Sparking Up

Crowded Fire Theater Company is in the business of setting the local theater scene alight with productions of bold, new plays. Stirring the embers further, the company presents a festival of staged readings of plays in development for the 2008 season. The lineup for the two-day Matchbox Reading Series includes work by some of the company’s favorite collaborators like Liz Duffy Adams and Erik Ehn in workshop productions directed by some of the Bay Area’s most talented directors. Adams’ The Listener, directed by Kent Nicholson, takes a Vonnegut-like look at the future of planet Earth -- in particular, the mad inhabitants of one Junk City. In Stephanie Fleischmann’s My Name Is Vera Cupido, a 23-year-old woman struggles to reconcile the past with the present on the anniversary of the death of her beloved; Octavio Solis directs. Lizz Edele’s About the Dogs, directed by Jessica Heidt, explores a wealthy family’s attempt to cope with the death of their anorexic teenage daughter. Ehn rounds out the program with his as-yet-untitled new play, staged by Rebecca Novick. Theatrical sparks fly at the festival bonfire, which takes place on Aug. 18 at Ocean Beach, following a performance of Fleischmann’s play.
Sat., Aug. 18; Sun., Aug. 19, 3 p.m.