Swimming the River

Foothill College will be doing a staged reading of Swimming the River, my second full-length play, on Wednesday, June 14. The playwriting instructor CW has been pushing for a new plays staged reading series for a while, and it's finally happening.

We've done cold readings of Swimming the River in class, but this will be the first staged reading. The difference is that a staged reading is rehearsed before it's performed. It won't be memorized, but the actors will be familiar with the text and will have done a rehearsal or two before the reading itself. There may even be props. In a cold reading, the actors have no preparation

In case you're wondering what it's about, here's a promotional summary of the play that I wrote:

In the back room of a convenience store, a new age in human history is about to begin. A traveler has built a portal through which the human race will make first contact with an alien civilization. Unfortunately, this civilization has sent as their ambassador the universe's most undiplomatic diplomat. After he commits a series of blunders, from giving out enriched uranium as gifts to accidentally attacking the White House, the result is not peaceful relations but a hostage situation, a new religion, and for one man, the biggest decision of his life. In the contemporary comedy "Swimming the River" we find out why pennies are valuable, why pandas are to be feared, and the role Christopher Marlowe plays in the rest of the universe.