We’re back!

When WRP introduced the $5 Play Reading Series debuting in 2019, our purpose was twofold: we wanted to offer WRP audiences an opportunity to hear new or seldom produced works, and we were looking for a vehicle to “audition” plays under consideration for future production on the main stage. The first season’s repertory offered drew from a broad range of classic and “soon to be classic” plays: Noel Coward’s Private Lives, Richard Greenberg’s Eastern Standard, Joe Gilford’s Finks, Deborah Zoe Laufer’s Sirens, and Theresa Rebeck’s Dead Accounts.

Audiences for the series has grown steadily, from a handful of guests for Private Lives and peaking with almost full houses for Finks and What the Butler Saw (2020). Sadly, the Covid-19 pandemic cut the 2020 season short, but WRP is already moving ahead with plans for 2021-22, and we look forward to breaking out the music stands and binders for another season of both premieres and classics for your listening pleasure.

Funded by The PEGS Foundation and The Akron Community Fund – Arts and Cultural Grant, the $5 Bucks Series is an important component of WRP’s stated mission to to engage, inspire, entertain, and challenge audiences, by celebrating the essential power of theatre created by local artists.

Thank you,

Jim Fippin

$5 Play Reading Series Coordinator