The play, First Words is a piece that explores the power that hope places on our perception of reality. Hope, for example, can allow us to persevere against all odds, but also blind us to import ant truths. In First Words , this power of hope plays an important roleoit will either save or destroy a family raising an autistic child. In the play, a mother, Barbara, desperately wants to communicate with her autistic son, Aiden. Her husband, Paul, however, refuses to allow their already struggling family to waste any more time and money on experimental therapies. But when a new therapy promises to grant her wish, Barbara becomes swept away with the hope it brings for a new and intimate relationship with her son. Ultimately, the validity of the therapy is called into question, and Barbara must choose between communication with Aiden, and keeping her family together.

Zach Zulauf (Director) is a Seattle native with a degree in Theatre Studies from the Theatre School at DePaul.  Prior directing work includes Two Dudes at Once by Wayne Rawley and Hungry by Tim Sanders for Annex Theatre in Seattle, Come on Down by Chris Haddad for Last in Line Productions, and Nicky Silver's Raised in Captivity at Boston University. Zach recently assisted Julieanne Ehre on Greasy Joan & Co.'s Rhino Fest production of Come and Go and Footfalls by Samuel Beckett and Andrea J. Dymond on I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda  by Sonja Linden for Victory Gardens Theatre. Assistant Directing Work at The Theatre School at DePaul includes work for Dexter Bullard on Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood  and work for Carlos Murillo on David Edgar's Pentecost . Zach is the Executive Director of Empiric Theatre Works and a staff member at Victory Gardens.

Aaron Carter (Playwright) Aaron's play Panther Burn is currently running at the Greenhouse at Victory Gardens. His play Evening News was a finalist for the 2005 Heideman Award at Actor's Theater of Louisville. Recently his short play Kegger appeared in Collaboraction's Sketchbook 2006. Aaron's recent plays also include Swamp Baby and Nicodemas. He is a recipient of the 2004 Ohio University Scott McPherson Playwriting award, and was a finalist in both 2000 and 2002 in Prop Theater's New Play Festival. His play If Condition was read at a Victory Gardens showcase in June 2005. This spring, Aaron will be a Writer-In-Residence at Grinnell College. Aaron is working on a new play Iowa Akhbar, which will be read at Grinnell College during his residency.

Performers: Eve Rounds, Isaiah Brooms, Kevin Viol, Ryan McClelland, Cynthia Castiglione, Star Velasquez, Margaret Lakin.

Gregory Hardigan (Playwright, Director) is an actor, writer and director living in Chicago. He is a member of the Hypocrites Theatre Company, and has appeared in nearly a dozen of their productions. As a playwright, Gregory's work has been produced in Chicago (Chicago Dramatists, Stage Left, Abbie Hoffman Festival, Around the Coyote, Collaboraction's Sketchbook) Boston, D.C., New York, Melbourne, Sydney and London. He also runs a company called American Myth Theatre through which he has directed a lot of his work, including a production of Tens and Twenties for the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival.

Directed by Erica Weiss, Produced in association with HYPATIA THEATRE COMPANY

In this story of very disappointing children, Jordan contends with her mother, dying grandmother, and her own questionable sanity. Confronting death, the first man in her life, and pesky birds on her roof, she must decide how far she is willing to go for departure and flight.

Caitlin Montanye Parrish earned critical acclaim as the winner of the National Young Playwrights Festival, founded by Stephen Sondheim. Her first full-length play, The View from Tall, ran off-Broadway at the famed Cherry Lane   Theatre in January 2004 to rave reviews from Variety Magazine and The New York Times. Ms. Parrish's short plays have been seen at Chicago Dramatists Theatre, the Chicago Winter Arts Festival, and The Theatre School at DePaul University . The View from Tall also had its regional premiere recently in a workshop at Maine 's Portland Stage, and is currently being optioned for a full New York run. Her new play, Echo Boom, will be produced at the Athenaeum in April, directed by Robert O'Hara. She is also one of the co-founders of Hypatia Theatre Company, whose next project will be her play Florida Styx at PROP THTR in July.

Erica L. Weiss is the founding Artistic Director of Hypatia Theatre Company, where she directed their debut production of "Red Georgia Clay" by co-founder Caitlin Montanye Parrish. She was recently the assistant to Director Dexter Bullard on Northlight Theatre's critically acclaimed "Grace". Erica is a candidate for the Theatre Communications Group New Artistic Leaders Program  for a Mentorship at American Theater Company, where she last assisted Artistic Director Damon Kiely on the Midwest premiere of "Kid-Simple" by Jordan Harrison. This summer, she directs Hypatia's World Premiere of "Florida Styx" as the feature production of PROP THTR's New Play Festival.

