Fresh Ink: Primary Stages presents six workshop play-readings of new work

Primary Stages present Fresh Ink, six workshop play-readings of new work at Primary Stages Studio.

Now in its 12th year, this program brings together a select group of writers each season that meet weekly to share and receive constructive feedback on the development of their new work. Since its inception, over 45 full-length plays have been written, many of which have been produced by prominent theaters including Cherry Lane Theater, Long Wharf, The New Group, NY Stage and Film, South Coast Rep, and of course, Primary Stages.

The six workshop play-readings are:

• One Night Dickie Didn't Come Home
  Playwright: Darren Canady
  Synopsis: When a bizarre murder unmasks the uglier truths of Midwestern life, young reporter Patrick White sees an opportunity to assert his talent and tell a story his hometown isn't prepared to hear. But when the story starts to unravel his life and those of his friends and family, Patrick realizes his crusade may cost more than he ever imagined.
  Date: 14 Apr 2008.

A 2006-2007 Fellow of the Juilliard School's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwright's Program, Darren Canady's play False Creeds was named the winner of the Alliance Theater's Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition and was also workshopped at the O'Neill Playwright's Conference.

• The Second House
  Playwright: David Caudle
  Synopsis: November, 2001. Night. An historic meteor shower is in full swing. Three strangers meet on a deserted stretch of South Beach, Miami to watch the sky. But what happens on land, none of them could have predicted.
  Date: 15 Apr 2008.

David Caudle is the author of several plays including Likeness, The Sunken Living Room, One Hot Kitchen and Visiting Ours. His newest plays, The Second House, Damsel and The Common Swallow were developed in the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers' Group at Primary Stages. His one-act Feet of Clay is published by Samuel French, which will soon also publish The Sunken Living Room.

• Elk Cloner
  Playwright: Rogelio Martinez
  Synopsis: 1982. Rick Springfield is warning us not to talk to strangers, viruses are spreading and a single dad living in Passaic, NJ is trying to make sense of it all. A play about knowing too much and knowing too little.
  Date: 16 Apr 2008.

In May Rogelio Martinez's new play, All Eyes and Ears, will be presented by INTAR on Theater Row directed by Eduardo Machado. His previous play Fizz developed with an NEA/TCG grant at INTAR, was produced at the Ohio Theater. Learning Curve premiered in February 2005 at Theatre Row and was subsequently published in May 2006 by Smith and Krauss in New Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2005.

• Charity
  Playwright: Maria Alexandria Beech
  Synopsis: On the day she buries her husband, Charity discovers that her daughter hasn't bathed for months, that her son carries an assault weapon, and that her lover isn't of much help. When her son gets caught with the gun by a nun, Charity must decide between saving her children or living her life.
  Date: 18 Apr 2008.

Maria Alexandria Beech's Spanish translation of The Cook, by Eduardo Machado, premiered in October at The Stages Theatre in Houston. Her short play The Soft Room was performed at the Culture Project's Impact Festival. Her plays Designer X and Your Face were presented by Blue Box Productions at Sticky at Blue. Her short play, The Inventor Of Manatees, was performed at the Flea Theatre as part of "Stupid Plays."

• Italian Sojourn
  Playwright: Neena Beber
  Synopsis: An American exchange student in Italy is on the lam after the murder of her roommate. A chance, or perhaps fated, encounter with the roommate's brother changes her course of direction.
  Date: 24 Apr 2008.

Neena Beber's plays include Jump/Cut, The Dew Point, Hard Feelings, Thirst, A Common Vision, Tomorrowland, The Brief but Exemplary Life of the Living Goddess and Failure to Thrive. Neena is an alumna of New Dramatists, HB Playwrights Unit, and The Women's Project. She is currently a member of the New York Playwrights Lab.

• Leave
  Playwright: Courtney Baron
  Synopsis: Four soldiers on leave from Iraq fly back to the USA and attempt to navigate the limbo between home and the warfront.
  Date: 29 Apr 2008.

About Courtney Baron: Most recently, A Very Common Procedure (originally written with the The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages) was produced at MCC and under the title Morbidity and Mortality at The Magic Theatre, San Francisco in conjunction with The Womens Project, NYC. Consumption was commissioned by and produced at the Guthrie.