April 27 - May 18, 2025
All Readings at 7:30pm
At The Bushwick Starr: 419 Eldert Street, Brooklyn
Free Admission | Tickets Available At The Door
Sunday, April 27: Escape from the City by Diane Exavier
Monday, April 28: floriography: a plant dance ritual by Mahayla Laurence
Sunday, May 4: Target Practice by Kara Hadden
Monday, May 5: MOTHER OF JUNK by Masha Breeze
Monday, May 12: I'm Not Even Half by Layla Khoshnoudi
Sunday, May 18: Hollow House by DN Bashir
The Starr Reading Series is a way for us to expand our community while we celebrate and explore the plays of the city's most exciting playwrights. We feature the work of a diverse group of writers at all stages of their careers who are approaching writing for the theater in thrilling and unexpected ways. We are proud to continue to offer this ongoing series to our audiences FREE of charge!
About the 2024 - 2025 Starr Reading Series Plays + Playwrights:
Escape from the City by Diane Exavier - Sunday, April 27
They and They—neighbors, confidants, co-conspirators—meet at their opposite windows daily to discuss how they might solve their current predicament: how to leave the City. Just when it seems like their dreams come true, the reality of their new lives stirs up questions about their values, politics, and erotic desires. An epic poem that becomes a play when people conspire, Escape from the City is an experiment in how we might rehearse relation, desire, and retreat.
Diane Exavier (She/Her) is a writer, educator, and facilitator obsessed with what she calls the 4 L’s: love, loss, legacy, and land. Author of the poetry collection The Math of Saint Felix and playwright of Bernarda's Daughters, Diane lives and works in Brooklyn.
floriography: a plant dance ritual by Mahayla Laurence - Monday, April 28
a participatory solo performance exploring the wisdom of plants and how they can help us re-align ourselves with the natural rhythm of our planet’s ecosystems. this is an invitation to grapple as a small community for an evening with our own habits of consumption and how we can forge more intentional community outside of capitalism through teachings from plant allies channeled by a queer, Black, astrology-obsessed Gemini with a penchant for the mystical and an unfortunate amount of intimacy issues! (like if Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass and Netflix's Our Universe had a theater baby and then you sprinkled in a dash of dance party and maybe a seance??)
Let's co-create a magic little potion for one night with each other with the help of plants, a little storytelling, and, of course, the power of DANCE! *jazz fingers*
Mahayla Laurence (They/She) is a Colorado-raised, Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist and educator. In addition to performing, they facilitate creative development programs at More Art and Ars Nova, teach playwriting to K-5th graders with Chautauqua Institution, and direct independent theater projects all over NYC. www.mahaylalaurence.com
Target Practice by Kara Hadden - Sunday, May 4
A thwarted confession. An anonymous poll. A bildungsroman about the most violent thing I’ve ever done, featuring slasher movies, metaphors, Columbine copycats, and my real-life girlfriend.
Kara Hadden (She/They) is a Brooklyn-based writer and dramaturg. Kara's plays have developed at The Brick, The Tank, Fresh Ink, First Kiss, Celebration Barn, and NYC Fringe. As a historical researcher, she’s supported projects with Jeff Augustin, Apple TV, Hulu, and Element Pictures. B.A. History and Theatre, Williams College. karahadden.com
MOTHER OF JUNK by Masha Breeze - Monday, May 5
My boss is dead, long live my boss! I am starting to wonder when someone will come get me. It smells like piss. What happens when you lock a trans woman and a gay guy in a rat-infested furniture store for a thousand years?
Masha Breeze (She/ Her) is a trans writer, actor, and comedian based in Brooklyn, NY. She is also the President.
I'm Not Even Half by Layla Khoshnoudi - Monday, May 12
I'm Not Even Half is the story of a woman's road to recovery after a possibly-brain-altering car accident dovetails with the Women LIfe Freedom movement in Iran, inciting a period of intense self-reflection. The journey is darkly comedic and full of painful discoveries, as well as deeply uncomfortable admissions. A solo show.
