Guest blogger Lee Trull is Associate Artist with the Dallas Theater Center and a member of the Kitchen Dog Theater Company.

I’ve been running around all week asking people to come to the new play readings at Kitchen Dog Theater, and I keep getting the same response: “I haven’t even heard of this.”

Well, you have now.

For about a billion-trillion years now (maybe less than that), KDT has run a festival of New Plays, which features a main stage show (this year it’s the hilarious Jihad Jones running though June 27) and then a series of staged readings stretched out through the month of June.

A staged reading is the beginning step in a play’s development. It usually involves professional directors and actors working overtime to do a quick and dirty number on a play NO ONE has ever staged. Usually there is minimal blocking and even less memorizing. Often, music stands and costume suggestions are used. This may sound strange — it is, and that’s a GOOD thing. Some of the more unusual, rowdy, inventive theatrical experiences I have had have come in attending a staged reading. And at KDT, we include snacks!

This weekend we open with FOUR staged readings. Here’s some quick info:

Ski Dubai
Written by: Laura Jacqmin
When: Saturday, June 6 at 1 p.m.
Cost: Pay what you can (FREE for 08/09 subscribers)
About the play: Rachel, a young Environmental Friendliness Consultant, moves from New York to steamy Dubai to work on a man-made island teeming with skyscrapers and luxury hotels. Trying to uphold her “green” principles in a hotbed of capitalism, she navigates a stream of quirky displaced internationals battling loneliness and isolation in a flashy, modern pseudo-city.
Director: Jonathan Taylor
Cast: Sarah Davidson, Liza Marie Gonzalez, Megan Penney, Thiago Martins, Carrie Slaughter and Beau Trujillo.

Danny Casolaro Died for You
Written by: Dominic Orlando
When: Saturday, June 6 at 4 p.m.
Cost: Pay what you can (FREE for 08/09 subscribers)
About the play: Based on a true story about the playwright’s cousin, a freelance reporter investigating high level corruption in the Reagan/Bush Justice Department. A year into the investigation, he was found dead in a cheap motel room – his arms slashed a dozen times. The authorities ruled it suicide, but a host of conspiracy theorists – and the House Judiciary Committee – disagree. What was the truth Danny died trying expose, and what does his strange journey reveal about the political world we live in now?
Director: Lee Trull
Cast: Charles Duran, Matthew Grey, Mike Schraeder, Eric Steele, Tim Vahle and Raymond Wortel

Gun in the Funnies
Written by: Lauren Haines
When: Sunday, June 7 at 4 p.m.
Cost: Pay what you can (FREE for 08/09 subscribers)
About the play: With a stylistic nod to Schnitzler’s La Ronde, Haines’ funny dialogue and quick plot twists give us this tale of lonely, offbeat people who are finding a way to escape their past and take hold of their own future by doing something that can be hard in a big city… reaching out to a stranger.
Director: Cameron Cobb
Cast: Liza Marie Gonzalez, Jin Kuenzer, Shauna McLean, Barrett Nash and Newton Pittman

Iraq: A Love Story
Written by: John Walch
When: Sunday, June 7 at 7 p.m.
Cost: Pay what you can (FREE for 08/09 subscribers)
About the play: This allegorical play asks: “What would it look like if America and Iraq were involved in a romantic relationship?” and seeks to bring the events of the last eight years to a human scale. From the playwright of 2004’s hit Circumference of a Squirrel.
Director: Sally Vahle
Cast: Patty Breckenridge, Aleisha Force, Shauna McLean, Bob Reed, Matthew Thompkins and Tim Vahle

Plus, we’re throwing a party after Iraq: A Love Story on Sunday, June 7 at around 9 p.m. — plenty of drink, snacks and plays to discuss. Now, when I see you on the street and invite you to the New Works Festival, don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it!