Hypatia Theatre Company: Hypatia of Alexandria was a pagan, a scholar, and a female intellectual who was brutally murdered by a Christian mob in 415 A.D. Her name has come to mean "a woman of superior intellect." In that same spirit, Hypatia Theatre Company produces new plays that foster complex and dynamic roles for women--both on and offstage. We make theatre that challenges the status quo, asks difficult questions, and may arouse the ire of a Christian mob.

The play selected for the first installment of our Reading Series is Narcissus Shrugged, written by Phillip Dawkins and directed by Eric Reda. When the death of internationally renowned mystery novelist, Samuel Everett Stipp, is reported in The Times , it comes as a surprise to everyone except Samuel.  Tired of having to deal with life and its banality, Samuel fakes his own death simply by announcing it to the press.  Wishing for nothing more than to be left alone to live out the rest of his death in peace, Sam's home is suddenly stormed by his two ex-wives, collegiate daughter, and finicky butler.  First wife and current Republican matriarch, Sissy Savage, seems to have rediscovered her affinity for both Sam and a good bottle of scotch.  Second wife, B-movie queen, Penelope Cricket, has brought all eleven of her past selves and seven miniature greyhounds to cheer up her ilatei ex husband.  In a biting comedy of wit and cynicism, Narcissus Shrugged examines just what life is worth living for, and how to make good on second, third, and fourth chances.

Philip Dawkins (Playwright) is a graduate of Loyola University, Chicago with degrees in Theatre and Math. Philip comes from Phoenix , Arizona , where he co-wrote and directed the children's musical, Giants, Jokers, and Jacks: A Beanstalk Blockbuster , with David Wo at Theatre Works. In the fall of 2001, Philip's play, Not Even the Children , was produced on Loyola's mainstage and was selected to perform at the American College Theatre Festival in Indiana. The script itself was awarded National Honorable Mention. Philip is a Fellow of the Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers in Scotland. While a guest at Hawthornden Castle, Philip wrote The Involuntary Side Effect of Living , which received two Equity readings at Seanachai Theatre Company in Chicago. Philip's play, The Man With A Shattered World , was commissioned and performed by Ethington Theatre in Arizona as part of their 2004-2005 season.  Philip has also received another commission from Ethington Theatre to be performed in the fall of 2006. The Day After Yesterday was a winner of the First Annual Metropolis Centre For The Performing Arts New Plays Contest and received it's world premier run at T.U.T.A Company in Chicago , under the title A Still Life in Color . In October 2004, Philip was a participating artist in the Victory Gardens Art of Citizenship Event. Philip's one act comedy, Ugly Baby or 564 Things To Do With A Peanut , was produced by the Around the Coyote Winter Arts Festival in February 2005.  In September, Ugly Baby was remounted by ATC with its new companion piece, Bedfellas . Philip's extreme short, The Outline , was produced in June 2205 by Collaboraction as part of Sketchbook5, and his sketch, Immediate Family , was included in Strawdog Theatre's Wireless Program IV.  In November 2005, a selection from his Children's play, The Super Duper Second Grade Detective Squad , received a staged reading at Chicago Dramatists as a winner of their Ten Minute Play Contest.  His play, Can I Get a Witness!? , is currently being workshopped by the New Theatrical Collective. Philip is an Artistic Associate at Chicago Dramatists, through which he teaches playwriting at numerous Chicago schools.  He has also taught drama at The Evanston Arts Camp.

Eric C. Reda (Director) Directing credits include: Turn of the Screw adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher - Midsummer Macon, Macon GA; Ugly Baby or 564 Things to do with a Peanut by Philip Dawkins [World Premiere] and Prized Possessions by Jennifer Connell [World Premiere] - Around the Coyote Festival; Lost Sheep by Joseph Fedorko [World Premiere] and  CAPITALIZATION by Mark Novak [World Premiere] - Stage Left Theatre; The Impresario by Mozart - Kerr Cultural Center, Scottsdale AZ; L'Enfant et les Sortileges by Ravel - Arizona State University Lyric Opera Theatre, Tempe, AZ. Eric's play Equinox was seen in a workshop at the Bailiwick Theatre and as a reading at the American Theatre Company. Equinox is currently in post-production as a feature film produced by Chicago's New Theatrical Collective. Eric studied music composition at Arizona State University and is currently working on the opera-oratorio Reagan's Children .