The Ruth Easton New Play Series at Playwrights' Center

Since I "discovered" it a few years ago, the Playwrights' Center has become one of my favorite places to experience theater, specifically - new works of theater still in the development process. PWC supports something like 2000 playwrights a year in various different ways. Their "Ruth Easton New Play Series" runs the first (or sometimes second) Monday and Tuesday of the month, December through April. This series "gives selected Core Writers 20 hours with collaborators to workshop their script—to write, rewrite, experiment, and shape their work. For playwrights, this means great leaps forward for their plays. For audiences, this means a thrilling and intimate night of theater." I attend every one I can, because the plays are always interesting and the casts are always dreamy. It's really fun to be part of the first audience to experience a new play, and I highly encourage you to check it out if you haven't yet. Warning: attending readings at PWC can get addictive, but the good news is it's free! Below is some info about the current and final reading of the series, which continues TONIGHT (reservations recommended, but if you show up they'll usually be able to get you in) and past readings in the series.

The Ruth Easton New Play Series at Playwrights' Center

In 2017 I attended 9 readings of new works at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, by far the most readings I have attended in one year since I just "discovered" them in 2016 when the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers were invited to a reading. Since them I've become a little obsessed with PWC. For over 40 years they've supported thousands of playwrights in the development of their work, a vitally important function in not just the local theater community, but nationally and even globally. Attending a reading of a work of theater in development, brought to life by some of the most talented actors in town (and the country) is such a thrill for this theater geek. An important part in that development is the audience, which is where we come in, friends. Playwrights like to know how an audience responds to their play, so PWC hosts free readings all of the time. You can find information on their events page about everything going on there, but one thing you can plan on is that through the Ruth Easton Series there will be free readings of a new play (or musical) by a core writer the first Monday and Tuesday of every month from December to April. It's a wonderful sampler of the work being done at the Playwrights' Center and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in new locally created works of theater.