New City Stage Company introduces the latest innovation in our programming with A Reading and a Feeding. As we continue to reinvent the way we bring new plays about politics and American history to the forefront of the Philadelphia theatre community, we decided to focus on an aspect that is extremely important to us — accessibility.

We have served over 25,000 unique patrons since our inception in 2006 and now over a decade later we would like to expand our programming to include as many patrons as possible, especially people who are not as familiar with the live theatre experience. We are doing this by removing one of the biggest barriers to entry — money.

Spending a night at the theatre can add up pretty quickly. By the time you factor in paying for parking and possibly a babysitter, plus dinner before the show and drinks after, you may not have enough money leftover for tickets, which can be quite expensive at some venues around town! Even those for whom money is not an issue, we're asking for a lot of your time, your most precious limited commodity, to travel to the theatre, spend a couple of hours listening to a bunch of people talk in the dark, and expect you to care about it. You're not talking or watching tv or on your phone or sleeping… you're voluntarily spending your free time with US.

You greatly appreciate those who have shared your time with New City Stage Company. That being said, when you have a great experience at the theatre, it's a night you'll often remember. You'll talk about the show afterwards and share the experience with friends, perhaps even encouraging them to have their own great night of theatre.

We want every night you spend with us to be a night to remember, and not just a night you'll tell your friends about but one where you'll socialize with your colleagues and perhaps make new acquaintances. We want the night to be a full of fun, food, socializing, impassioned discussion, and of course at least a little bit of lice performance to celebrate the great theatre community who have in Philadelphia.

And then we thought, hey, we're really into producing new plays and giving playwrights a place to develop their work (see our newly redefined mission statement and vision), and we'd really love to get feedback as we help develop this work towards it's penultimate goal: production. Plus, we love to cook and eat good quality food and share that meal with friends. Hence, A Reading and a Feeding was born!


So, What is a Reading and a Feeding?

A (meta)physical feast that combines our passion for theatre and food.

An event that combines our passions for theatre and food, this series is designed to introduce a new play we're developing while also creating a dialogue amongst our audiences. A Reading and a Feeding features a mouth-watering menu served by our artistic directors themselves. The meal is built around the reading of a new play and there is no ticket price involved. All you have to do is reserve your seat and show up!

Feed your mind and fill your belly!

All "A Reading and Feeding" events are FREE. That includes a fully prepared home-made meal with gourmet touches, lovingly cooked by New City Stage's artistic team. There are 4 courses that go before, during intermission(s), and after the reading. Drinks are available for purchase and libations are available by donation.

We stage a new play in it's earliest incarnation to test it for dialogue, story line, political content and timeliness, and to give the playwright a chance to hear it out loud, perhaps for the first time. The feedback we get from our audiences is critical to helping the playwright further develop the piece. Sometimes it takes dozens of rewrites to get a play ready to be workshopped. It's a fascinating process and one that many theatre-goers never see because its often behind closed doors. We want to give YOU the opportunity to be part of the alpha-omega incubator system: a method we are developing to create new classics in Philadelphia that will eventually be seen all over the world. Get in on the ground floor with the playwright and artistic team, and share your valuable feedback all while enjoying dinner and drinks with other theater enthusiasts.

There will be feedback cards available at the event and an email survey sent following the event. We may occasionally offer live talkback sessions with the playwright at future events.


Click here to learn more about our inaugural event, The Ideal Candidate on Tuesday, February 13.