2026 Vivid Summer Solos
(Weekly Reading Series in July)
July 8, 15, 22, 29 @ 6:30PM
Visual Arts Center of NJ (on the lawn)
68 Elm Street, Summit, NJ 07901
Bring a comfy lawn chair and your favorite snack
to enjoy a summer eve with us.
(In case of rain or extreme heat we will move inside at the Visual Arts Center!)
Fair State
by Megan Gogerty
Wednesday, July 8 @ 6:30 pm
When a woman loses her charming, unreliable, alcoholic father, she unearths evidence of her family’s ancestral ties to the founding of the state of Iowa: are they hearty immigrants making a new life in a new state, or a collection of self-satisfied boot-strappers complicit in the destruction and erasure of Iowa’s indigenous tribes? She asks the audience, what do we do with our problematic relatives?
Featuring: Harriett Trangucci
Long Drive Home
by Stephen Kaplan
Wednesday, July 15 @ 6:30 pm
Based on the NY Times bestseller, Long Drive Home follows the life of Glen Bauer, a white man whose impulsive act while driving his 6-year-old daughter home from school results in a tragic accident. To protect himself and his family, Glen conceals his involvement, a decision that ignites a destructive chain of events. In the end, he must face the full weight of the damage he’s done to himself and those he loves.
Featuring: Jason Szamreta
Maker of Worlds
by Wendy Schmidt
Wednesday, July 22 @ 6:30 pm
Martha (definitely not Stewart), a deity, decides to destroy the world and start over. She then discovers that her husband, Warren (definitely not Buffett), is the one who built the system that's ruining it in the first place. A play that spans time and space, features the ghost of Jim Morrison, and deals with creation and the past catching up to you.
Featuring: Laura Ekstrand
The Call List
by Brian James Pollak
Wednesday, July 29 @ 6:30 pm
A dispirited legal assistant is tasked with calling individuals on a list left behind by a man who committed suicide. The work assignment could not come at a worse time, as she is dealing with her own life/work existential crisis while her mother and sister badger her via text message. Ultimately, it's a few kind words from a stranger that might give her what she needs.
Featuring: Emaline Williams