PlayLabs / MCC Theater

MCC

The Judith Champion PlayLabs Reading Series at MCC Theater helps foster the MCC artistic community by providing writers intensive dramaturgical support, as well as the opportunity to work alongside professional directors and actors to engage public audiences in the development of new work, with a goal of adding vibrant new works to the contemporary theatrical canon.

Each reading will be presented in the Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater at the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space and followed by a small reception. All readings in the series are free and open to the public. Space is limited and seating is general admission. Reserve tix for each show below.

The Judith Champion PlayLabs Reading Series is funded through generous support from the Judith Champion Charitable Fund and Mel Litoff.

ABOUT JUDITH CHAMPION

JUDITH CHAMPION (1940–2022) was an accomplished violinist, architect, and passionate patron of the arts whose legacy continues to shape the future of American theater. Born in Tel Aviv and educated in London and New York, she studied violin at Juilliard before earning a graduate degree in architecture from Columbia University and founding the AFR Group. A lifelong supporter of artists and new work, Judi believed deeply in nurturing playwrights so that theater could flourish for generations to come. Today, her partner, Mel Litoff, continues that commitment through the Judith Champion Charitable Fund, supporting the development of new work across New York City. MCC Theater is honored to carry forward her legacy through the Judith Champion PlayLabs Reading Series.

260406_MCC_JudithChampionReading_Card_v01 (1)

MY LOVE MY LOVE

by JUSTICE HEHIR
directed by JOAN SERGAY

MAY 4 at 6:30 PM

In 2012, Jane and Eric are scene partners for their college intermediate acting class.

In 2022, Jane is dead and Eric is doing community theater in Pittsburgh.

A play about all that we wish for ourselves and each other.

REGISTER

260406_MCC_JudithChampionReading_Card_v02 (1)

IS CRY YOU CRY'N?

by DHARI NOEL
directed by MARISSA JOYCE STAMPS

MAY 11 at 6:30 PM

Grace is staging a green-card wedding: Tashie–recently coming from Trinidad with her son Likkle–is marrying her Americanized “cousin” Nap. Nap is bringing his “friend” as a witness. Four fraternity pledges are preparing for their last night of hell week before becoming full-fledged brothers: they make dances, crack jokes, and test one another. Both stories take place in the same basement, blurring the lines of identity, time, and belonging. “If cat mek kitten in an oven does that make it bun?” is a Trini saying our mothers might tell us when we dare suggest we are not really Trini. Is Cry You Cry’n? is about the dream this proverb aspires to make real.

REGISTER

260406_MCC_JudithChampionReading_Card_v03

AT THE CONFLUENCE OF CREEKS

by SAM MUELLER

MAY 18 at 6:30 PM

Caleb is back at his family’s hunting cabin in rural Wyoming for the first time in a decade. He hasn’t been since he came out as trans but his estranged brother, Cain, has invited Caleb to come along for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hunt a bighorn sheep. Little do they know, there’s a bighorn sheep nearby pulling off his limbs and morphing into a man. The brothers are too busy collapsing under the weight of things they won’t say to each other to notice they might be the ones being hunted. At The Confluence of Creeks is a play that asks just how much weight an olive branch can withstand.