(MIDDLETOWN, NJ) -- The Middletown Arts Center is excited to present the sixth edition of The MAC ONE-ACTS Play-Reading Festival, featuring original, one-act works by New Jersey playwrights read theatrically by local actors. The festival will be held on Thursday, May 22, 2025 and is free and open to the public. Donations are appreciated. Showtime is 7:00pm.
The plays include: A Growing Autonomy by Justin Del Valle; Messy by Eleanor Kennedy; Searching for Matteo by JD Watson; The Current Eurydice by Jessica Freeland; Nothing Lasts by Kate Schwartz; and The Card Game by Rob Kristie.
The Middletown Arts Center is located at 36 Church Street in Middletown, NJ (next to the Middletown train station). Free parking is available onsite with additional free parking available in the train station metered lot on weekday evenings after 6:00pm and weekends.
MEET THE PLAYWRIGHTS
JUSTIN DEL VALLE (A Growing Autonomy) is a Junior at Seton Hall University, majoring in Theatre and obsessed with writing. Acting and a part of the theatre world since he was seven, he’s only put one other show on stage for a Hispanic heritage festival entitled A Random Play Written by a Random Guy with Random People in it. Justin is beyond honored to have his first one-act play submittal accepted by The MAC ONE-ACTS. He would also like to thank the actors within the play for pushing the multiple drafts and rewrites the script underwent, and would like it known that there is no play without Vivian and Elaina.
ELEANOR KENNEDY (Messy) has had plays produced from New York City to Dubuque, Iowa. Her New Jersey credits include the Jersey Voices festival in Chatham and the New Jersey Renaissance Kingdom in Somerset, although this is her first effort in Middletown. Originally a native New Yorker, she lives in Chatham with her husband, John.
JD WATSON (Searching for Matteo) is delighted to be a part of the MAC One-Acts Play Reading Festival. He has been an actor, director, and stage manager throughout NJ, NYC, and Boston for 41 years. A construction safety professional and award-winning freelance journalist, he lives in Toms River with his wife and children. He is also a founding member of the protest folk group, The Good Trouble Singers. Searching for Matteo is his first play.
JESSICA FREELAND (The Current Eurydice) is a writer, actor, and musician. Her storytelling mostly focuses on feminism, conservation, and mental wellness via dark and abstract settings that can be explored both literally and figuratively. She graduated magna cum laude from Montclair State University having earned a Triple Bachelor of Arts in English, Latin, and Classics. This May, her poem, "Daughters of Daughters of Daughters," was included in McCarter Theatre Center's Healing Voices: Caregiver Stories on Stage.
Her debut play, The Lovely Lucille, was an Official Selection for Holmdel Theatre Company’s Evening of New Works, and her second play, You Left Me Behind, premiered last year at Middletown Arts Center’s One-Acts Play-Reading Festival. Jessica is currently developing four new original works, including a full-length Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley piece she aims to produce and lead. As always, she thanks her family for their endless love and support.
KATE SCHWARTZ (Nothing Lasts) earned her MFA in Writing for Stage and Screen at the University of Nebraska Omaha. In March 2019, Kate’s play, LEAR/LOMAN, was awarded “Festival Feature” at 2 Cent Theatre’s Acting Out INK Fest (Hollywood, CA). It was chosen “Best of INK Fest” and won five more performances at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June 2019. In October 2019, Kate had a staged concert-reading of Venus and Mars for Chicago Dramatists/Playwrights Aloud. Retreat in the Berkshires was included as part of the 2020 Fringe Festival of the Playwriting Symposium at the Mid-America Theatre Conference (Chicago) in March 2020.
Her ten-minute play, Nothing Lasts, received a full virtual production at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson, NY in Summer 2020. Auburn University’s Theatre Department included PeacefulME as part of their Together Apart virtual collaboration in November 2020. Her play, The Coffin Maker, was a Finalist for the Tennessee Williams One-Act Playwriting Contest in 2021. A monologue from The Coffin Maker was published in She Persisted: One Hundred Monologues from Plays by Women Over 40. The Coffin Maker is published by Next Stage Press. Her play, Ghosted, was a semi-finalist at the Warner International Playwrights Festival in 2022. Clarissa Buys The Flowers Herself had a production in June 2022 in Fremont Seattle (Parley productions).
ROB KRISTIE (The Card Game) was born in South Philadelphia, and now resides in Southern NJ. He has been writing music since he was 16. When he was in his twenties, he was delighted to learn that Kenny Gamble of “Gamble and Huff” music fame (“The Sound of Philadelphia”) liked his songs and their “show tune” quality. Robert then wrote the musical, THE DOLL - a Magical Christmas, which had six full production performances at the Sketch Club in Woodbury, NJ, in 2010 and eight performances at Village Playbox in Haddon Heights, NJ, in 2019. The play was nominated for a PERRY AWARD in the category of Outstanding Production of an Original Musical in 2011 and again in 2020. Since then, Robert has written two other musicals entitled GODS, a mythical musical, and SHOWPLACE, the story of Steel Pier. SHOWPLACE will have its area premiere in November 2025 at Village Playbox in Haddon Heights, NJ. GODS was nominated for a Perry award in 2015. He has also written three one-act plays and two children’s books.
Robert has been involved in many facets of community theatre. He was a producer for Cinderella (Roger and Hammerstein’s), A Christmas Story (JULIE AWARD winner), It’s a Wonderful Life - Radio Version (JULIE AWARD winner), Children of Eden, Noises Off, GODS (original musical written by Robert and nominated for the PERRY AWARD in 2016), Beyond Therapy, Vanya Sonya, Masha and Spike, Jesus Christ Superstar and Man of La Mancha. He was Assistant Director for RENT, GHOST the Musical, Miracle on 34th Street (JULIE AWARD winner). He was a Director for Bye Bye Birdie and The DOLL - A Magical Christmas. Robert’s acting roles include Carousel (Magician, Chichester Theater), Cinderella (R&H) (Clumsy Dancer and Baron, Pineland Players), Bye Bye Birdie (Mayor, Ensemble), Miracle on 34th Street (Mr.Bloomingdale/Drunk Santa), War of the Worlds (Radio Broadcast) (Captain Lansing, Pilot) and ELF the Musical (Mr. Greenway).
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. Its convenient location across from the Middletown train station on Church Street enables easy access and its expanded MAC Annex Education Building is minutes away next to the Middletown Reformed Church. The MAC is operated by a non-profit 501c3, the Middletown Township Cultural and Arts Council dedicated to bringing quality arts programming and events to Middletown and surrounding communities.
