Brooklyn Reading Works, the reading series I curate at the Old Stone House is really hitting its stride.
What began in a small South Slope cafe (Fou Le Shakra) is now welcoming audiences of 30 or more one Thursday a month at the beautiful and historic Old Stone House in JJ Byrne Park. This Thursday’s show may be the most ambitious yet.
Tonight, Cathy Caplan, a
playwright whose play, LAPIS BLUE BLOOD RED, was cited as one of the best
plays by women in 2002 and included in an anthology, will present a staged reading of the first act of her new play, MODEL.
In MODEL, a high end fashion photographer goes to a country house for a
weekend shoot, accompanied by the model, camera assistant, fashion
editor and her seventeen year old daughter. Inspired by photographs
from 1970’s Vogue magazine. Model examines the forging of a new
feminine ideal in the mid ’70’s. Sexual desires are played out in and
out of the frame. The taking of photographs within the play function
almost like songs in a musical–the set up and re-creation of these
actual photographs allow for little playlets within the play that
inhibit and exaggerate the emotional desires and needs of the people
making the images. With Lisa Dove, Greg Paul, Bess Rous, Dustin Smith
and Jess Weixler.
Ellen Ferguson, a former Park Sloper and gifted poet and short story writer will be giving a rare reading of her poetry.
The previous event, a reading by New York Times reporter Jesse Green and journalist Christina Frank of their essays from a new anthology about adoption called A LOVE LIKE NO OTHER: STORIES BY ADOPTIVE PARENTS, was very well attended and enjoyed by all.
Green’s essay about a same-sex couple who adopt two boys from Texas was a an illuminating and sometimes hilarious pieced called "The Day that Hallmark Forgot." And Frank’s piece about her endless ruminations about the mother of her adopted Vietnamese daughter was moving, wise and real.
In September, noted South African author Sheila Kohler read from her new novel, CROSSWAYS, which was just published in paperback. Matthew Zapruder, read from AMERICAN LINDEN, his first book of poems.
Also in September, Elizabeth Royte read from her book GARBAGELAND, ON THE SECRET TRAIL OF TRASH, her incredibly interesting and important book about what we leave behind.
Regina McBride, author of "THE MARRIAGE BED" read a beautiful passage from that novel complete with Irish brogue and scintillating language. Nancy Graham shared the first chapter of her work-in-progress novel and some of her Somniloquies, poetic experiments in writing while sleeping.
If you can get out for the evening, come on over to the Old Stone House. It’s free, refreshments are served, and you’re sure to have an interesting time. Spread the word. For more information about upcoming readings through June, go to the BRW web site.