EST/Sloan Project presents a Reading of

GOOD HAIR

written by Phaedra Michelle Scott

featuring Caturah Brown, Arshia Panicker, & Kedren Spencer

Told through three entangled timelines, Good Hair weaves together the lives of women and the central question: Does the cost of beauty outweigh the proof of science?

Rachel E. Winfield, Stage Manager

This reading will be held in-person at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. You can learn more about our current Covid policies and protocols here. Reservations are required.

Phaedra Michelle Scott is a playwright and screenwriter based in New York City. She is currently a member of Youngblood with Ensemble Studio Theater. Her recent work includes the Colt Coer podcast PLEASURE MACHINE. Her plays included DIASPORA! (commissioned by SpeakEasy Stage), GOOD HAIR (recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant). She is a past resident at SPACE on Ryder Farm for her play PLANTATION BLACK, and former member of Pipeline Theater Company's PlayLab. She is currently in development with CBS/Showtime for an upcoming television show. She is a crocheter, horror fan and obscure history enthusiast. She/Her/Hers. www.phaedrascott.com

EST/Sloan Project presents a Reading of

The Reservoir

written by Jake Brasch

directed by Dara Malina

A lost, queer, neurotic mess of a twenty-something moves home to get sober. Struggling with memory loss, he finds unlikely allies in his four grandparents.

This reading will be held in-person at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. You can learn more about our current Covid policies and protocols here. Reservations are required.

Jake Brasch (he/they) is a Queer + Jewish + Coloradan + Playwright + Composer + Performer + Clown. Proud member of Ensemble Studio Theatre's Youngblood, the 2021-2022 Art House INKubator cohort, The Farm Theater’s Development Workshop, and The LAByrinth Intensive Ensemble. Jake's work has been developed by The New Ohio, The Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Farm Theater, The Tank, Dixon Place, Curious Theatre Company, DSA at the Edinburgh Fringe, The 14th St Y, Planet Connections, and The New Studio on Broadway at NYU. Currently under commission from The EST/Sloan Project and The Farm Theater's College Collaboration Project. As a composer, Jake has scored several films, plays, and podcasts. BFA: NYU Tisch: New Studio on Broadway/Experimental Theatre Wing. jakebrasch.com

EST/Sloan Project presents a Reading of

Las Borinqueñas

written by Nelson Diaz-Marcano

directed by Rebecca Aparicio

This is the story of the first birth control pill mass trial and the Puerto Rican women that served as tribute for the miracle to occur.

This reading will be held in-person at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. You can learn more about our current Covid policies and protocols here. Reservations are required.

Nelson Diaz-Marcano is a Puerto Rican NYC-based theater maker, advocate, and community leader.

EST/Sloan Project presents a Reading of

The Moderate

written by Ken Urban

directed by Steve Cosson
featuring Victor Almanzar, Georgi James, Samuel H. Levine, Aurora Real de Asua, & Danielle Skraastad

Unemployed during a pandemic, and estranged from his wife and son, Frank accepts a job as a content moderator content for the world’s largest social media company. This job takes a heavy toll on Frank until he realizes he might have the power to save both a stranger and himself.

This reading will be held in-person at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. You can learn more about our current Covid policies and protocols here. Reservations are required.

