The Reading Theater Project has announced the cast and performance details for Prospect Hill by Bruce Walsh, the second staged reading in the Play Reading Series: Wonder. The reading will take place Thursday, April 25, 2024, 7pm at GoggleWorks Center for the Arts’ Boscov Theatre, 200 Washington Street, Reading, Pa. Free parking is available behind the building.
Kimberly Patterson direct’s Walsh’s Prospect Hill, which takes place in a Midwestern college town. Jacob runs an in-home, sliding-scale counseling practice, partly underwritten by Rex, his well-to-do husband. But when Rex sets his savior complex on Ethan, Jacob’s working-class, drug-addicted client, the couple’s relationship fractures — then suddenly flourishes — as all three men wrestle their addictions, grievances, false idols, and yearnings for a higher power.
The play was a Terrence McNally Award Finalist in 2021 at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. The cast features Lady Strongman as Jacob, Jeff Shannon as Rex, Kyle Conrad as Ethan, with Kevin Wade and Rob Weidman in supporting roles.
Playwright Bruce Walsh’s works have been produced around the country, winning the Heideman Award, the Gary Garrison National Ten Minute Play Award, and the Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition. He will be a William Inge Center Playwright-In-Residence in 2025. He teaches literature and creative writing at Messiah University, as well as theater at Elizabethtown College.
Our Play Reading Series this spring connects to the season’s theme of “Wonder” and features four plays by local and regional playwrights. Each is performed as a staged reading followed by a facilitated talkback with the playwright, director, and actors.
The other Play Reading Series performance dates are: Thursday, May 9, 2024, 7:00pm – Banshee by Adam Richter, Directed by Sean Sassaman and Thursday, May 16, 2024 at 7:00pm – Arachnothology (A Study of Spiders) by Kimberly Patterson, Directed by Andrea Kennedy Hart
Like other productions, the Play Reading Series will follow the Pay What You Will Model: an audience member can choose their own price for a ticket, including $0. The recommended price is $10, and we encourage those who are able to pay the $20 Pay It Forward price. This ticket pricing model is part of the Theater For All initiative to make theater more accessible to all audiences.
Tickets are already available at readingtheaterproject.org or by calling 484-706-9719.
The Reading Theater Project is a locally-focused theater company, based in Reading/Berks County, PA. We value collaboration and creative challenges and believe theater is an inclusive experience that can reveal our shared human condition.
