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2025 Read and Rant
Athena Project’s Read & Rant program seeks to combine the sharing of theatrical work with the wider public and the new play development aspects of our former Plays In Progress Series while also fostering collaboration between playwrights and dramaturgs. Think book club for plays! Learn what makes a good script, discuss how it affects us, and explore the ways it links to the larger world. This monthly free offering to the community aims to raise awareness of the under-representation of women’s stories on stage.
Each month, we read two new and unproduced scripts selected from a nationwide call for submissions and typically meet every third Monday online via Zoom to discuss the works. Join us to converse with invited playwrights who bring an in-depth knowledge of the works and theatrical writing at large. Guided by a dramaturg, we also invite you to share your constructive comments, thoughts, and affirmations in order to aid in the development process of the pieces.
This month we will be featuring:
Tripping Through the Tulips by Marya Wright
Dramaturg: Sam Collier
Twenty-eight-year-old mother Melody Stevens, is devastated when her husband unexpectedly dies. After four years of grieving, she begins to explore what it means to move on. When she meets Evan Benson, she begins to feel hope for a future beyond loss. Adapted from a true story, this drama/comedy explores the absurdity of being young and bereft in the 21st century
Marya Wright
Marya Wright is a lifelong theatre lover and psychiatric nurse practitioner. She is beginning her playwriting journey with this semi-autobiographical play. Marya has Master’s degrees in both Business and Nursing. She hopes to continue to create works that explore what she has learned about the human experience.
Just a Drop by Eva Schegulla
Dramaturg: Liv Rigdon
In 17th century Rome, Giulia Tofana and her group of herbalists help women escape from abusive husbands. An old enemy arrives, furious she’s not dead, and attempts to catch her doing something illegal. A new aristocrat may be a spy, and a young man and his sister begging for help may be a threat to Giulia’s daughter.
Eva Schegulla
Eva Schegulla is a full-time writer, publishing under multiple names in fiction & nonfiction, and is an internationally-produced playwright and radio writer, with a focus on women forgotten by history and comic noir mystery that turns misogynistic tropes inside out. She was a member of Toronto’s Nightwood Theatre Creatryx Unit and the Northern Berkshire Artist Capacity Building Program. She is a member of the Boiler House Poets Collective & creates poetry with Word X Word.
Evening hosted by Athena Project’s Literary Manager, Emily Perez, and we are joined by Read & Rant’s Resident Dramaturg, Samara Siskind.
After you register for a session, you will receive a confirmation email that includes information on how to access our featured scripts. You must click the link in this email, and it will take you to the scripts. We want everyone to participate who would like to learn more about these talented playwrights and their plays.
When you register for the event on Eventbrite, you should receive a confirmation email.
- Email subject line will say “Order Confirmation for Athena Project: Read & Rant [month, year]”. This initial email has a synopsis and the links to both scripts.
- Two days prior to the event, you should receive another email with the subject line “Reminder for Athena Project: Read & Rant [month, year].” This email also includes the synopsis and links to both scripts.
- Plan to read scripts well in advance before the Zoom meeting
Please note that the scripts don’t come as attachments, they are .pdf links. So the body of the email will contain two paragraphs with the details of that month’s scripts.
For example:
Mak Shealy’ s Victorian Psychedelic Sleepover Play
On the eve of a 16th birthday, four teens meet after their writing is rejected by the school lit mag to create a Literary Zine of their own. Seeking editorial guidance, they conjure the ghosts of writers past and find themselves possessed by the spirit, chaos and conflict of the Victorian Era radicals they have long admired.
Content Warning: bullying, blood/bodily fluids, discussion of IVF, birth, substance use, disordered eating implied
You must click the link, and it will take you to the script.
If there are any questions or concerns please contact [email protected]
