An Annual International Writer's Celebration

Little Festival of the Unexpected 2023

Digital on Demand Dates: TBD

About the Little Festival of the Unexpected

Little Festival of the Unexpected is an annual event that furnishes a supportive environment for playwrights to develop their work in rehearsal with professional collaborators, as well as a unique opportunity for audiences to catch a firsthand look at the creative process that brings scripts to the stage through public readings.

The Page Turners by Mallory Jane Weiss

Friday, April 21st at 7pm
Studio Theater
Tickets $13 in advance PWYC at the door

Director Lily Riopelle
Assistant Director and Dramaturg Audrey Erickson

Featuring: Katharine Chin, Ryan Nicholas Cooper,Tori Ernst (AEA), Laura King Otazo (AEA), Casey Turner, and Isabelle Van Vleet (AEA). 

About the play
Join us for a developmental reading of Mallory Jane Weiss’s The Page Turners Gold Prize-Winner of the Clauder Competition! In a fictitious-kind-of-1844-or-so, four somewhat-Victorian women, Kipper, Mary, Sadie, and Alice are “The Page Turners,” a book club determined to redeem themselves after their disgraceful showing at last year’s Book Club Conference. But being a woman who reads is not a simple life; and over the course of the year, they maneuver questions of guilt, motherhood, self, and, of course, propriety. The Page Turners questions how to shape our identities as women not by society’s rules but rather by the women we surround ourselves with, the choices that we make, and the books that we read.

This reading is a benefit to raise funds for our New Works programs.

Manning by Benjamin Benne

Friday, April 28th at 7pm
Theater for Kids Storefront Space
Tickets $13 in advance PWYC at the door

Director Alex Keegan
Assistant Directer and Dramaturg Rachel Ropella

Featuring: Annie Henk*, JL Rey*, Dario Ladani Sanchez*, and Julian Sanchez*

About the play
Join us for a developmental reading of Benjamin Benne’s Clauder Competition-Winning play Manning! After the death of his mother, Freddy and his father, Julio, spread her ashes in the garden, and a giant zucchini (that seems to have a heartbeat) sprouts overnight. Freddy calls his older brother Sebastian home to witness the vegetable, and also help take care of their father Julio, who seems to have lost the will to live. Sebastian brings his recently bonded red tailed hawk along and the two brothers try their best to coax their father out of his room. Can all three men develop a communal vocabulary to express their grief with each other?

This reading is a benefit to raise funds for our New Works programs.