(MIDDLETOWN, NJ) -- Middletown Arts Center presents the seventh edition of The MAC One-Acts Play-Reading Festival on Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 7:00pm. The festival features original, one-act works by New Jersey playwrights read theatrically by local actors. Admission is free and open to the public, but donations are appreciated.
The 2026 plays include: Hello, My Name Is Death by Michael Gage Costa; Platypusary by Andrew Gerber; What Viola Davis Did by Lisa Ellex; #followerseveryone by Alexis Kozak; The What If Factor by Missy Renwick; CHANNELING EDITH by Kathleen Schumar; and Sh*t Happens by Lizzy Stefanic.
Middletown Arts Center is located at 36 Church Street in Middletown, New Jersey. Its convenient location across from the Middletown train station on Church Street enables easy access and its expanded MAC Annex is minutes away at the Middletown Reformed Church’s Education Building.
CHANNELING EDITH follows Lily, a devoted Edith Wharton lover enduring the emotional toll of chemotherapy. Hoping for solace, she attends a library program on Wharton, but instead finds herself seated beside Princess, an exuberant SparkNotes reader far more interested in Florida vacations than literature. As Lily’s patience unravels, the imagined presence of Edith Wharton herself appears—wry, elegant, unseen by others. With Edith’s guidance and humor, Lily escapes the stifling event and rediscovers the comfort of true literary conversation. A gentle, uplifting one-act about illness, unexpected friendship, and the sustaining power of books and imagination.
#followerseveryone - When a mother and daughter do not see eye-to-eye on a school board ballot, will their relationship survive the election cycle?
Hello, My Name is Death is a conversation between two characters—a person at the end of their life, and the spirit of Death. Over the course of the conversation, an offer is made, and both characters have to consider a difficult choice in the face of a mutually uncertain future.
Platypusary - At an academic conference, Dr. Carlysle accidentally insults the last speaker–and tells her she has only twenty minutes to present. She tells the audience the tale of Penelope and Cecil, two real life platypuses whose exploits at the Bronx Zoo captured Americans’ attention post-World War II. We see the ups and downs of Cecil’s attempts at romance and Penelope’s responses. Along the way, the speaker has some fun with Dr. Carlysle, and we briefly visit an even more famous Penelope – who knew a thing or two about persistent suitors.
MICHAEL GAGE COSTA is honored to see his story come to life onstage alongside the other wonderfully innovative pieces of theater featured tonight. Crafting this play has been a labor of love, and the story is very close to his heart. You may have spotted Michael onstage this season portraying Scrooge (Premier Theatre Company) or in past productions of A Christmas Carol (Holmdel Theatre Company, Phoenix Productions). Recent appearances also include Jekyll & Hyde (Jekyll, Hyde, North Brunswick Drama Group), 9 to 5 (Franklin Hart Jr, NBDG), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Lawrence Jameson; Main Street Theatre Company), Legally Blonde (Professor Callahan; The MAC Players) and The Music Man (Mayor Shinn; Phoenix Productions), among others. Thank you to Jess and Luke for enthusiastically agreeing to be a part of this exciting dramatic experiment. He is so grateful to his wife and kids—Allison, Charlie, and Penny—and his entire family for their boundless support. By day, he’s a graphic designer, amateur aquarist, escape room enthusiast, gourmet food lover and Disney fan.
ANDREW GERBER is happy to step back into playwriting after some time away. He directed his play The Golden Age off-off-Broadway, and his one-act The Real Wally Warthog had a staged reading at the Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey and was produced at Roger Williams University. He also interned in playwriting at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Andrew occasionally contributes articles to Library Journal (you may be able to guess his day job from that).
He has recently been seen onstage in Becky’s New Car (Magnolia Productions), King Lear (Stone Church), and Circle Mirror Transformation (United Theatre). He also worked as a child wrangler on the touring Disney production Bear in the Big Blue House LIVE: A First Time for Everything, featuring characters from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Many thanks to Elyse and Lily!
LISA ELLEX: A third-generation Greenwich Village native, Lisa is an actress, vocalist, award-winning playwright, filmmaker and columnist.
With roots in the theatre as an actress and playwright, Lisa crossed over to television to select programming for the launch of HBO’s COMEDY CHANNEL. She wrote and produced numerous junkets there before moving to COMEDY CENTRAL where she wrote guest segments for comedian Allan Havey’s talk show Night After Night. Other TV production credits include, The Cosby Show, The Ellen Burstyn Show, CBS Movie of the Week, Top Cops, and Night Music with David Sanborn & Jools Holland.
In her directorial debut short, Lisa took home the “Best Director” award for her short film, Angela, at the 2025 Jersey Shore Film Festival. The film also won “Best Actress“ at the 2025 Long Island International Film Expo for Angela Pieteopinto’s performance in the title role. A film version of her award–winning one-act play, The A-Word, starring Angela Pietropinto, Diana Devlin, and Brian O’Halloran, is currently in post-production.
When she’s not writing, Lisa enjoys singing in big bands and small jazz ensembles.
ALEXIS KOZAK teaches Theatre Arts at Middletown High School South. His play Ponce de León and the Old Dog is being published in Smith & Kraus’ Best 10-Minute Plays of 2026. He is currently writing Konstantin Gavrilovich Harpooned Himself, or Where is Captain Ahab’s Leg, a revision of Herman Mellville’s Moby Dick joined by the characters from Anton Chekhov’s The Sea Gull. He is also doing a twelve-month writing project called A Year in the Life, writing with a different partner once a week. He loves theatre, soccer, reading and his family…in no particular order. Visit his website at www.alexiskozak.com
MISSY RENWICK is a writer, actor, and director based in North Jersey. Her work has been performed with Contagious Drama Workshop and Pioneer Productions, and her latest piece, The Stakeout, will be featured in the Jersey Voices One-Act Festival at Chatham Community Players. Select acting credits include Portia in Something Rotten! (PIP), Eliza in My Fair Lady (Summit), Cinderella in Into the Woods (Chester), and Agnes in Agnes of God (Summit).
KATHLEEN SCHUMAR writes fiction and plays inspired by actual events. A former beat reporter, medical journal editor and marketing and sales exec, she is a member of Harvard Club Poets and Writers and International Thriller Writers. Her short stories have been published in the Visible Ink annual anthologies (2021-2025) and small literary magazines, as well as the inaugural NOWA Road Signs Anthology released on Amazon in January. Her short play, Harry and Helena, appeared in a showcase at the Watchung Arts Center. Her stories have been featured in streaming productions and live performances with equity actors at the George St. Playhouse, Kean University’s Premiere Stages and Princeton University’s McCarter Theatre. Her upcoming short story “Channeling Edith” is scheduled for publication and its one-act play adaptation for performance. She is currently working on two thrillers.
LIZZY STEFANIC has not written a one-act since high school and is thrilled that a twelve-year hiatus hasn’t stopped her from participating in this year’s festival. She is currently a member of the NYC troupe of The American Immersion Theatre Company, performing with The Murder Mystery Company (made famous on Shark Tank). When she isn’t being accused of murder, Lizzy runs the Princess Summer Camp at the Middletown Arts Center. She would like to thank her dad—without him, this piece would not exist. And of course, Cher.
The Middletown Arts Center (MAC) is an award-winning, state-of-the-art facility in Middletown, New Jersey that offers performances, exhibits, classes, demonstrations and camps centering on the arts. The MAC is operated by a non-profit 501c3, the Middletown Township Cultural and Arts Council which is dedicated to bringing quality arts programming and events to Middletown and surrounding communities.
