Spring 2010 Reading Series
Staged readings produced by Sara Staley.
Developmental readings produced by Suze Allen.

Staged readings are $10 to $20 sliding scale for non-members.
Developmental readings are $5 to $10 sliding scale for non-members.
All readings are free to PCSF members.

Tuesday, April 20
Off-Market Theater
965 Mission Street, Studio 250
7:30 p.m.

Petty Theft
by Rod McFadden
Directed by Ann Thomas
Staged Reading

Following a few after-work drinks at a city bar, two young men find themselves in an alley, late at night, with a stolen purse. In dealing with the consequences of this impulsive action, there are disclosures and disagreements, scuffles and injuries, and a close call with the police. But still their course of action remains undecided, until one of the men gains clarity on the situation from an unlikely source.

Rod McFadden studied Playwrighting at UCLA, but then took a brief 26 year long hiatus from the theatre. He reconnected in early 2009, joining the Playwrights' Center of San Francisco. His first play, a one-act entitled "Petty Theft," was featured in a PCSF Developmental Reading last Fall. When not writing plays, Rod sometimes takes the stage, having recently completed roles in PCSF's original production, Sheherezade X: The Year in Review.


Thursday, April 29
Ray of Light Theatre Studio
965 Mission Street, Room 350
7:30 p.m.

Believers
by Patricia Milton
Developmental reading

Is it really better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? Or is it better to (pharmaceutically) remove the possibility of heartbreak altogether? Lab colleagues and former lovers Rocky and Grace must make the choice in this full-length romantic comedy set in a dystopian future, and inspired by the Grimm's fairy tale The Frog Prince.

Patricia Milton's plays, both solo and co-written with Andrew Black, have been widely produced. Her comedy "Solving Sunflowers" was a winner of the 2009 Eudora Welty New Play Series and has been accepted into the 2010 Last Frontier Theatre Conference. "A Hitch In Her Plans" is available from Eldridge Publishers and "Busybody" is published by Original Works Publishing. She is President of The Playwrights' Center of San Francisco and a member of The Dramatists' Guild of America. More at patricia-milton.com.


Tuesday, May 11
Off-Market Theater
965 Mission Street, Studio 250
7:30 p.m.

The Widow of Sisyphus
by Bridgette Portman
Directed by Ben Prusiner
Staged Reading

Queen Merope vows to aid her husband, the trickster Sisyphus, in his plot to cheat death, but can she endure the repercussions? Inspired by classical mythology and existential psychology, The Widow of Sisyphus explores the human relationship with death — a universal and timeless problem.

Bridgette Portman is new to playwriting, although she has long been fascinated by the stage and especially the classical Greek tradition. She has completed playwriting courses at the University of California, Riverside while simultaneously working toward a doctorate in political science at UC Irvine, and hopes to make writing part of her career. "The Widow of Sisyphus" is her first full-length play.


Tuesday, May 18
Off-Market Theater
965 Mission Street, Studio 250
7:30 p.m.

The Dark Sister: A Traditional Folk Tale of Old California
by Vonn Scott Bair
Directed by Aine Donnelly
Staged reading

"A crime of passion will haunt you forever." The conflict between two sisters in 1875 Sonoma County ends when Moira Bannon apparently drowns her younger sibling Mary in this "traditional folk tale." But who is that young woman looking through the kitchen window?

Vonn Scott Bair is an actor, playwright and screenwriter with 25 productions of his works to his credit, including the feature film "Nothing with No One" and the first online interactive theater website "Yes Maybe No." The Off-Market Theater named him Playwright of the Month in March 2005 for the full-length play The Promise. His one-act play "Allegro Passionato" was selected for the Last Frontier Theater Conference and opened the 2006 Bay One Acts festival.


Thursday, May 27
Off-Market Theater
965 Mission Street, Studio 250
7:30 p.m.

Glickman's Third Act
by Alisa Baker
Developmental reading

Sex. Lies. Secrets. What do you get for the 60th birthday of the man who has everything? When the very settled Joe Glickman indulges in what he thinks will be a garden variety affair d'amour, he ends up unearthing a shocking challenge to the status quo. Look away or seize the day? All bets are off in this multi-layered tale of truth and its consequences.

Alisa Baker lives in San Francisco and produced Talk Show Live: San Francisco during 2007-2008. This is her first play.


Tuesday, June 8
Off-Market Theater
965 Mission Street, Studio 250
7:30 p.m.

Sense Memory
by Brian Tognotti
Directed by Jon Wai-keung Lowe
Staged Reading

Shane and JD are actors cast as lovers in a stage production. In rehearsing their love scene, things get out of hand and they end up sleeping together. When JD's girlfriend notices something different, she forces them to question just how far they'll go for art.

Brian J. Tognotti has a BA with honors in Theatre from UCLA. His short play "Make Love Not War" was produced at New Conservatory Theatre in June 2008. His play "Louella's Burden" was selected for the Lakeshore Players, the Playwrights' Center of San Francisco's Sheherezade and Three Wise Monkeys Short Leaps competitions. He is a member at large of the board of The Playwrights' Center of San Francisco and a member of The Dramatists' Guild of America.


Thursday, June 24
Off-Market Theater
965 Mission Street, Studio 250
7:30 p.m.

The Last Point of View
by Scott Eldredge

Counting On Love
by Rod McFadden

Love in the Time of Caller I.D.
by Rod McFadden

Developmental readings of three short plays

What if you changed every day but only your wife knew how? And what if she changed, and only you knew what was different? Would love survive not seeing eye to eye? "The Last Point of View" takes a literal look at "you're not the person I married."

Scott Eldredge's first play, "Second Sight," was performed as part of the 2007 PCSF reading series. "The Last Point of View" is a finalist in the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival One-Act Play Contest in New Orleans.

Counting on Love: After a year of loneliness, Vincent meets his dream girl on a blind date, and his heart re-opens for business. But he soon finds that Sophia has a special criterion for her perfect match. Her revelation re-opens Love's eternal battle between the heart and the head.

Love in the Time of Caller I.D.: Does your true love know who's in your cell phone? Dennis deals with the dilemmas and dangers of a world where everyone is connected, and anyone is just a phone call away. When his cell phone falls into the wrong hands, a comedy of mistaken caller identities ensues.

Rod McFadden studied Playwrighting at UCLA, but then took a brief 26 year long hiatus from the theatre. He reconnected in early 2009, joining the Playwrights Center of San Francisco. His first play, a one-act entitled Petty Theft, received a developmental reading with PCSF in Fall 2009 and a staged reading in April 2010. Caller I.D. and Counting on Love began as a single play. But during PCSF Scene Night development, the play split in two, and so Rod counts both of these plays as "his second play".


Thursday, July 8
Ray of Light Theatre Studio
965 Mission Street, Room 350
7:30 p.m.

Draper's Boarding House for Ladies
by Harold Smith
Developmental reading

When a small crime wave hits Big Butte, Texas in the summer of 1950, the beleaguered sheriff calls for help from the Texas Rangers. Legendary Iron Luke Jackson temporarily moves into the comfy confines of Draper's Boarding House for Ladies, to the consternation of the other tenants. But the widow Bonnie Draper has a past with Luke and things begin to heat up again between them.

Harold Smith's "Zelda's Mama's Cookin'" was produced at Butterfield 8 Theatre Company, Concord, CA, in December, 2008.