MELISSA CRESPO, LARISSA FASTHORSE AND KYLE BASS, "DRAFT PAGES" COLD READ 2019. 
COLD READ FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS
When Kyle Bass introduced Cold Read in the 2016/2017 season, his goal was to invite audiences into the creative process of the playwright at various stages of a play’s development. This season the festival returns under the direction of associate artistic director Melissa Crespo. An ardent supporter of new work development, Crespo has expanded Cold Read. In addition to a line-up of exciting new work, she has invited leading theatre artists to participate in digital panels to examine the challenges and rewards of developing new work, which, as many play incubators around the country struggle, seems more important than ever.
READ THE DIGITAL PROGRAM HERE
Subscribers have access to the entire Cold Read Festival free of charge. Call the box office to book your tickets.
Non-Subscribers can purchase individual
event tickets for $5.
TICKETS BY EVENT:
WRITE HERE: The High Cost of Heating
Friday, October 21, 2022, 7:30pm
IN PROCESS: Our Words are Seeds
Saturday, October 22, 2022, 2:00pm
SOLO ACT: Untitled
Saturday, October 22, 2022, 7:30pm
DRAFT PAGES: The National Pastime
Sunday, October 23, 2022, 3:00pm
All live streamed panel discussions are free to the public, registration required.
FESTIVAL EVENTS SCHEDULE
TUESDAY
OCT 18
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
LIVE STREAMED PANEL DISCUSSION
“On The Future of New Plays”
This live conversation offers a rare opportunity to witness how creative artists envision a future and develop new work. How do these writers generate new ideas? What will playwriting look like in a post-COVID-19 America? How will their work impact the future of playwriting?
PANELISTS
Kyle Bass Resident Playwright of Syracuse Stage (Tender Rain, Possessing Harriet)
Melissa Crespo Associate Artistic Director of Syracuse Stage
Sarah Mantell Playwright (Everything That Never Happened, The Good Guys)
Paula Vogel Playwright (Indecent, How I Learned
to Drive, Pulitzer Prize Winner)
WEDNESDAY OCT 19
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
LIVE STREAMED PANEL DISCUSSION
PANELISTS
Maggie-Kate Coleman Playwright; Lyricist; Bookwriter (Jonathan Larson Award Recipient); Artistic Director of Polyphone Festival
Robi Hager Composer (Little Duende); Performer (Original Broadway cast of Spring Awakening)
Ben Holtzman Producer (Co-Founder of P3 Productions)
Sammy Lopez Producer (Co-Founder of P3 Productions)
Kathleen Wrinn Assistant Professor of Musical Theater (Syracuse University)
“Creating New Musicals”
What goes into making a new musical? From the classroom to Broadway, musical theatre creators discuss the trials and triumphs of what it takes to make a musical.
THURSDAY OCT 20
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
LIVE STREAMED PANEL DISCUSSION
"New Work for Young Audiences"
What does it mean to create and present theatre for young audiences and families? Why is it important to engage young audiences at an early age? Join us for a live discussion about the creation and future of Theatre for Young Audiences.
PANELISTS
Ty Defoe Playwright (Our Words Are Seeds); Performer; Composer
Dwayne Hartford Playwright (The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane); Artistic Director of Childsplay
Kate Laissle Associate Director of Education
of Syracuse Stage
Karen Zacarías Playwright (Native Gardens); Founding Artistic Director of Young Playwrights Theater
FRIDAY
OCT 21
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
LIVE STREAMED PANEL DISCUSSION
"On Theatre & Criticism"
Theatre has managed to scrape by in our ongoing pandemic, but with all of the challenges facing live performance, where does criticism fit? Join our live discussion about the state of theatre and how critics navigate an ever-changing landscape.
PANELISTS
Eric Grode Director of the Goldring Arts
Journalism and Communications Program at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of
Public Communications
Sarah Rose Leonard Freelance Dramaturg;
Co-Editor of 3Views
Brittani Samuel Freelance Writer;
Co-Editor of 3Views
7:30 PM
IN-PERSON READING
ARCHBOLD THEATRE
WRITE HERE
A reading of a new play by a local playwright
The High Cost of Heating
In Craig Thornton’s hilarious and chilling absurdist play, The High Cost of Heating, a seemingly affluent couple is disturbed by their large heating bill but quickly grow terrified as it starts to physically grow and take over their home. Familiar class issues of work, marriage, and lifestyle are pushed aside as more primal needs — for heat, shelter, and food — take over, in increasingly ridiculous and nightmarish ways. As a crypto-fascist army of marching salami sandwiches breaks into their home, the two are reduced to cawing like crows and feeding off croutons, with only their shared terror in the face of the unknown providing any sort of humanity… or hope.
FEATURING
Craig Thornton Playwright
Melissa Crespo Director
Erin Whyland Stage Manager
Ricky Pak as "Husband"
Whitney Tenney Pak as "Wife"
SATURDAY OCT 22
2:00 PM
IN-PERSON READING
ARCHBOLD THEATRE
IN-PROCESS
A new play in-process that will premiere later this season
Our Words Are Seeds
Our Words are Seeds explores the past, present, and future of Shenandoah, an Oneida Nation, non-binary, and self-proclaimed Indigi-nerd teenager, and their great-great-grandmother, who started their family calling of writing letters to the United States Government demanding land back. Watch as Shenandoah’s and their ancestors’ struggles intersect, and as Shenandoah connects with the Water of Onondaga Lake to find their voice and create a call to action for their generation to protect, defend, and acknowledge the Haudenosaunee Nation, their traditions, and the land we all share.
FEATURING
Ty Defoe Playwright
Joann Yarrow Director
Montana Adams Performer
Em Piraino Stage Manager
7:30 PM
IN-PERSON READING
ARCHBOLD THEATRE
SOLO ACT
An intimate workshop production of a new piece
Untitled
Written and performed by Jessica Bashline
Almost 10 years ago Jessica found herself on a journey, discovering the truth about the history of reproductive rights in Pre-Roe United States. Learning about the past allowed her to confront her own present, and ask questions about our future.
FEATURING
Jessica Bashline Playwright & Performer
Margaret Ledford Director
Audrey Flynn Stage Manager
SUNDAY
OCT 23
3:00 PM
IN-PERSON READING
ARCHBOLD THEATRE
DRAFT/ PAGES
A first-ever reading of a Syracuse Stage commission
The National Pastime
In 2017 the Houston Astros were stealing signs and banging on a garbage can. They would go on to win the World Series. In 2017, a mysterious illness that came to be known as Havana Syndrome started to attack embassy officials in Havana. Havana Syndrome would lead to the emptying of the American embassy in Havana. In The National Pastime, baseball and espionage come together in an atmosphere of secrets and paranoia.
7:30 PM
IN-PERSON EVENT
Free
THE FITZ
321 S. Salina Street
Syracuse, NY 13202
OPEN MIC NIGHT
Festival Closing Celebration
Come celebrate the end of the festival with our partner’s at The Fitz in downtown Syracuse for an evening of poetry and prose with students from the writing community at the YMCA's Downtown Writers Center.
ABOUT DOWNTOWN WRITERS CENTER
The YMCA's Downtown Writers Center is the CNY region's only community center for the literary arts, and hosts a wide variety of programs and events for wordsmiths and bookworms; creative writing workshops, readings by established and emerging poets and writers, and much more.
