Reading Theater Project Announces 2025-26 Season: Embracing Our Humanity

From Reading Theater Project

The Reading Theater Project is delighted to announce the next season of new and locally inspired theater, all centered around the theme of “Embracing Our Humanity.”

Performing artists can audition to work with the company this year on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 3 p.m., at Holy Cross UMC (329 N. 5th St., Reading, with parking and entrance at the rear of the building). More information at ReadingTheaterProject.org. Interested theater technicians and designers should contact the Reading Theater Project at info@readingtheaterproject.org or 484-706-9719.

The season opens with Proud, a play by Judd Lear Silverman, a playwright based in Berks County. The play is set during a three-day traffic jam on the Schuylkill Expressway. A pride of peacocks, escapees from the nearby Philadelphia Zoo, were purposefully marching down the side of the highway on a top-secret mission. This is their story, from their POV, based on a true story. The production will be directed by Kimberly Patterson and performed at the WCR Center for the Arts, Reading, over two weekends: Nov. 7-9 and Nov. 14-16.

Following the season opener is the 11th annual 5-Minute Fringe Festival, this year with the theme of “Legacy.” Performers and playwrights from around the region push their personal creative boundaries to develop new work. Theater, dance, music, poetry, and more will be presented in a showcase, opening Friday, Feb. 27, and playing through Sunday, March 1, at the Yocum Institute in West Lawn. The director of this year’s Fringe is Jewell A. Brown, and the stage manager is Sean Sassaman.

In the spring of 2026, a world premiere of Banshee, a play by Adam Richter, another playwright based in Berks County, will be produced. High above the River Bandon in Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland, Nancy Donough hears the cry of the banshee. But she’s not the only one to hear it — nor is she the only one to be haunted by the plaintive wail that reaches across generations. Jody Reppert will direct this new work. Dates and location will be announced.

In Nature’s Studio, an outdoor theater experience, where the performers are stationed around the Reading Public Museum Arboretum and the audience walks the path to see them, will conclude the season on Sunday, July 26. This performance is free to the public and appropriate for all audiences, including animals!

The Play Reading Series with the theme of “Disruption” will feature three plays by local and regional playwrights. Each is performed as a staged reading followed by a facilitated talkback with the playwright, director, and actors. Literary Manager Adam Richter will coordinate the series, which will be held throughout the season this year. Interested playwrights should submit their plays by Tuesday, Sept. 30, on ReadingTheaterProject.org. Selected plays will be announced in November 2025.

Returning this season are Storytelling Nights around the theme of ICON. Writers and performers will be invited to prepare stories around a theme for a public audience. Details and dates will be announced in the coming weeks.

Finally, Reading Reading, where they talk with local playwrights and read new plays, will air each Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. on BCTV, with new episodes airing every two months. It’s also available on the Reading Theater Project’s YouTube channel anytime.

More information about each production and ways to participate are available at ReadingTheaterProject.org.

All productions this season will follow the pay-what-you-will model: an audience member can choose their own price for a ticket, including $0. There is also a recommended price, and the company encourages those who are able to use the pay-it-forward price. This ticket pricing model is part of the Reading Theater Project’s Theater For All initiative to make theater more accessible to all audiences. Tickets are already available at ReadingTheaterProject.org or by calling 484-706-9719.

Productions this season have received funding from the Reading Musical Foundation and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, administered through Berks Arts.

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Source: bctv