Workhouse Theatre Company (WTC) continues its popular play reading series from the Greenhouse Project, their script development program for playwrights with ties to Minnesota. The readings are free and open to the public, and held on the second Monday of each month at the Capri Theater, 2027 W Broadway Ave. February’s reading will be TV Boyfriend, by WTC’s own playwright-in-residence, Matthew Everett, directed by Lucas Skjaret. There will be a discussion after the reading with the cast and playwright. If you haven’t attended one of the readings before, the discussions can be the most fascinating part of the evening, allowing the audience to give feedback to the playwright.
Synopsis: Jake Gilmore, 24, is an Olympic free-skier on the X-games circuit about to come out of the closet in a very public way. Ken Markus, 48, is a gay playwright who’s been out longer than Jake has been alive. Despite differences in age, experience and profession, the two men have formed a loving relationship which has somehow survived a year in the closet. Coming out to family and friends may prove just as treacherous. The play TV Boyfriend alternates between two timelines – the events in the present surrounding Jake’s coming out, and the night Jake and Ken first met, which turned into a long weekend together forming the foundation of the relationship that prompted Jake to step out of the closet and into the light.
Matthew Everett is Playwright-In-Residence at Workhouse Theatre Company and moderator of their Greenhouse Project monthly new play reading series. He is the recipient of a Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Writing for the Theater (for Heaven and Home), and a three-time recipient of support from the Minnesota State Arts Board – a 2007 Artist Initiative Grant (for Love’s Prick), a 2002 Career Opportunity Grant (for The Hopes and Fears of All The Years), and a 1999 Theater Arts Fellowship (for Leave [The Surface of the World]). Excerpts of his work are published in three volumes of the Audition Arsenal series, and The Playwrights’ Center’s Monologues for Men. He is also a member of the Dramatists Guild and a compulsive blogger about the Minnesota Fringe Festival in particular, and theater in the Twin Cities in general. He holds an MFA in stage management from the Yale School of Drama. Find sample scenes, monologues and info on Matthew and his work at matthewaeverett.com.
For info on the Greenhouse Project, upcoming theater classes, and WTC’s search for a new performance space, check out workhousetheatre.org.