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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:
Petrofied by Nancy Moss
Dramaturg: Adrena Williams
Kelly, a reporter for Forecast magazine, receives a photograph of an oil spill on the Trans Alaska pipeline; the Indigenous photographer wants to remain anonymous. Lance, who is dating Kelly, sneaks a look at her email to learn who the photographer is, for his employer, Petroleum Specialists.
Kill Claudio! by Élise C. Hanson
Dramaturg: Quinn Gilchrist
Starting right at the end of the would-be wedding between Hero and Claudio, Kill Claudio! takes a hard left turn into a surrealist, darkly comic foray into what might have been if revenge had been exacted against Claudio in the way Beatrice requests of Benedick in Act 4, scene 1 of Much Ado About Nothing:
BEATRICE I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.
BENEDICK Come, bid me do anything for thee.
BEATRICE Kill Claudio.
This exploration of Shakespeare’s text does for Much Ado About Nothing what Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead does for Hamlet, expanding on themes, probing character flaws, and throwing in a musical number here and there.
Elise C Hanson
Elise C. Hanson has been writing since she was a wee lass growing up in Utah, receiving encouragement from elementary teachers to compete in writing contests and explore her passion for the art form. She grew up to adore the craft, writing (and producing) plays, novels, blog posts, theatre criticism, and copy for both the fun of it and to put bread on the table. She lives in Salt Lake City where she runs some theatre companies, participates in the local Fringe festival, and founded the Utah Grassroots Theatre Collaborative for local performance artists. She is supported in her creative endeavors by her cats Hermione, Mortimer Brewster, and Freddie Mercury.
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]
