The Reading Theater Project has announced the next season of new and locally inspired theater, all centered around the theme of “Embracing Our Humanity.”
The season opens with “Proud,” a play by Judd Lear Silverman, a playwright based in Berks County. The play is set during a three-day traffic jam on the Schuylkill Expressway. A pride of peacocks, escapees from the nearby Philadelphia Zoo, were purposefully marching down the side of the highway on a top-secret mission. This is their story, from their POV, based on a true story. The production will be directed by Kimberly Patterson, and performed at the WCR Center for the Arts, 140 N. Fifth St., Reading, on Nov. 7-9 and 14- 6.
Following is the 11th annual 5-Minute Fringe Festival, this year with the theme of “Legacy.” Performers and playwrights from around the region push their personal creative boundaries to develop new work. Theater, dance, music, poetry and more will be presented in a showcase, opening Feb. 27, 2026, and playing through March 16 at the Yocum Institute for Arts Education, 3000 Penn Ave., West Lawn. The director of this year’s Fringe is Jewell A. Brown, and the stage manager is Sean Sassaman.
In the spring of 2026, a world premiere of “Banshee,” a play by Adam Richter, another playwright based in Berks County, will be produced. High above the River Bandon in Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland, Nancy Donough hears the cry of the banshee. But she’s not the only one to hear it — nor is she the only one to be haunted by the plaintive wail that reaches across generations. Jody Reppert will direct this new work, dates and location to be announced.
Our Play Reading Series, with the theme of “Disruption,” will feature three plays by local and regional playwrights. Each is performed as a staged reading followed by a facilitated talkback with the playwright, director, and actors. Richter will coordinate the series, which will be held throughout the season this year. Interested playwrights should submit their plays by Sept. 30 at ReadingTheaterProject.org. Selected plays will be announced in November.
Performing artists can audition to work with the company this year on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Holy Cross United Methodist Church, 329 N. Fifth St., Reading, parking and entrance at the rear of the building). For more information, visit ReadingTheaterProject.org. Interested theater technicians and designers should email info@readingtheaterproject.org or call 484-706-9719.
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Reading Civic Theatre will present its first Cabaret night since moving into the venue at 4350 Perkiomen Ave., Exeter Township, three years ago.
“A Cabaret of Favorites” will be performed on Sept. 12 and 13 at 7:30 p.m. and at 2 p.m. on Sept. 14. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by going to readingcivic.org.
The cast of 18 performers ranges in age from 14-22; they will perform selections from “Rent,” “Footloose” and “West Side Story.”
The production features Charlotte Baumgard, Edwin Rebeiro, Aleena Cabrera, Emily Klopp, Sheila Abreu, Ella Bednarik, Eliese Bortz, Jaydeanna Garcia, Miana Campbell, April Mendes, Janysha Martinez, Julius Campbell, Ava Fisher, Ava Kreiser, Evianna Jones, Jacob Galarza, Eli Rugh and Adam Tornielli.
Jeannette DeAngelo directs and produces this show along with Patrick Grinage (musical director), Samantha Grinage and Angela DeAngelo (choreographers), May Goebel (stage manager), Ed Stallman (set builder), Brandon Kegerize (technical director) and Linda Bechtel (costume director.)
Books
Susan L. Pena of Exeter Township has released “Letting Go of Forever,” a poetic memoir. She will be reading from the book and signing copies at Simply Bold Cafe, 550 Penn Ave., West Reading, on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. There is a $5 cover fee.
Pena, who has a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology from Dickinson College, has studied piano since the age of 4 and teaches private lessons.
Most of her career has been devoted to writing, as a copywriter for radio station WEEU then as a music critic and arts writer for the Reading Eagle.
She began to write poetry seriously in 2020. She has been published in the PA Bards Eastern Pennsylvania Poetry Review, the Schuylkill Valley Journal, the Bards Against Hunger 10th Anniversary Edition: An Anthology of National and International Poets and Gargoyle. She is president of Berks Bards, a poetry community located in downtown Reading.
Pena is married to Felix A. Pena. They have one daughter, Amanda Pena, and four grandchildren.
Art
The Foundation for the Reading Public Museum has announced the acquisition of a rare painting by the Pennsylvania and North Carolina artist Tulie Speight (1891–1976). It is the only known oil painting by her in an American public collection.
“Since our earliest days as an institution, we have actively sought out and collected works by women artists,” said Geoffrey K. Fleming, the museum’s executive director and CEO. “And we are delighted to have this painting become part of those rich holdings.”
Sister of the better-known painter Francis Speight (1896–1989), Tulie was born in North Carolina and first studied under Ida Poteat (1858–1940) of Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C., who turned the art department at Meredith into one of the most highly regarded in the southern United States.
Both Tulie and her brother would eventually go on to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia, where both would receive more than one of the institution’s prestigious Cresson Prizes, allowing the young artists to travel overseas to study in Europe. Between 1925 and 1930 Tulie Speight would travel regularly to Europe.
During her time at PAFA, Tulie Speight studied under both Hugh Breckenridge (1870–1937) and Cecilia Beaux (1855–1942), the first woman to teach full time at the school.
The painting acquired by the museum depicts a seated young woman who is identified either as Francis Speight’s wife, Sarah Blakeslee (1912–2005), who was also a well-known painter, or Margaret Speight (1889– 940), the older sister of Francis and Tulie.
“This new acquisition shows the strong influence of Breckenridge, with a myriad of small brush strokes and rich colors making up the composition,” said Scott Schweigert, the curator of art at the museum
When the painting arrived at the museum, the work had not been touched in decades and required some conservation and a new frame. Now complete, the museum hopes to have the work installed in the galleries in the near future so that visitors can enjoy this new addition to the collection.
For more information, visit www.readingpublicmuseum.org.
Music
Singer, songwriter, entertainer, writer, producer “East Side Dave” Kline, a Berks County native, handles the lead singing work for the latest single released on Aug. 8 by the European party-techno-dance band Rednex.
Known as the “Cotton-Eyed Joe” party band worldwide for their recording of the same name, Rednex producers, based in several different countries in Europe and Asia, found and recruited Kline to begin singing leads on their recordings in 2024.
Here is the link to a video for the song: https://youtu.be/9oQENaCUZP4.
“Poor Boy Pour” is a take on the classic Charlie Poole hillbilly song “Take a Drink on Me.” Poole was a popular American musician who performed old-time and hillbilly-country music between 1925 and 1930.
Kline asked his colleague and friend Dave Lewis, who has Gangsta Beagle Studio in Mount Penn, to step in as Kline’s vocal recording engineer. Kline and Lewis worked by computer with engineers in Europe and Asia to produce what was needed for the main lead vocal track of “Poor Boy Pour.”
The band is also working on creating a song for the annual EuroVision competition for 2026, and Kline and Lewis continue recording and performing for several other bands..
“Poor Boy Pour” has been released worldwide on all major digital download and streaming platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Apple iTunes, Spotify and Deezer.
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