by Stages Online, a partnership with New Jersey Theatre Alliance to bring theatre content into homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stages Online is made possible by generous funding from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, Bank of America,The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, OceanFirst Foundation; the George A. Ohl, Jr. Trust; New Jersey Historical Commission; and Fund for the New Jersey Blind.

Black/Out Stories is directed by Mark Spina, Artistic Director of The Theater Project. The play is the narrator's search for a pattern in black people's coming out experiences that will somehow illuminate his own, and help him to understand his place in the larger community. Highly personal, sometimes painful and sometimes funny, interviews with a variety of people willing to share their coming out stories are laced with the writer’s own quest for peace and clarity.

Steve Harper is a writer and actor. He served as producer on the CBS show God Friended Me. He was co-producer on the upcoming HBO Max series Tell Me Your Secrets and wrote for ABC’s American Crime (created by John Ridley) and two seasons on the USA network’s Covert Affairs. His original web series SEND ME - about time traveling black people - premiered on BET.com to 1.66 million views and garnered a 2016 Emmy nomination for series lead Tracie Thoms. His plays have been workshopped and produced in New York, L.A. and in between. As an actor, he’s worked in theater, film TV and commercials. Steve coaches writers and artists through his company Your Creative Life.  

On May 13, Dreamcatcher will present a reading of Tracy Jones by Stephen Kaplan. Directed by Laura Ekstrand, Dreamcatcher’s Artistic Director, the play tells the story of a woman who is throwing a party to which she's invited every woman in the world who is also named Tracy Jones. Tracy Jones has been sitting for over an hour alone, nursing her Diet Coke, waiting for any other Tracy Joneses to show up. Tracy Jones' epic loneliness is about to be tested beyond anything she ever imagined.




Please support the advertisers at New Jersey Stage!
Want info on how to advertise? Click here



Stephen Kaplan’s plays include: Tracy Jones (upcoming: Williamston Theatre); Death Defying (NJ Rep/Theatre Brut); Branwell (and the other Brontës) (upcoming: Loft Ensemble, Blue Room; semi-finalist: O’Neill); Community (finalist: Seven Devils; semi-finalist: Premiere Stages); Exquisite Potential (finalist: Woodward/Newman); A Real Boy (59E59 Theatre; semi-finalist: PlayPenn, Ashland, FutureFest and MTWorks’ Newborn Festival); una casa/a home (finalist: Landing Theatre’s New American Voices, Route 66 New Play Development); For Unto Us (published by DPS); In Mrs. Baker’s Room (Commission: Abingdon); The Seventh Son (semi-finalist: Ronald M Ruble New Play Festival). He is a Dramatists Guild member and serves as the Northeastern Regional Representative for the DG National Council. 

The Buzzer by chandra thomas will be directed by Marshall Jones III and will be read on May 20. Set in Newark, The Buzzer is the story of a couple of young professionals moving into, and perhaps changing forever, a new neighborhood. As they struggle with personal questions about the future of their relationship and their desire - or not - to have children of their own, a young boy and his social worker change the direction of their future. With humor and warmth, the play explores the interconnectedness of its characters, and the responsibility we all have to each other and to our communities.

chandra thomas is an actor, writer and producer who is active on both coasts. As a writer, her work includes new media projects like Complete Sentences? and plays like a rhyme for the UNDERground, Standing At… (Heideman Award Finalist—National Ten-Minute Play Contest of Actors Theatre of Louisville / Source Festival Semi-Finalist; named a top play in the Downtown Urban Theatre Festival) and Forgive to Forget. chandra also writes screenplays and performance poetry. 

All readings will be held on Zoom, and advance registration is required. Admission is $10, and tickets can be purchased at www.dreamcatcherrep.org or by calling Brown Paper Tickets at 800-838-3006. A link to the performance will be sent thirty minutes prior to its start.  




Please support the advertisers at New Jersey Stage!
Want info on how to advertise? Click here




FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.


Vivid

Vivid Summer Solos: Where is Everybody?

Wednesday, July 09, 2025 @ 6:30pm
Visual Arts Center of New Jersey
68 Elm Street, Summit, NJ 07901
category: theatre

Click here for full event listing

 

A

A Broadway Tour of America

Thursday, July 10, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Grunin Center - Black Box Theater
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754
category: theatre

Click here for full event listing

 

The

The MAC players at the Middletown Arts Center present "Hairspray"

Friday, July 11, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Middletown Arts Center
36 Church Street, Middletown, NJ 07748
category: theatre

Click here for full event listing

 

A

A Broadway Tour of America

Friday, July 11, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Grunin Center - Black Box Theater
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754
category: theatre

Click here for full event listing

 

The

The Wizard of Oz

Saturday, July 12, 2025 @ 2:00pm
Algonquin Arts Theatre
60 Abe Voorhees, Manasquan, NJ 08736
category: theatre

Click here for full event listing

 

More events

Event Listings are available for $10 and included with our banner ad packages




 

EVENT PREVIEWS

Montclair

Montclair Township Declares 'Montclair Theater Day' Ahead of Vanguard Theater's Inaugural Festival

(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- Known for its vibrant and lively arts scene, the town of Montclair continues to find new and meaningful ways to celebrate creativity within its community. One of the town's newest initiatives includes the inaugural Montclair Theater Festival, presented by Vanguard Theater and The Essex County Board Of Commissioners. This eagerly anticipated event is set to take place on Saturday, July 12, 2025, at Glenfield Park in Montclair's historic Fourth Ward.



Chatham

Chatham Playhouse to Host 31st Annual Jersey Voices: One-Act Festival

(CHATHAM, NJ) -- The Chatham Community Players (CCP) will host its 31st annual Jersey Voices One-Act Festival with six performances between July 25 and August 3, 2025. This year's production will include eight original short plays written by New Jersey playwrights.



Centenary

Centenary Stage Company presents Jimmy Buffet's "Escape to Margaritaville"

(HACKETTSTOWN, NJ) -- Centenary Stage Company kicks off SUMMERFEST 2025 with Jimmy Buffett's Escape to Margaritaville, July 10-20 in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center. With a book by Emmy Award winner Greg Garcia and Emmy nominee Mike O'Malley, this production is jam-packed with the artist's most beloved classic tunes including "Cheeseburger in Paradise," "Margaritaville," "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere," "Fins," "Volcano," and many more.



LoMotion

LoMotion Live presents "The Diary of Anne Frank"

(BOONTON, NJ) -- LoMotion Live is proud to present The Diary of Anne Frank, a play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman, based on the book Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. The production runs from July 18-26, 2025 at The Parsippany Arts Center in Boonton.



Art

Art House Productions to present "Hamlet" directed by C. Rashee Stevenson in October

(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- Art House Productions will present a mainstage production of Hamlet, directed by C. Rashee Stevenson, from October 9–26, 2025, at the Art House Theater in Jersey City. This bold reimagining of Shakespeare's classic tragedy fuses the original text with interpolated language from Les Nègres and Les Paravents by Jean Genet and works by Federico García Lorca—transforming the play into a cosmic crime thriller that plunges deep into grief, identity, and the metaphysical.