Ego Actus, Joan Kane, and Bruce A! Kraemer are reacting to the fact that some theatres are producing all-male playwrights this season and do not have a single woman playwright in their schedules. This is unacceptable, so Ego Actus will present a series of readings, Women’s Drama. In our series, there will be only full-length plays by women playwrights.
graphic borrowed from AmericanTheate.org
The readings will be presented for FREE at the Episcopal Actors Guild, 1 East 29th St, NYC 10016 on Mondays in October and November 2025.
Ego Actus is presenting Women’s Drama entirely out of pocket and is grateful for any support. Donations may be made in cash or checks at the readings, or via our GiveButter campaign.
This QR code is a link to our GiveButter campaign.
Our playwrights will be Rebecca Lynn Goldfarb, Jessica Litwak, Sarah Congress, Margo Hammond, Judith Leora, and Joan Kane.
Our directors will be Rosie Corr, Joan Kane, Terry Hanson, tbd, Cat Parker, and Bruce A! Kraemer.
Our podcasts will be hosted by Laura Varela.
Impact by Rebecca Lynn Goldfarb
Free tickets are at https://ticketstripe.com/1of6Impact
Monday, October 6, 2025 at 7:00pm
photo credit Clark Van Der Beken
synopsis of Impact
Set against the backdrop of an upcoming Bat Mitzvah, this comedic drama—based on a true story—unpacks the emotional layers of a family confronting a shared trauma. It’s a raw, real, and unexpectedly funny exploration of how we come together as a family, when it matters most.
biographies for Impact
Rebecca Lynn Goldfarb (playwright & Sarah) is a multi-faceted artist dedicated to sparking conversations through her work. Most recently, her musical The High School Reunion That Never Should Have Happened premiered at Spark Theatre Festival. Newest endeavors on screen include two feature film roles in post-production, and a recurring character in Season 3 of Crash the System on Tubi and Apple TV+. Off Broadway: October 7, My Perfect Pet. Regional: Fiddler On The Roof, White Christmas for Gateway Playhouse, and Cinderella at Engeman Theater. TV: Elsbeth, The Daily Show, What Would You Do, Team Umizoom, and The Wonderpets. Much love to family, friends, and mentors. Please see www.RebeccaLynnGoldfarb.com and @rebecca.lynn.goldfarb
Rosie Corr (director) is a director, choreographer, and arts educator whose art centers consent, agency, and humanity. Rosie has worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, and everywhere in between. On Broadway, she assisted Tony-winner Warren Carlyle on Harmony. Rosie also worked as an associate for Marcia Milgrom Dodge, multi-time Helen Hayes winner, on the northeast regional premiere of Waitress at the Olney Theatre. Recent work: Nothing Like Broadway Off-Broadway, Kittens at the Hollywood Fringe, Best Musical Nominee, Healing Mined, a World Premiere at TheaterLab, Next Year In Connecticut Winner of Best Choreography, in SheNYC, Mere Waters in SheNYC, World Premiere Director-Choreographer. Upcoming: Mindy Kaling’s Matt And Ben at NuBox Theatre. Please see www.rosiecorr.com and @RosieCorr
Secret Agents by Jessica Litwak
Free tickets are at https://ticketstripe.com/2of6SecretAgents
Monday, October 13, 2025 at 7:00pm
image credit Anton Lammert
synopsis of Secret Agents
A Brother, A Sister, A Secret, and James Bond, a vivid fantasy life of secret agents, of promises for a brilliant and brave life ahead. This is a story about love and espionage in the time of AIDS.
biographies for Secret Agents
Dr. Jessica Litwak (playwright) is a recognized leader in the field of socially engaged theatre. She is an award-winning playwright, an actor, educator, puppet builder, a creative coach, and a registered drama therapist. Litwak has a BFA in acting from NYU, an MFA in playwriting from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Theatre as Leadership and Change. As a playwright and cultural critic, her plays have been produced Off Broadway and on stages across the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East. Her plays include: My Heart is in the East, The Emma Goldman Trilogy, and A Pirate’s Lullaby. As an actress, Litwak has performed extensively on stages across the U.S. and Europe. Litwak created the New Generation Theatre Ensemble, Artists Rise Up New York, and the H.E.A.T. Collective. Litwak is a core member of Theatre Without Borders and a Fulbright Scholar.