Layla Khoshnoudi (She/They) | Select Theater: Odyssey (The Acting Company); 7 Minutes (Waterwell/Working Theater); Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (WHAT); Gunch/Collision (Two Headed Rep); Will You Come With Me? (Play Company); Men on Boats (Clubbed Thumb); Dance Nation (Playwrights Horizons); Bull in a China Shop (Lincoln Center); Dido of Idaho (Ensemble Studio Theater); Nobody’s Girl (NJ Rep); Wyoming (Lesser America); I am Gordafarid (Noor Theater). TV: Instinct (CBS); FBI (CBS); All Hail Beth (BricTV), My Ex is Trending (YouTube). FILM: Long Nights, Short Mornings; Bad at Birthdays, Nadia Jaan; Androgen; Bookends. MFA in Acting, Brooklyn College.
Hollow House by DN Bashir - Sunday, May 18
It’s a mid-19th century house, now a Hudson Valley farm-to-table restaurant. Liam and Madeline, former Brooklynites, own it. Keisha and Dante, Hudson Valley natives, work there. Zoe’s coming back—famous now. A riff on Variations on a Theme meets The Cherry Orchard, Hollow House fractures time, layering surreal interruptions with sharp commentary on history’s grip on the present. Talking animals, a prison break, and unspoken power dynamics erupt as fragile civility crumbles. Hollow House interrogates the stories we repeat and the systems that hold us captive.
DN Bashir (She/They), playwright and Bard College professor, creates work blending traditional and experimental forms across stage and digital media. A MacDowell Fellow and Helen Merrill Award recipient, their incisive narratives critique marginalization and explore abolitionist praxis. Bashir’s plays and films have been showcased internationally, bridging gaps to reimagine transformative futures.
A note from our Curators:
“We continue to carve out a special place for artists to explore and develop their raw ideas and impulses. The Starr Reading Series is centered on adventure, exploration, mystery, risk and discovery. We are passionate about giving artists support and room to do their thing-- whatever that “thing” is.”
Machel Ross, Jehan O. Young, Elizagrace Madrone and William Burke
The Reading Series is a submission process by-invitation-only due to staff capacity The best way to be invited is to help us to get to know you and your work. So come check out Starr shows and readings, introduce yourself to us, invite us to showings of your work, etc. If you have any questions, please email us at srs@thebushwickstarr.org.
Past Participating Playwrights:
Renee Roden, John Budge, Stacey Rose, Brian Lawlor, Julia Jarcho, Jenny Schwartz, Megan Murtha, Jessica Almasy, Mallery Avidon, Clare Barron, Eliza Bent, Frank Boudreaux, William Burke, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Erik Ehn, Ben Gassman, Kathryn Hathaway, Hansol Jung, Paul Ketchum, Maya MacDonald, Christina Masciotti, D.J. Mendel, Gregory S. Moss, Paz Pardo, Jonathan Payne, Max Posner, Chip Rodgers, Normandy Sherwood, Mark Sitko, Ariel Stess, Katie Ka Vang, Leah Nanako Winkler, Moe Yousuf, Phillip Howze, Kate Attwell, Kate Scelsa, Eboni Booth, Karinne Keithley, Casey Llewellyn, Zoe Geltman, Haruna Lee, Jillian Walker, Cara Scarmack, Nina Segal, Ramiz Monsef, Agnes Borinsky, Javier Antonio González, Ignacio Lopez, Lisa Clair, Melisa Tien, Kate Dakota Kremer, Corinne Donly, Whitney White, Jeesun Choi, Emily Gardner Xu Hall, Carlos Sirah, Jonathan Payne, Diane Xavier, Seonjae Kim, Georgina Escobar, Raquel Almazan, Nia O. Witherspoon, AriDy Nox, Alexis Roblan, Lucas Baisch, Nazareth Hassan, Ren Dara Santiago, Nora Sørena Casey, Julia Izumi, Ro Reddick, Nkenna Akunna, Amara Brady, Ife Olujobi, Marissa Joyce Stamps, Alba Delia Hernández, Divya Mangwani, Daniella De Jesús, Maya Lawson, Jesús I. Valles, Nia Calloway, Michael Oluokun, Lily Gonzales, Deneen Reynolds-Knott, Aeon Wade Andreas, Utkarsh Rajawat, Avi Amon and Genevieve Simon
The Starr Reading Series is made with support from: The Anthony A. Sirna Foundation and The Axe-Houghton Foundation