Salon Readings

by Allan Staples
directed by Pamela Berlin

After a traumatic incident at a Las Vegas sportsbook, bookmaker Ben begins to question his life. He starts studying Judaism with a noted rabbi and considers leaving for Israel to become a rabbi himself. But leaving would mean walking away from Casey, his old-school mentor and father figure, and Zoe, a sharped-tongue cocktail waitress with whom he shares a complicated relationship. Ben is clearly torn between two worlds and knows he must soon make a life-changing choice.

Location: West End Arts Center, 132 West End Ave, Long Branch

By Nicky Glossman
Directed by James Glossman

In the eerie quiet of Restoration France (1818), what begins as a simple job of art conservation pits two survivors of the Revolution –Madame Anne Dulac and Jean Howlitz– against their pasts and against each other. It is a reckoning that threatens not only what they each hold most dear, but also the very foundations of what this new world has forced them to become.

Location: West End Arts Center, 132 West End Ave, Long Branch

Written & Performed by Jason Odell Williams*
Directed by Charlotte Cohn

An unnamed tour guide leads the audience on a private tour through the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze. But as the guide shares the fascinating history and precarious physical condition of Michelangelo’s famous statue, the story becomes more personal as the guide reveals they have recently suffered a profound loss and believe the only way to heal is to destroy the world’s most beautiful work of art: Michelangelo’s David. Funny, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting, DESTROYING DAVID is an ode to the beauty, resilience, and power of art to help us through our darkest hours.

Location: West End Arts Center, 132 West End Ave, Long Branch

AHOY-HOY: A Play About That Relatable Feeling When Someone Else Invents The
Telephone Three Hours Before You Do

By Jenny Stafford
Directed by Matt DiCarlo

It’s 1876 and Elisha Gray is this close to inventing the telephone. He’s brilliant, anxious, and ready to make history — only if Alexander Graham Bell doesn’t beat him to it! A pair of oversized egos. One telephone. A battle of beards and bell tones. AHOY-HOY is a deliriously unhinged, unapologetic sprint through American ambition, innovation, and the absurd quest for legacy.

Location: West End Arts Center, 132 West End Ave, Long Branch