2026 Play Festival Reading Series
June 4-7, 2026
You are invited to the Play Festival Reading Series, featuring the four finalists of the 2026 Premiere Play Festival at the Bauer Boucher Theatre Center.
All 2026 Playwriting Awards for the Premiere Play Festival are being sponsored by the Masterwork Music and Art Foundation. The Foundation has long been a supporter of “excellence in the arts” and this marks the fourth Premier Award the organization has given and the first award of its kind for playwriting.
- Thursday, June 4 @ 7:00 pm
Everything’s Going My Way
Colin is a psychotherapist assigned to work with the volatile, complicated 17-year-old, Noah. As Noah rebels against the sessions, his mother clings to a belief that he can get better while Colin is drawn into a dangerous paternal protectiveness. Everything’s Going My Way compassionately explores masculine intimacy, the ferocity of motherhood, and connection in its most fragile and complicated forms.
- Friday, June 5 @ 7:00 pm
Red Bell
When ex-dancer Rina shows up at Hank’s gym wanting to learn how to box, she triggers a past trauma that she has struggled to leave behind. As she hurtles towards her first fight, Rina embarks on a journey that will forever transform who she is and who she will become. Red Bell is a wise, provocative play with a startling spin on the underdog narrative.
- Saturday, June 6 @ 3:00 pm
Biting the Hand
Chanelle grew up in Ready & Rising and proved the program had the power to change lives. When a public letter throws the organization into crisis, Chanelle finds herself caught between her mentor and maintaining her values. Biting the Hand is an urgent play about the coexistence of gratitude and grievance when trying to be a force for good.
- Sunday, June 7 @ 3:00 pm
Next/Life
In this surprisingly humorous and deeply sensitive play, Elise is facing the end of her life. That is, until an experimental drug trial puts her cancer in remission and reverses the aging process. Newly youthened, she sets out to build a new life for herself in this rapidly changing world, even as the things she knows and the people she loves begin to disappear.
You're invited!
Everything’s Going My Way
By Sophie Boyce
Thursday, June 4 at 7:00 pm
Red Bell
By Katherine Swan
Friday, June 5 at 7:00 pm
Biting the Hand
By Deneen Reynolds-Knott
Saturday, June 6 at 3:00 pm
Next/Life
By Matthew Capodicasa
Sunday, June 7 at 3:00 pm
To RSVP to attend the readings, please follow the link below and complete the Microsoft Form. You can also RSVP by emailing premiere@kean.edu or by calling the Premiere Stages administrative office at (908) 737-4092.