Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective

Rooftop Readings

 
 
 

EST. 2019

Rooftop Readings are a developmental space where new drafts of theatrical scripts meet live audiences in beautiful settings.

ANNOUNCING OUR 2026 SEASON

  • May 28th: Summer of Deb by Catherine Bloom

  • June 5th: DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. PLUCK OUT YOUR EYES by James La Bella

  • June 17th: nancy by Sean Swenson

  • July 10th: Nigga Nativity by Kendall Wallace

  • July 16th: The Machine by Magpie Park

  • July 25th: dog song by Katie Myers

  • August 7th: form.docx.pdf by Lindsey Walko

Catherine Bloom

Catherine Bloom is an actor and writer. She has had her work read/performed at and/or supported by Ars Nova, The Brick, Lincoln Center, ART New York, Harlot, Theater [Untitled], JACK, Brown Arts Institute, and more very cool places. She was a '22-'23 Ars Nova CAMP Resident, and is a current MFA Playwriting Candidate at Brooklyn College.

Katie Myers

Katie Myers is a playwright, audio producer, reporter, and misc. writer in the mountain South. She's developed work through Primary Stages Echoes Writers Group, the Tennessee Stage Company, Chattanooga Theatre Centre, the Tiger Lily Theatre, Cattywampus Puppet Council, and Tennessee Playwrights Studio, among others. She has attended the Appalachian Writer’s Workshop, as well as residencies at Dear Butte and Sundress Academy for the Arts. You can also find her words at Grist, NPR, and the New Republic, among others. She writes about memory, history, ghosts, wilderness, climate grief, and smalltown politics.

Sean Swenson

Sean Swenson is a queer playwright, screenwriter, and performer from Austin, TX. Their plays Nancy and Half World will premiere in New York City this year, and they are the co-creator of The Fans: The Show @thefanstheshow. MFA: Carnegie Mellon University.

Kendall Wallace

Kenndall Wallace loves to write. She was an inaugural winner of the Farmers' Alley Theatre Lumen Playwriting Competition, an O'Neill Finalist, and has been honored with several National ACTF awards for their full-length plays 'To Cry Into Sand' and 'Reckless Black Dropouts'. Plays have been developed or performed in some capacity at the Kennedy Center, the Lynn F. Angelson Theatre, The George Washington Carver Museum, the Little Theatre of Alexandria, and in other theatres across the country. Notable residencies, fellowships, and cohorts include Torch Literary Arts, Dramatic Question Theatre, Estuarie, and Plowshares Theatre Company. Published in 1319 Press and VANTAGE Magazine, Kenndall is the recent founder of Late Fee Collective, a performing/cinema arts community organization.

James La Bella

James La Bella is a writer and dramaturg. His writing has been seen onstage with NYU Skirball, Joe's Pub, The Prelude Festival, PS21, Invisible Dog, WNYC’s Greene Space, Life World, IDFA DocLab, and in print in McSweeney’s, The Washington Square Review, The Maine Review, and Extended Play. James is a Lambda Literary Fellow, Civilians R&D Group member, O’Neill Finalist, and has held residencies at The Orchard Project, Fresh Ground Pepper, and The Celebration Barn. James is a frequent collaborator of The Civilians (8+ shows) and of Clubbed Thumb, where he assistant-directed the Obie-award winning Grief Hotel. MFA Brown University. Jameslabella.com

Magpie Park

Magpie Park (they/them) is a Korean-American playwright, creative, and neurotic artist. Based in New York, they have an interest in the intersection between the fantastical and the disturbing. Their plays feature a grotesque take on magical realism, frequently through the lens of race, sexuality, and gender. Most recently their work has been featured at The Tank in NYC and Pork Filled Productions’ Unleashed.

Lindsey Walko

Lindsey Walko is a NYC based playwright who explores the boundaries of the theatrical medium. Her work has been presented by and/or developed with Theater Masters, Murmuration Theatre Company, Vulcan Theatre Company, Lemonade Stand PHL, WriteClub, Greater Boston Stage Company, Invisible Theatre, Purple Light Productions, Boston University, and Columbia University. She was longlisted for Theater 503's International Playwriting Award, is a semi-finalist for the 2026 Ojai Playwrights Conference and her short play The Olympian will be published with Concord Theatricals. Lindsey is a second-year MFA candidate at Columbia University, received her BFA from Boston University, and grew up in a small Pennsylvanian town that you’ve never heard of.

2026 Rooftop Reading Finalists:

Anika Sonuga, Baylee Shlichtman, Borana Ramizi, Chidube Egbo, Claire Crowley, Colin Casey, Eliana Berson, Katherine Gwynn, KJ Stewart, LaDarrion Williams, Louisa Nickel, Maddie Dennis-Yates, Madi Faber, Mario Vega, Michelle Feza Kuchuk, Paloma Monfiletto, Paula Kamen, Rhett Goldman and Weston Scott.

