First Peek 2023 May 20-21 at Atwater Village Theatre

We hope you can join us for our 13th Annual FIRST PEEK reading series featuring the brand new work of some of our member playwrights. Come participate in the process as we explore the creation of four new full-length plays.

(And on Friday, May 19 at 7:30 PM, check out Stages – Readings of Ten-Minute Plays and Monologues from seven PU playwrights!)

SATURDAY, May 20

5:00 PM – PERMUTATIONS by Jennifer Maisel

Bec, Morgan, Lola, and Cam are parent friends – you know, the friends you make because your children hang out together. Tonight’s challenge – a long overdue dinner where they can’t talk about the kids. Who knew life in the empty nest could be so… empty.

7:30 PM – VIRŌDHA by Victor Lesniewski developed with dramaturg/actor/activist Minita Gandhi

When Maya, a first-generation Indian American, learns about her daughter’s interest in activism, she is forced to reckon with her own apathy toward colonialism’s legacy.

9:30 PM (or immediately following the second reading) – 

Raise a glass with us at our Post-Reading Gathering (outdoors!)

SUNDAY, MAY 21

2:00 PM – THE SUNNY SURVIVAL CARAVAN! by Deb Hiett 

Fifteen years after the collapse of civilization, a misfit traveling band of musicians perform their relentlessly cheerful nostalgia show as they travel from settlement to settlement, throughout a decimated not-so-united states, sometime in the post-apocalyptic, climate-ravaged, accordion-filled future.

5:00 PM – TEMPORARY MEASURES: a play about legacy by Jennie Webb

Angel is a woman at a crossroads. She’s moved in to be with her dying father for his final days, but those days keep extending and now there’s no end in sight. TEMPORARY MEASURES is a dark comedy about legacy and the different shapes it can take when our journey is not straightforward. 

6:30 PM (or immediately following the second reading) – 

Raise a glass with us at our Post-Reading Gathering (outdoors!)

Admission to all FIRST PEEK readings is FREE; reservations highly suggested and donations welcome

Covid-19 Safety Policy: Playwrights Union requires masks be worn at all times inside the building.

M A K E  A  R E S E R V A T I O N

Atwater Village Theatre (AVT)

3269 Casitas Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90039

AVT is located at the Atwater Crossing Arts + Innovation Complex. Free Parking is available in the Atwater Crossing Parking Lot P1 on Casitas Avenue (south of Momed Restaurant, north of Minneapolis Street) and Parking Lot P2 (south of Minneapolis Street) as well as on the street.

Please note: AVT is on a street that does not connect to Glendale Boulevard (see map below). It’s accessible via Fletcher Drive, and from Glendale Boulevard via La Clede Avenue and Tyburn Street