MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Midtown Direct Rep kicks off its 2016-17 newly renamed staged reading series, “Theater at The Woodland,” with a presentation of “The Burdens,” written by Matt Schatz and directed by Mark Armstrong. This staged reading will be performed for one night only on Sunday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. at The Woodland, 60 Woodland Road in Maplewood, where MDR is the resident theater company. The cast will feature MDR company members Jenny Bacon and Charlie Pollock.
“The Burdens” is about Mordy, a struggling musician living in Los Angeles. His older sister, Jane, is a successful attorney and a mother of three in New Jersey. But when their widowed mother’s life becomes emotionally and financially taxed by her terrible, centenarian father, these two adult siblings are drawn together into an elaborate plot to relieve their mother’s burden and their own. Told almost entirely via text messages, “The Burdens” is a dark, family comedy about how technology helps keep us close, while still enabling us to keep our distance. It’s sometimes easier to type something than it is to say it face to face. But please, be careful of auto-correct. It can be murder.
Admission is charged and open to the public; student and senior discounts are also available. Tickets can be purchased online through Brown Paper Tickets at http://midtowndirectrep.bpt.me or by calling 1-800-838-3006.