Middle East plays reading

From today's "Arts, Briefly" word of some interesting writers responding fresh to the current crsis:

The playwrights Kia Corthron (“Force Continuum”), Israel Horovitz (“Line”) and Anne Nelson (“Savages”) will participate in “The Middle East, in Pieces,” a reading of six short plays that respond to the ongoing violence in the Middle East. The free evening of theater, directed by Thomas Caruso, is scheduled for Aug. 17 at 8 p.m. at the Cherry Lane Theater in the West Village(www.cherrylanetheatre.org). The event was the idea of the New York playwright Beau Willimon, whose girlfriend’s father was living in Beirut when the current conflict began. Mr. Willimon approached the nonprofit theater company Back House Productions with the idea of a reading series in mind, and the company agreed to produce it. “Our goal is to offer a diverse spectrum of responses,” Mr. Willimon said in a statement. “By engaging in a dialogue with the audience, we hope, in our own small way, to raise awareness.” Several of the playwrights and the director will join the audience in a discussion after the reading.