Joan Kane (director) is the founding Artistic Director of Ego Actus. She has performed her one woman play Almost 13 in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, getting a five star review. Joan directed Sycorax at HERE, Play Nice!at 59e59 theaters, I Know What Boys Want at Theatre Row, Six Characters in Search of an Authorin Oslo, Norway and Kafka’s Belinda in Prague. She also directed both Safe and what do you mean at 59e59 theaters and in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, getting four star reviews for each. Joan was awarded Best Director in the 2016 United Solo Festival. She was named one of the 2011 People of the Year in honor of her contributions to the NY theatre scene and inducted to the Indie Theatre Hall of Fame by nytheatre.com. Joan has also directed plays and readings at the Lark, Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Samuel French Short Play Festival, the Actors Studio, the Broadway Bound festival and many others. Joan graduated from the High School of Performing Arts, studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse and has an MFA in Directing from The New School and an MS in Museum Education from Bank Street College. Joan is a member of the playwright/directors unit of the Actors Studio, the League of Independent Theatre, the Dramatists Guild, New York Women In Film and Television and the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers.
Delulu by Sarah Congress
Free tickets are at https://ticketstripe.com/3of6Delulu
Monday, October 20, 2025 at 7:00pm
photo credit Jonathan Cooper
synopsis of Delulu
Is Deena’s house haunted? Or is she just being delusional? Jersey Shore human resources manager Deena has never lived alone. On the eve before her daughter leaves for college, Deena is visited by the presence of her abusive, alcoholic ex-husband Dougie. Desperate to pay for her daughter’s tuition and too frightened to live alone, Deena decides to list her basement on Airbnb. What follows is a harrowing tale of darkness, dismantling, destruction, and spirits.
biographies for Delulu
Sarah Congress (playwright) is a playwright and screenwriter. Her play Last Sunrise was produced by Nylon Fusion for their Gilded Age/Cage Festival at TADA Theatre in June 2025. Last Sunrise was presented with plays by writers John Patrick Shanley, Lyle Kessler, and Migdalia Cruz. Congress’s play Delulu is currently a semi-finalist for Centre Stage’s 23rd Annual New Play Festival. It is one of 40 plays from 800 submissions. She co-wrote the screenplay I Can’t Hear You! which won Best Comedy in the 2024 Jersey Shore Film Festival. Her play Overdose won 2nd place for Best Short in the 2023 Downtown Urban Arts Festival at Playwrights Horizons.
Terry Hanson (director) has directed several readings, including Glenn Alterman’s Nobody’s Flood, and Road to Babylon, and has directed off Broadway productions of Sympathy in C by Suzanne Mernyk. He has spent most of his life working in theatre as a director, actor, music director, orchestrator, and actor. He has toured nationally and internationally with over 30 shows. His hobbies include international travel and cooking.
8.64 Seconds, Common Era by Judith Leora
Free tickets are at https://ticketstripe.com/4of6CommonEra
Monday, October 27, 2025 at 7:00pm
synopsis of 8.64 Seconds, Common Era
It is a Tuesday night in the New Jersey apartment of Lindsay and Jake, and they can’t seem to settle on a movie for date night, and they also can’t seem to find their cat. As the night progresses, the party next door seems to keep spilling into their apartment as their neighbors invade their space in unsettling and surprising ways, which force them to confront the reality of their relationship.
biographies for 8.64 Seconds, Common Era
Judith Leora (playwright) recent productions include The Further Adventures of Tent Girl and Nazi Barbie in the Great Whatever at Hillsborough Community College, Showpony at the Victory Theatre Center which was an LA Times Critics Choice, Elijah at Victory another LA Times Critics Choice, a the Bristol Valley Theatre, Monologue Slam in the Women in Theatre Festival 2022 at Project Y Theatre, You, Me and Margaret Atwood a short play, Together LA Festival on Twitch, The Hierarchy of Fish a Farm Theater commission at Hillsborough, Shenandoah University, The Cookie Fight at BVT, Gideon presented by Ego Actus in NYC and at UMASS at Lowell, 2020 Project Y Playwrights Group. Judith is the Executive Director of New York Madness. Pleas see https://www.judithleora.com
David Shane (director)
The New Me by Margo Hammond
Free tickets are at https://ticketstripe.com/5of6TheNewMe
Monday, November 3, 2025 at 7:00pm
synopsis of The New Me
The New Me is a play about finding the real person behind the socially acceptable mask. To Danielle’s detriment, she has been squelching her true self to please her mother while her mother, Madeleine, has been hiding her own true self in order to keep up a good appearance. Amidst this madcap romp, the two women finally experience their true warrior selves and, consequently, discover the ability to get what they truly want out of life.
