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A world premiere reading of an original show thanks to the generosity of the Del Shores Foundation!

BRIDGE

STAGED READING

Written By Conner Douthit

In association with the Del Shores Foundation
Sponsored by Philip Wm. McKinley & David A. Manning, McKinley/Manning Foundation

Saturday, January 10, 2026 at 7:30pm

Step into the eerie world of a seemingly abandoned 1959 Brooklyn television studio, "Right Dial Television". When two detectives arrive to investigate a tripped alarm, they uncover the sinister secrets behind the studio's newest program: a wholesome, black-and-white 1950s sitcom called Bridge.

As the line between the "color" reality of the office and the "monochrome" world of the broadcast begins to blur, the characters-detectives, a producer, an assistant, and the cast of the sitcom-find themselves trapped in a terrifying loop where people vanish into thin air, going "poof".

This chilling two-act thriller explores the nature of reality, trauma, and autonomy, forcing the actors to inhabit two distinctly different worlds and face a mysterious, menacing presence known only as "The Man". The play was one of the 2024 winners of the Del Shores Foundation Southern Writers search, which recognizes emerging LGBTQ-plus writers and artists.

It's a free event but donations are welcome to continue the support of new artists!

BUY TICKETS

  • Melanie Jeffcoat

    BECKY NURSE

  • Kyle Holman

    BOB

  • Sydney Batten

    SHELBY

  • Jarod Brumley

    STAN

  • Reagan Baker

    GAIL

  • Debbie Smith

    WITCH

  • Jonathan Goldstein

    EVERYONE ELSE

  • Sara James

    DIRECTOR

  • Sarah Ruhl

    PLAYWRIGHT

Sarah Ruhl is an award-winning American playwright, author, essayist, and professor. Her plays include The Oldest Boy, Dear Elizabeth, Stage Kiss, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2010); The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2005; Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2004); Passion Play (Pen American Award, Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center); Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play); Melancholy Play; Demeter in the City (nine NAACP Image Award nominations); Scenes From Court Life; How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday; Eurydice; Orlando; and Late: a cowboy song. Her plays have been produced on Broadway and across the country as well as internationally, and translated into fourteen languages. Originally from Chicago, Ms. Ruhl received her M.F.A. from Brown University, where she studied with Paula Vogel. She is the recipient of a Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a PEN Center Award for mid-career playwrights, a Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, and a Lilly award. She is a member of 13P and New Dramatists and won the MacArthur Fellowship in 2006. She teaches at Yale School of Drama and lives in Brooklyn with her family.