Seven original short plays, written entirely by New Jersey playwrights, are about to get their first real audience. On Sunday, August 2, 2026, the Brook Arts Center in Bound Brook will host the inaugural Brook Writers Group Summer Reading Series, an evening built around live staged readings that mark months of quiet collaborative work finally reaching a stage and a room full of people willing to listen.
Doors open at 4:00 p.m., with the readings beginning at 5:00 p.m., inside a venue whose own history makes it a fitting home for a program dedicated to new work. The Brook Arts Center, located at 10 Hamilton Street in Bound Brook, has spent years serving as a cultural anchor for the surrounding region, and handing its stage over to a slate of never-before-performed plays fits naturally into that role.
What the Brook Writers Group Is Actually Building
The Brook Writers Group didn’t form to produce a single event. It was founded with a longer-term mission in mind, positioning itself as a regional theater incubator where emerging playwrights can develop new work in real collaboration with working actors, rather than refining a script in isolation and hoping it eventually finds its way to a stage. That distinction matters more than it might sound. A staged reading gives a playwright something a private workshop never can: the immediate, unfiltered reaction of an audience hearing the words spoken aloud for the first time, alongside the chance to hear how actors interpret dialogue that may have only existed on a page until that moment.
This August evening represents the first tangible output of that mission, and it’s an ambitious one for a debut. Seven separate short plays, each from a different New Jersey playwright, will get full staged readings in a single evening, giving audiences a genuine cross-section of what emerging theatrical voices across the state are actually writing right now.
The Plays on the Docket – Featured Playwrights and Lineup
- The Left Side of the Decimal Point by Benjamin V. Marshall
- Xmas Past by Brad Forenza
- Fing Shooie by Jeanne Johnston
- Autobiography by Amanda Woerner
- Laugh Therapy Failed by Amanda Lehman
- Wasteland by A.J. Ciccotelli
- Unpaired by Tom Cavanaugh
The lineup itself reflects real range, both in tone and in the writers behind it. Benjamin V. Marshall contributes “The Left Side of the Decimal Point,” while Brad Forenza brings “Xmas Past” to the stage. Jeanne Johnston’s “Fing Shooie” joins Amanda Woerner’s “Autobiography” on the bill, alongside Amanda Lehman’s pointedly titled “Laugh Therapy Failed.” A.J. Ciccotelli rounds out the darker end of the lineup with “Wasteland,” while Tom Cavanaugh closes the evening with “Unpaired.” Seven playwrights, seven distinct voices, and a single night to hear all of them read live by a cast of actors who have presumably spent recent weeks getting inside each script alongside the writers themselves.
After the Curtain, a Chance to Talk to the Writers Directly
The evening doesn’t end when the last reading wraps. Attendees are invited to stay for a complimentary Meet the Playwrights reception immediately following the performances, with wine, cheese, and light refreshments set out as the backdrop for a more informal conversation between the audience and the writers whose work they just heard performed. For anyone genuinely curious about how a short play makes it from a first draft to a staged reading, that reception is arguably as valuable as the performances themselves, offering a direct line to the people who spent months shaping the material into what audiences will experience that evening.
Getting In the Door
Admission to the event is free, with seating available on a first come, first served basis, so arriving with the doors at 4:00 p.m. rather than closer to the 5:00 p.m. curtain is the safer bet for anyone who wants a guaranteed seat. RSVPs are recommended, and interested attendees can reserve a spot by emailing Tom Cavanaugh directly, one of the evening’s own featured playwrights, at tomcav136@gmail.com.
For anyone with a genuine interest in where New Jersey theater is headed next, this is close to a firsthand preview. Seven playwrights, seven new plays, and one night at a historic Bound Brook venue built around the idea that the next generation of theatrical voices in this state deserves a real stage, not just a folder of unread scripts waiting for someone to take a chance on them.
