The Oven Reading Series: Night 1

THE OVEN is Personal Pizza Party's flagship program, a new works series produced in collaboration with The Elif Collective. Over eight weeks, our cohort of early-career playwrights came together to cook up new short plays and collaborate with members of our actor and director cohorts to further develop their scripts-in-progress. With a keen focus towards experimentation, collaboration, and fun, the Oven program encourages artists to forge new artistic relationships, push boundaries, and—of course—take some exciting whisks! 

The 2024 Oven Reading Series is made possible thanks to support from a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Grant. 

PLEASE NOTE: ONLY 3 OF THE 6 PIECES WILL BE PERFORMED EACH NIGHT. PLEASE READ BELOW CAREFULLY TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE GETTING TICKETS TO THE CORRECT PERFORMANCE.

NIGHT #1: JUNE 23, 2024 - EAST VILLAGE BASEMENT

Our Sunday, June 23 performance at East Village Basement will feature: 

AFTERIMAGE
by Enya Lu, directed by Steven San Luis

An unexpected love triangle emerges when a wife is tasked with training her husband's AI creation. 

(Featuring: Jon-Mykul Bowen, Alyssa James, and Joshua T. Piper) 

EXISTENTIAL CRISES 
by Celine Cheung, directed by Alexandra Haddad

After the end of the world, two exes, Eva and Aidan, are the only survivors left. Aidan wants to reproduce for the sake of the human race, but Eva doesn’t, because humans will just destroy the world again… and because of her trust issues.

(Featuring: Jackie McKenna and Ethan Peña Mock)

THE HALF-LIVES OF DIGITAL STARS 
by Lee Melillo, directed by Dylin Taylor 

If a washed-up, queer-baiting YouTube has-been dies of acute radiation poisoning in the green room of the Hilton Orlando and no one is around to like, comment, and subscribe—did they ever make a sound?

(Featuring: Jon-Mykul Bowen, Niraj Nair, and Kana Seiki)

NIGHT #2: JUNE 28, 2024 - THE BRICK AUX

Our Friday, June 28 performance at The Brick Aux will feature: 

YEAR OF THE DRAGON 
by Jason Wang, directed by Michelle Chan

Children born in the year 2000 are known as Millennium dragons. They are powerful, confident, ambitious, but have a predisposition to high blood pressure, ADHD, and being chased by a dragon for the rest of their lives. If you or a loved one are seeing dragons, call our hotline. Come to our play.

(Featuring: Niraj Nair, Joshua T. Piper, and Kana Seiki) 

WARM LIFE / AS IT SO COLDLY STANDS 
by Jaden Tyler Urso, directed by BT Hayes 

As a young woman slowly turns into a statue, her dearest friend learns the true meaning of an old folktale. A new fairytale inspired by Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale and the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, "Warm Life / As It So Coldy Stands" explores autonomy, grief, betrayal, and questions why we repeat the stories we already know the endings to. 

(Featuring: Alyssa James and Sophia Colón Roosevelt) 

OWL OF YOU
by Derick Edgren Otero, directed by Shayan Hooshmand 

Grandma is watching TV. Her grandson is watching her. A green owl is watching us all.

(Featuring: Jackie McKenna, Ethan Peña Mock, and Sophia Colón Roosevelt)