Friday, November 30, 2007

Curious about theatrical works in progress? Arena Stage's Downstairs New Play Reading Series allows playwrights -- established and up-and-coming -- to fine-tune their works by rehearsing intensively during the day with actors, gauging the performance and audience reaction during the reading, and following up with a conversation among the writer, Arena senior dramaturge Mark Bly and audience members. It's fairly informal (actors wear black and read from scripts on music stands) and often intimate.

The next reading, on Monday at 7, features a work by Daniel Beaty. His play, "Resurrection," has only six characters, but they range in age from 10 (a scientific child prodigy) to 60 (the self-satisfied bishop of a highly lucrative mega-church) and include an ex-con and an executive. One night, all six experience an unexpected phenomenon that changes their lives.

"Feels Like a Fire . . . Shut Up in My Bones" by Marcus Gardley, to be read Feb. 4, interweaves the biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace with the story of a black congregation determined to rebuild its church after it is destroyed by arson.

"Santa Ana" is by Eric Overmyer, producer-writer of such television shows as "Homicide," "Law & Order" and "The Wire." The play, which will be read Feb. 11, is a murder mystery set in Hollywood.

Bly says he is particularly excited by the quality of two upcoming student-written plays: "Good Egg," which will be read Jan. 28, was written by Yale School of Drama master's candidate Dorothy Fortenberry, and "The Near East," to be read March 24, is by Alex Lewin, a graduate student at the University of California at San Diego.

-- Eve Zibart

DOWNSTAIRS NEW PLAY READING SERIES Arena Stage's Kreeger Theater, 1101 Sixth St. SW. $8, plus a $2 facility fee; online or phone orders have an additional $3 charge except for subscribers. 202-488-3300.http://www.arena-stage.org.