(SUMMIT, NJ) -- Vivid Stage has announced the lineup for 2026 Vivid Summer Solos - performances outside on the lawn of the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. The weekly play reading series takes place each Wednesday in July. This year includes readings of Fair State by Megan Gogerty, Long Drive Home by Stephen Kaplan, Maker of Worlds by Wendy Schmidt, and The Call List by Brian James Pollak.
Wednesday, July 8 @ 6:30pm - Fair State by Megan Gogerty, featuring: Harriett Trangucci. When a woman loses her charming, unreliable, alcoholic father, she unearths evidence of her family’s ancestral ties to the founding of the state of Iowa: are they hearty immigrants making a new life in a new state, or a collection of self-satisfied boot-strappers complicit in the destruction and erasure of Iowa’s indigenous tribes? She asks the audience, what do we do with our problematic relatives?
Wednesday, July 15 @ 6:30pm - Long Drive Home by Stephen Kaplan, featuring: Jason Szamreta. Based on the NY Times bestseller, Long Drive Home follows the life of Glen Bauer, a white man whose impulsive act while driving his 6-year-old daughter home from school results in a tragic accident. To protect himself and his family, Glen conceals his involvement, a decision that ignites a destructive chain of events. In the end, he must face the full weight of the damage he’s done to himself and those he loves.
Wednesday, July 22 @ 6:30pm - Maker of Worlds by Wendy Schmidt, featuring: Laura Ekstrand. Martha (definitely not Stewart), a deity, decides to destroy the world and start over. She then discovers that her husband, Warren (definitely not Buffett), is the one who built the system that's ruining it in the first place. A play that spans time and space, features the ghost of Jim Morrison, and deals with creation and the past catching up to you.
Wednesday, July 29 @ 6:30pm - The Call List by Brian James Pollak, featuring: Emaline Williams. A dispirited legal assistant is tasked with calling individuals on a list left behind by a man who committed suicide. The work assignment could not come at a worse time, as she is dealing with her own life/work existential crisis while her mother and sister badger her via text message. Ultimately, it's a few kind words from a stranger that might give her what she needs.
Performances take place on the lawn of the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey (68 Elm Street) in Summit, New Jersey. Bring a comfy lawn chair and your favorite snack to enjoy a summer eve with them. (In case of rain or extreme heat we will move inside at the Visual Arts Center!) Tickets for each performance are $23 per person and available for purchase online
Vivid Stage was founded in 1994 as Dreamcatcher Rep, and is a non-profit professional ensemble of actors who build community with the audience by sharing contemporary, life-affirming stories that challenge, energize and entertain. Their work has at its heart a belief in the essential goodness of people and the power of live performance to connect people through our shared humanity. They expose theatregoers to ideas and lives like and unlike their own with the intention of awakening their imaginations and creating empathy for others. They deepen the experience of all their patrons with personal contact through receptions, talkbacks, and interactive programs.
The company’s activities include mainstage productions, improvisational comedy and cabarets, new play readings, works in a variety of media, and a menu of educational and senior outreach programs.
Vivid Stage’s programs are funded by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, the Shubert and Summit Foundations and many other corporations, foundations and individuals. Vivid Stage is an Equity Producing member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.
Vivid Stage, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) corporation, incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey.