Ken Urban is a playwright and screenwriter. His plays include A GUIDE FOR THE HOMESICK (Huntington Theatre Company, London's West End), THE REMAINS (Studio Theatre), SENSE OF AN ENDING (59E59 Theatres, London’s Theatre503), NIBBLER (The Amoralists and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), THE CORRESPONDENT (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), THE AWAKE (59E59 Theatres, First Floor Theater), and THE HAPPY SAD (Summer Play Festival @ The Public Theatre). Awards include Weissberger Playwriting Award, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Independent Reviewers of New England’s Award for Best New Script, Headlands Artist Residency, Dramatist Guild Fellowship, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, and MacDowell Colony Fellowships. He is a resident playwright at New Dramatists and affiliated writer at the Playwrights’ Center. Ken wrote the screenplay for the feature-film adaptation of THE HAPPY SAD, directed by Rodney Evans. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service. He leads the band Occurrence and their latest album I HAVE SO MUCH LOVE TO GIVE dropped last August. The band is currently finishing a new double album called SLOW VIOLENCE. Ken teaches dramatic writing at MIT. He taught writing at Harvard University, Princeton University, Tufts University, and Davidson College. His first TV pilot THE ART OF LISTENING was optioned by Madison Wells Media. Ken went to Bucknell University to study Chemical Engineering and left with a degree in English and a writing habit. He earned a Ph.D in English from Rutgers University. He lives in Washington Heights with his partner Johnny.

EST/Sloan Project presents a Reading of

Beyond Words

written by Laura Maria Censabella

directed by Linsay Firman
featuring Maggie Bofill, Carson Elrod, Michael Frederic, Patrick Halley, Wonjung Kim, Jason Liebman, & Alysia Reiner

Dr. Irene Pepperberg studies the cognitive and communicative abilities of Grey parrots in this offbeat and unexpected 30-year love story between scientist and research subject. What price does a woman scientist pay in trying to talk with the animals?

This reading will be held in-person at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. You can learn more about our current Covid policies and protocols here. Reservations are required.

Ms. Censabella’s play Paradise (IRNE Award Best New Play, Elliott Norton Nomination Outstanding New Script, Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Science Foundation Commission) made its sold-out U.S. west coast premiere in L.A. at The Odyssey Theatre (Viola Davis and Julius Tennon, producers) and premiered on the east coast at Underground Railway at Central Square Theater, as part of CST's Catalyst Collaborative@MIT science/theater partnership. She then wrote the screenplay for Vicangelo Films and JuVee Productions and an audio podcast version of the play opened LATW’s 2021-22 season. Ms. Censabella is the recipient of the $10,000 Saroyan/Paul Human Rights Playwriting Prize for her play Carla Cooks The War, three grants in Playwriting and Screenwriting from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and two Daytime Emmy Awards. Other plays and musicals have been developed or produced at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Philadelphia Festival Theatre for New Plays, the Women’s Project and Productions, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Portland Stage, the New Harmony Project, Gulfshore Playhouse, The Working Theatre, Luna Stage, Passage Theatre and Urban Stages, among others. She directs the Ensemble Studio Theatre Playwrights Unit and teaches at The New School, School of Drama where she received the Distinguished University Wide Teaching Award. She is a graduate of Yale where she studied with Wole Soyinka, Nikos Psacharopoulos, Michael Roemer, Anthony Davis and Henry Louis Gates, and is a proud member of HONOR ROLL! an action and advocacy group of women+ playwrights over 40.

EST/Sloan Project presents a Reading of

Circumstances Affecting the Heat of the Sun's Rays

written by Amanda Quaid

directed by Colette Robert
featuring Andrus Nichols, Will Dagger, Elise Kibler, Emma Kikue, Sean McIntyre, & David Shih

A story about amateur scientist Eunice Foote, one big discovery, scientific legacy, and ever-rising levels of carbon dioxide.

Mariel Sanchez, Stage Manager

This reading will be held in-person at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. You can learn more about our current Covid policies and protocols here. Reservations are required.

Amanda Quaid’s plays include The Clam (Playing on Air, a winner of the 2019 James Stevenson Prize), The Extinctionist (EST Marathon of One-Act Plays), and Echo and Narcissus (Red Bull Short New Play Festival). Libretto: The Extinctionist (upcoming at Heartbeat Opera). Screenplay: English. Other works have been read and developed by Colt Coeur, Culture Project, HB Playwrights, and the National Arts Club. Amanda also directed and animated an award-winning stop-motion short film called Toys, which was screened across North America as part of LUNAFEST.