(RAHWAY, NJ) -- American Theater Group (ATG) will present the premiere reading of Pandora Scooter's new 2-person drama Mother's Day as part of its free Monday Night Play Reading Series on January 13, 2025 at Hamilton Stage in Rahway.  The reading begins at 7:00pm.

Inspired by Marsha Norman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play ‘Night Mother, the play centers around Sachi's elderly, hardheaded Japanese mother, Kim, who has invited Sachi over for a special dinner. Kim informs Sachi it will be her last dinner, for afterwards she is going to end her life and she wants her daughter to participate. Will Sachi be able to stop her mother – or will she abide by her wishes?

Pandora Scooter will direct the reading.  A respected playwright, actor, script analyst and instructor, Scooter leads ATG’s PlayLab program for straight and queer BIPOC playwrights. She has taught at Drew, Rider and Rutgers Universities, for the Dramatist's Guild Institute, Manhattan Marymount College and NYU.  She has also worked in the literary departments of Arena Stage, The Goodman Theatre, Delaware Theatre Company, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, George Street Playhouse and New York Theatre Workshop. Her other original works include Canceled, #UsToo, Annotation and The Gay Anthem.

“Being of Japanese descent, I was brought up with the belief that ending one's life is one's choice,” noted Scooter. “This belief alters the way suicide is treated in the story in a way that I believe is nuanced and poignant.  I hope audiences will appreciate these nuances and will be moved by the connection between mother and daughter in this dramatic circumstance.”

The cast will feature Mami Kimura (You Should Be So Lucky, Moxie Arts/WP Theatre, NYC) playing Kim and Michelle Liu Coughlin (HBO’s And Just Like That) playing Sachi; Samantha Callens will serve as Assistant Director and read stage directions.

"Pandora is an exciting, insightful playwright and Mother’s Day is a fascinating new take on a complex drama,” noted Producing Artistic Director Jim Vagias, “and we are delighted that our Reading Series provides a forum for such new works to be experienced."

A Q&A discussion with the director and cast will follow the reading. While the event is free, donations will be gratefully accepted. Hamilton Stage is located at 360 Hamilton Street in Rahway, NJ and is independently operated under the governance of Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC).

American Theater Group (ATG), founded in 2012, produces new and classic works primarily by American playwrights with an emphasis on the development of new works and the reimagining of undeservedly neglected older ones. The company also focuses on offering quality arts-in-education programming, including its New Works/New Voices high school play writing program. ATG programming is made possible in part by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support general operating expenses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Made possible by the Somerset County Cultural & Heritage Commission, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.