New Play: THINGS WITH FRIENDS

Participate in a talkback after the reading on Sunday, June 2 at 3PM and share your thoughts on the show with the creative team!

Adele and Burt throw a dinner party for their dearest friends. The George Washington Bridge and Brooklyn Battery Tunnel have collapsed into their respective rivers. The steak is on the stove.

About the Creative Team

Kristoffer Diaz (writer)

Kristoffer Diaz is a playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and educator based in South Orange. His play The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. His full-length plays and musicals (including Welcome to Arroyo’s, Hercules, Reggie Hoops, and The Unfortunates) have been produced, commissioned, and developed at The Public Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Geffen Playhouse, ACT, Center Theatre Group, The Goodman, Second Stage, Victory Gardens, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, among many others. He has won the the Guggenheim, Jerome, Van Lier, NYFA, and Gail Merrifield Papp Fellowships, along with New York Times Outstanding Playwright, Lucille Lortel, Equity Jeff, and OBIE Awards.  Additionally, Diaz is a Future Aesthetics Artist Regrant.

As a screenwriter, Diaz has developed original television pilots for HBO and FX, written for the first season of Netflix’s GLOW, and adapted the musical Rent for FOX.

Diaz holds a BA from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, an MFA from NYU’s Department of Dramatic Writing, and an MFA from Brooklyn College’s Performing Arts Management program. He teaches playwriting at New York University. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists and a member of its Board of Directors, a member of the Dramatists Guild Council, and a member of the Writers Guild of America, East.

Diaz’s future projects include Reggie Hoops at Profile Theater in Portland and Hell’s Kitchen on Broadway.

Meet the Cast

The cast for this production will include Broadway talent and an older teen played by a local high school or college student.

Check back here for the cast announcement!

Audition Information for High School & College Students

If you are interested, please email a recent photo and theater resume (if you have one) to soma@ebcastingco.com, with the subject line SOMA backStage [ROLE].

SEEKING

• JOONY (female; late teens-early 20s).  A rich kid who thinks they will live forever, so why not do something dangerous at all times.  A vegetarian.

For more information on the auditions, please visit ebcastingco.com.

About SOMA backStage Reading Series

The SOMA backStage Reading Series emerged from SOPAC’s Creative Community Brain Trust contributor Dana Spialter and her local theater company SOMA Stage. Throughout the series, creatives will present readings of new plays and musicals written by or starring South Orange and Maplewood’s (SOMA’s) theater professionals in the Loft at SOPAC. Audience members can join in on the creative process at talkbacks following the matinee readings and share their thoughts on the new works with the creative teams.

About SOMA Stage at SOPAC

Creative Community Brain Trust contributor Dana Spialter and her local theater company SOMA Stage proudly support and partner with SOPAC.  SOMA Stage is a new non-profit theater company based in the South Orange/Maplewood (SOMA), NJ area that provides our many local professional theater artists with a creative home in their backyard and allows our community to support and enjoy the talent of their neighbors.

Accessibility & Accommodation

If you or a member of your party needs assistance, please notify SOPAC at the time your tickets are purchased. Contact the SOPAC Box Office at (973) 313-2787 or boxoffice@SOPACnow.org.