biographies for The New Me
Margo Hammond (playwright) plays have been presented in London, Milan, NYC, Colorado Springs, San Diego, Abingdon, VA, and at various other theaters across the U.S. Many of her plays are published by Smith & Kraus, Globe Pequot, and Applause Theatre and Cinema Books. Margo was the first Prize recipient of the Jerry Kaufman Award for Excellence in Playwriting 2016. Her play Horseshoe Empire received the J. Owen Grundy History Award 2023. Margo is a member of the Dramatist Guild, Actors Studio PDU, ARTC, LPTW (League of Professional Theatre Women), AEA, and SAG/AFTRA. Please see www.margohammond.com
Cat Parker (director) is a director, originally based in NYC but now settled in Toms River, NJ. Cat is the founder of Articulate Theatre Company, producer of the NYIT Awards, a CTI Producing graduate, member of the Indie Theatre Hall of Fame, and a Planet Connection’s outstanding director award winner. She is grateful to Margo Hammond for trusting her with this play, and to Ego Actus for constantly providing opportunities for theatre folks to ply our trade! As always, much respect and admiration for the actors who give heart, soul, and voice to this story.
In the Country of the Blind by Joan Kane
Free tickets are at https://ticketstripe.com/6of6CountryOfBlind
Monday, November 10, 2025 at 7:00pm
photo credit Akshat Jhingran
synopsis of In the Country of the Blind
This play is based on the short story In the Country of the Blind by H.G. Wells and tells the harrowing tale of a mountain climber, lost in an avalanche, who finds himself in a beautiful, isolated valley where the natives are completely blind and have been for generations. They have no words for sight or color or light, and are mystified when the mountain climber refers to these strange phenomena.
biographies for In the Country of the Blind
Joan Kane (playwright) is the founding Artistic Director of Ego Actus. She performed her one-woman play, Almost 13 in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, getting a five-star review. Joan has directed Sycorax at HERE, Play Nice! at 59e59 theaters, I Know What Boys Want at Theatre Row, Six Characters in Search of an Author in Oslo, Norway and Kafka’s Belinda in Prague. She also directed both Safe and what do you mean at 59e59 theaters and in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, getting four-star reviews for each. Joan was awarded Best Director in the 2016 United Solo Festival. She was named one of the 2011 People of the Year in honor of her contributions to the NY theatre scene and inducted into the Indie Theatre Hall of Fame by nytheatre.com. Joan has also directed plays and readings at the Lark, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Urban Stages, Workshop Theater, the Samuel French Short Play Festival, the Actors Studio, the Broadway Bound festival, and many others. She graduated from the High School of Performing Arts, studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse, and has an MFA in Directing from The New School and an MS in Museum Education from Bank Street College. Joan is a member of the playwright/directors unit of the Actors Studio, the Episcopal Actors Guild, the League of Independent Theatre, the Dramatists Guild, New York Women In Film and Television, and the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers.
Bruce A! Kraemer (director) is the producer of all Ego Actus shows. He wrote what do you mean which played at 59e59 Theater and in the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. His Identity Paper was in the 2016 United Solo Festival, and he co-wrote Kafka’s Belinda, which played in the 2015 Prague Fringe Festival and was nominated for an Inspiration Award. He has done lighting design for Roundabout Theatre and Soho Rep and has designed shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Ensemble Studio Theatre, 59e59 Theaters, HERE, the NYC Fringe, Theatre Row, and many others. Bruce also does TV and event lighting, audio, technical direction, stage management, production intercom, and RF coordination. He has done one or another of those for the Summer and Winter Olympics, the Paralympics, the World Cup, two Papal visits, three Superbowls, the Commonwealth Games, the Goodwill Games, six Tony Awards, the Grammys, three Video Music Awards, the WNBA All Star Game, the NBA All Star game, the NBA Draft, four NFL Drafts, the MLB Draft, ten Christmas Tree Lightings at Rockefeller Center, on Broadway, off Broadway, off off Broadway, for dance, fashion shows, art installations and hundreds of corporate events.