Southern Rep to Read AN OUTOPIA FOR PIGEONS as Part of 'Pints & Plays' Series, 3/18

Southern Rep continues its "New Plays New Orleans" mission with PINTS & PLAYS, a reading series presented monthly at the Rusty Nail that features selected works read by local actors. This month's reading is AN OUTOPIA FOR PIGEONS by Justin Maxwell. Next dates: April 22 Permanent Collection by Tom Gibbons and May 20 PLUTO by Steve Yockey. PINTS & PLAYS takes place this month on March 18th, at 7:30pm. Our partner on this new project is The Rusty Nail, 1100 Constance Street, New Orleans, LA. Tucked away on the edge of The Warehouse District, The Rusty Nail can be a bit hard to find. But it's definitely worth looking for!

"PINTS & PLAYS riffs off this vision I have of plays being read surrounded by a feisty, rowdy, beer-swilling audience that shouts back at the stage and interacts with the art. New play development can feel so precious and protected. We wondered what it would be like to share stories with an empowered audience...sort of like a throwback to the groundlings of Shakespeare's day. So often our audiences are so polite and respectful...and I sometimes sense we are being "Good Work-ed" to death as theatremakers. So PINTS & PLAYS is in a sense an experiment in audience/ author/ actor interaction. We look forward to seeing how this program will develop..." --Aimée Hayes, Producing Artistic Director

AN OUTOPIA FOR PIGEONS by Justin Maxwell
Martha Washington is a passenger pigeon desperately trying to save her species by building a Foucault-inspired outopia-a non-place. After all, hunters can't find a non-place, so if you're hiding in one, you're safe, you can't be found. Her non place is An Outopia for Pigeons. Assisting her in this endeavor is a sperm whale named Charles Bronson; a whale so tough they named the toughest actor of all time after him. She is also assisted by Cotton Mather; he's a 300 hundred year old Puritan minister and witch dealer-with-er, but he has problems of his own.

Justin Maxwell's AN OUTOPIA FOR PIGEONS will be performed in Minneapolis by Swandive Theatre in November of 2013. His play YOUR LITHOPEDEON is forthcoming from Indie Theatre Now, and his work has been performed in Chicago, Minneapolis, NYC, and across Canada. His prose has appeared in various journals, including Contemporary Theatre Review, American Theatre, and Minnesota Playlist. Justin is an assistant professor, teaching playwriting in the MFA program at the University of New Orleans.

The reading will take place on Monday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is FREE. For more information, visit www.southernrep.com.

Southern Rep Theatre enters its 26th season as the region's premiere professional theatre, producing bold world and regional premieres under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director, Aimée Hayes. In addition to Southern Rep's ongoing commitment to new play development with exciting programs like the 6X6 Play Slam and its PlayLab, DEBAUCHERY, and The Ruby Prize, the company's Mainstage work includes the best of Broadway, off-Broadway and classic plays. Southern Rep offers educational programs such as YO NOLA, free student matinees,$10 student rush tickets and AcademySRT; as well as providing an artistic home to new works in development in the annual New Play Bacchanal.