The cast also includes Reggie D. White and Jodi Capeless. The reading is free to the public, but reservations and a $5 donation are recommended. To reserve a seat, email [email protected].

Kaplan's play-within-a-play tackles issues of race in the theatre community. "This ferocious comedy asks questions about how we view stories about race and the not-just-color blindness that many have when trying to talk about it," state production notes.

Here's how Luna Stage bills the new work: "Chris Marshall has just been cast as George in Mt. Laurel Community Players' production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? He invites Zach, the young, Black actor who's been cast as Nick, over for a drink to give him some actorly advice - and possibly to kill him. Whatever works. When the production's Martha and Honey show up uninvited, they find themselves caught in this play about a play (within a play?) tackling deadly issues like race and, perhaps even more dauntingly, community theatre."

Kaplan is also the author of Exquisite Potential (winner of the New Jersey Playwrights Contest); A Real Boy (semi-finalist in the Ashland New Plays Festival); When the Mayonnaise Goes Bad (written with Will Nolan); The Book of Daniel (winner of New American Comedy Showcase Award – Ukiah Theatre); as well as And Jack Came Tumbling After (Old Globe Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre and HERE and Lincoln Center Theatre's American Living Room Series), among others.

For more information on the reading, visit lunastage.org/calendar. Luna Stage is located at 555 Valley Rd., West Orange, NJ.