2026 Rooftop Reading Semi-Finalists:

Andrew Michael Reid, Ashley Campbell, Āsim Ali Naqvi, Audrey Lang, Brett Goldberg, Brooke-Erin Smith, Charlie Tynan, Danielle Moore, Dominic Finocchiaro, Dylan Reed Berman Horowitz, Emma Ashford, Eythen Anthony, Gregory Jafari VanAcker, Jo Ratnik, Joshua Piper, Katherine Alberta, Katie Kirk, Kenjiro Lee, Leif Larson, Lulenoxx, Lydia Riess, Maeve Kelley Baker, Max Keane, Meg Mechelke, Megan Hunt, Morgan Barnes-Whitehead, Nicole LeBlanc, Nicole Streger, Olivia Ray, Olivia Snow, Paolina Acuña-González, Rebecca Brudner, Rory O’Neill, Rose Gonzales, Sam Walsh, Seth Barnes, Tanner Forbes and Yasmine Raad.

This year we received 175 script submissions. THANK YOU to all of the writers who shared their work with us, and the following community members for contributing to this years selection panel:

Mckenzie Anderson, Kamila Boga, Marie-Josée Bourelly, Lydia Brinkman, Emily Bubeck, Nikki Cannon, Michelle Chan, Alex Church-Gonzales, AJ Ditty, Alex Haddad, Alyssa Haddad-Chin, Henry D Hanson, Chloé Hayat, Rebecca Kane, Audrey Lang, Vincent Ireri Langan, Shaun Leisher, Andie Lerner, Henry Lombino, Chris Lysik, Joshwald Martinez, Taylor Maschger, Michael Ortiz, Julia Plaxen, Brad Plaxen, Christine Pollnow, Josh Reiter, Sabina Sethi Unni, Emanbi Simpson, Jenna Spiwack, Marissa Joyce Stamps, Samantha Toy Ozeas, Claire Tumey, Molly Van Der Molen and Nicholas Vasillios-Pappas.

Production History

2025

  • Body Negative by Sarah Galante, directed by Lauren Zeftel

  • Ensnared by Dom Martello, directed by Paul McGill

  • Oh Muffy! by Vincent Ireri Langan, directed by

  • The Ballad of Joan and Jane by Sarah Groustra, directed by Mackenna Goodrich

  • Crushed Bones (and other vices) by Kamila Boga, directed by Samantha Toy Ozeas

  • Mourning Doves [or the bird play] by Imani Russell, directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps

 

2024

  • In the Dream I was a Werewolf by Jan Rosenberg, directed by Alex Church-Gonzales

  • I’m Still There by Tori Lassman, directed by emily/BUBECK

  • Squishy Emotional Insides by Mehrnaz Tiv, directed by Sabina Sethi Unni

  • In Case of Bruising by Kamila Boga, directed by Sam Ozeas

  • Waco Boy Club by Mack Lawrence, Directed by Logan Schulmann

 

2023

  • Cockroaches by Emma Schillage, Directed by Mackenna Goodrich

  • Fishmeat by Esmé Maria Ng, Directed by Michelle Chan

  • Mikvah Girls by Emmy Weissman, Directed by Karma Masselli

  • Sinister Sisters by M Sloth Levine, Directed by Annabel Heacock

  • It Was Nice Meeting You by Declan Zhang, Directed by Marissa Joyce Stamps

 

2022

  • Balancé by Audrey Lang, Directed by Sophie Enger

  • rachel, nv by jose sebastian alberdi, Directed by Caley Chase

  • Jinkies! by Josiah Thomas Turner, directed by Margaret Lee

  • 11 Months of Nuclear Summer by Sophie McIntosh, Directed by Nina Goodheart

  • A Sign That You Were Alive by Rebecca Kane, Directed by Emily Jeppesen

 

2021

  • Sway by SMJ, Directed by Britt Berke

  • I Met You on TV, Does That Mean Something? by Catherine Weingarten, Directed by Alex Tobey

  • Mary, Mother of Monsters by Tristen Moseley, Directed by Alex Church-Gonzales

  • Randy’s Dandy Coaster Castle by Alexander Perez, Directed by Andie Lerner

  • Habibi by Mehrnaz Tiv, Directed by Michelle Chan

 

2020 - VIRTUAL

 

2019

  • Unadjusted AKA Milk is Dairy Days are Daily by Tori Lassman, Directed by emily/BUBECK

  • We Love You Very Much by Renae Simone Jarrett Directed by Kevin Russell Poole

  • Spirit Journeyz by Chloé Hayat, Directed by Molly Van Der Molen

  • Self Help Me by Catherine Weingarten, Directed by Ethan Louis Wintgens

  • Rosaline(s) by Clea DeCrane, Directed by emily/BUBECK

  • Another One of Those Love Triangles by Nicholas Vasilios-Pappas, Directed by Kevin Russell Poole