News: Theater Resources Unlimited Announces Two Virtual World Premiere Readings


Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) has announced the first virtual presentation of its
2020 TRU Voices New Plays Reading Series, presented with generous support from The Storyline Project. The series, a benefit for Theater Resources Unlimited to help make up for financial losses due to COVID-19, will take place on Sunday, June 14, 2020 at 2:30pm EDT and on Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at 2:30pm EDT. Information and ticketing can be found here. 

The series will comprise world premiere readings of two timely and resonant plays: No Entry, by Marc Paykuss, which follows Jews who were displaced after being liberated from Nazi camps and placed in interim detention camps, and Disbelief, a Cassandra Tale, by Garret Jon Groenveld, which uses the Cassandra legend to catalog the struggle of women being believed and having their voices heard.

This year's TRU Voices Series is being performed under an agreement with the Performers' Unions through the Theatre Authority. Tickets are being offered for free during this time of crisis, with the hope that those who are able will support TRU with tax deductible donations.

World Premiere Reading: Sunday, June 14 at 2:30pm EDT 
No Entry
Written by Marc Paykuss
Produced by James Simon
Directed by Melody Bates

No Entry is a fictional historical play centering around a group of liberated Polish Jews in a displaced persons camp, facing the challenges of rebuilding their lives, and waiting for the world to open its doors to them.

World Premiere Reading: Wednesday, June 17 at 2:30pm EDT
Disbelief, a Cassandra Tale
Written by Garret Jon Groenveld
Directed by Jess Cummings

Disbelief is the story of Apollo's gift to Cassandra, rethought for today, from her point of view. This updated telling adds a contemporary perspective on how women are perceived and controlled and disbelieved (or dismissed). Scintillating language explores the parallels of belief in a higher power with belief in a powerful man, versus a woman of power, struggling to be believed. And for the first time, the two most famous women of the Trojan War, Helen of Troy and Cassandra, actually speak to each other, without a man around at all. The play draws a gentle parallel to our 2016 election, and a candidate who told the truth and was systematically undermined and disbelieved. 

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