Calling all theater enthusiasts, literature lovers, and the community at large to our annual WinterWorks Play Reading at Third Avenue PlayWorks in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The annual WinterWorks Play Reading series features four contemporary plays to run each Saturday in February at 7:30 p.m.
There is no admission fee, but donations are welcome. Doors open at 6:30pm, and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Concessions will be available before each reading.
Stay tuned for information about 2027 WinterWorks!
2026 WinterWorks Play Reading Series was Sponsored By
Richard and Sherry Lundell
Exploring New Work with WinterWorks
Third Avenue PlayWorks has a history of producing impactful new work. Jennifer Blackmer’s I Carry Your Heart with Me world premiere at TAP in 2023, went on to receive a Steinberg/America Theatre Critics Association New Play Citation in 2024. World premiere productions provide a unique and memorable experience for audiences as they help to shape the play for subsequent productions while supporting the creative process and new artists, and it all begins with the play reading process.
“We’ve made a commitment to making new things here and it can really raise the profile of our organization, our region, and the artists who work in it,” says Jackie and Steve Kane artistic director Jacob Janssen. “And our audience can see the world premiere full-stage production of Brian James Polak’s The Call List this season,” Janssen went on to say.
Past WinterWorks play readings include Alec Silberblatt’s Ryan’s Pub, Trivia Night, which we went on to produce as a world premiere in our 2025 season, The Flying Corpse written by UWGB’s Thomas Campbell, and Ushuaia Blue by Caridad Svich.
Join us as we explore the dialogue of these new works live on stage!
2026 Winter Works Series
February 7th
Perfect Arrangement
By Topher Payne
Directed by Ray Jivoff
It’s 1950, and new colors are being added to the Red Scare. Two U.S. State Department employees, Bob and Norma, have been tasked with identifying sexual deviants within their ranks. There’s just one problem: Both Bob and Norma are gay, and have married each other’s partners as a carefully constructed cover. Inspired by the true story of the earliest stirrings of the American gay rights movement, madcap classic sitcom-style laughs give way to provocative drama as two “All-American” couples are forced to stare down the closet door.
This reading is in partnership with Door County Reads and the Door County Library. LEARN MORE
Cast
Bob Martindale: Mark Frazier
Millie Martindale: Charlotte Foster
Norma Baxter: Paige Klopfenstein
Jim Baxter: Seth Hale
Theodore Sunderson: Noah Simon
Kitty Sunderson: Lisa K. Adams
Barbara Grant: Cassie Slater
Samuel French, Inc.
February 14th
Dog Mom
By Tate Elizabeth Hanyok
Directed by Mallory Metoxen
Liz is a tough-as-nails New Yorker with a life falling apart faster than her morning bagel. When a scruffy stray dog shows up on her stoop, Liz — the least dog person on the planet — reluctantly agrees to foster it. This temporary inconvenience quickly turns into a heartwarming and hilarious journey of self-discovery. Who says you can’t teach an old dog (or a stubborn New Yorker) new tricks? In the city that never sleeps, it sometimes takes an unexpected friend to wake up what truly matters and that the most loyal friends find each other when they need it most.
Cast
Liz: Laura Gray
Dog: Emily Vitrano
Nell: Annie Paul
Man: Neil Brookshire
Swing: Nick Trengove
Broadway Play Publishing
February 21st
The Shark is Broken
By Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon
Directed by Jacob Janssen
The first summer blockbuster movie is being filmed—but no one working on the film would know it. Dive deep into the tumultuous, murky waters of the making of a major motion picture with testy, feuding costars, unpredictable weather, and a shark prop whose constant breakdowns are looking like an omen for the future of the movie. In this comedy co-written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon, the short tempers of Jaws stars Robert Shaw (father of co-writer Ian), Richard Dreyfuss, and Roy Scheider take center stage as they bond, argue, drink, gamble, and pray for an end to the shoot, not knowing it will change their lives forever.
Cast
Roy Scheider: Ryan Schabach
Robert Shaw: Chris Mayse
Richard Dreyfuss: Josh Krause
Dramatists Play Service
February 28th
Lunar Eclipse
By Donald Margulies
Directed by Sophie Widman
George has been waiting for this night—the seven stages of a lunar eclipse are viewable from the farm that he shares with his wife, Em, and she decides to join him in taking in the view. As the couple has been married for decades, they know how to take care of each other, needle one another, and offer each other the companionship that has made their lives so full while the world has given them great chasms of emptiness. Tender, loving, and hopeful, Lunar Eclipse looks for answers in the stars to help us find meaning on this earth.
Cast
Em: Claire Morkin
George: C. Michael Wright
Dramatists Play Service
