All staged Readings begin at
​5 p.m.

Admission: Free (donations are always accepted!)

In conjunction with MadLab's 2017 - 2018 full-length season featuring all female playwrights, MadLab presents a series of staged readings by female playwrights throughout history.

Previous Productions

August 19th - The Belle's Strategem by Hannah Cowley 
Directed by Amy Drake

Set in 1780s London, The Belle's Stratagem is the tale of Letitia Hardy, promised to the charming Doricourt whom she hasn't seen since childhood. Her plan to enchant him with her wit and charm is turned upside-down when she discovers she's fallen madly in love with him, and he seems quite unmoved by her. Desiring to marry a man who adores her equally, she plans a bold deception--to have love as she likes it. ​

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October 7th - In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) by Sarah Ruhl 
Presented in conjunction with Tipping Point Theatre Co.  It is the 1880s, and Dr. and Mrs. Catherine Givings live in a beautiful, seemingly sensible Victorian home, where Dr. Givings also runs his private medical practice. Electricity is still a novelty, and as the intelligent and free-spirited Mrs. Givings cares for her new child under the bright glow of a floor lamp, something else is buzzing in the next room. Dr. Givings, a kind -- if overly analytical -- scientist, has invented a device to relieve “hysteria” in both men and women. The brilliant new device is a vibrator (though Dr. Givings refers to it euphemistically as a “machine”). When Elizabeth, a grieving wet nurse, is brought in to care for the Givings’ baby, and Mrs. Sabrina Daldry, an anxious, depressed patient arrives for treatment, the Givings are forced to confront the realities of their marriage, their love for one another, and the nature of intimacy-- all without the help of an electrical current. Provocative, moving, and utterly charming, Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room is a comedy about passion, true love, and orgasms.

Cast:
Dr. Givings: Stefan Langer
Mrs. Givings: Emily Turner
Leo Irving: Travis Daniel Williams
Sabrina Daldry: Catherine Cryan
Mr. Daldry: Ken Erney
Annie: Laura Dachenbach
Elizabeth: Sermontee Brown

Director: April Olt
Stage Manager: Barb Shoulders

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December 2nd - Cloud Nine by Caryl Churchill
Directed by Tay Lane  

A biting tale of Hypocrisy and Repression (both Colonial and Sexual) told by a gender bent cast of characters who traverse 100 years (from 1800s Victorian Africa to late 1900s London) while only aging 25.

Cast: 
​ACT I
Clive – Scott Douglas Wilson
Betty – Melissa Bair
Joshua – Dallas Ray
Edward – Jessica Gibson
Maud – Randi Morgan
Ellen – Kyle Jepson
Mrs. Saunders – Ella Palardi
Harry Bagley – Michael Moore
Sound effects – Karen Perta

ACT II
Betty – Kyle Jepson
Edward – Scott Douglas Wilson
Victoria – Jessica Gibson
Martin – Michael Moore
Lin – Karen Perta
Cathy – Dallas Ray
Gerry – Melissa Bair
Maud – Randi Morgan
Announcer/Soldier Bill – Ella Palardi