Arts and Entertainment

Reading of faculty member's play set May 29

A play reading in State College this month provides a preview of a three shows scheduled later this summer in New York City.

Penn State faculty member Pamela Monk has written “An Evening with Aphrodite,” and the preview reading will be conducted at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 29, at 417 Adams Ave. Tickets for the reading, which help support the play’s later showings, cost $10 and may be purchased at http://eveningwithaphrodite.weebly.com.

The play is scheduled as part of the Thespis Theater Festival and will be performed Aug. 12, Aug. 15 and Aug. 17 at Cabrini Repertory Theater, located at 701 Fort Washington Ave. in New York.

The festival is organized to bring the never-before-seen work of playwrights, directors and actors to stage in a way that might lead to future performances by presenting an opportunity to stage first-run plays for audiences to win prizes for best play and best actor.

For the preview of Monk’s play, Susan Reddiford Shedd will portray the goddess Aphrodite. Original music for the play is by Stacy Tibbetts.

Monk, a senior lecturer in the Department of Journalism, teaches courses journalism and magazine writing. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsday and The Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as in local publications in State College and in Ithaca, N.Y., where she lived before moving to State College.

She serves as faculty adviser to Phroth, the Penn State humor magazine, Valley Magazine and PSNtv, the student television network. In addition, Monk is a juried artist for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. In this capacity she has conducted playwriting residencies and freelance writing workshops in a variety of Pennsylvania public schools.

Last Updated June 2, 2021