E-Mail This Article to a Friend Early stages Huntington playwrights break ground BY SALLY CRAGIN

The chasm between the page and the stage can be deep, but a number of emerging playwrights will enjoy the thespian equivalent of a bridge next weekend when their work receives a professional reading at the Huntington Theatre Company’s first Breaking Ground Festival, March 18 through 21. Three of the six plays to be read emerged from a new group based at the theater, the Calderwood Commissioned Huntington Playwriting Fellows.

Since last fall, John Kuntz, Melinda Lopez, Sinan Unel, and Ronan Noone have worked with HTC literary manager Ilana Brownstein, theater staff, and one another developing new works. Lopez, Unel, and Kuntz will see their work presented March 20 starting at noon. There will be a director and professional actors, but no set, costumes, or blocking. "The actors sit in a circle on stage," Brownstein explains, adding that the event is "devoted to understanding the text and not worrying about who moves, so the writer gets to hear what he or she wrote for the first time in front of an audience."

The Fellows are enjoying the weeks leading up to Breaking Ground, though, "it’s nerve-racking," laughs playwright/actor Kuntz. "It’s like your child is being sent off to school for the first day. Since it’s probably the closest I’ll come to being a parent, like a parent I hope the other kids will like it and they’ll play well with each other."

Kuntz’s Jasper Lake, a multi-family mystery/drama set in a small town, is a departure from his customary comedic métier. For him, just "hearing these people talking in front of you, when previously they were just in your head, is a surreal experience. But I like it."

All three Fellows hope that the actors and audience will be a catalyst to revision. Unel, whose work has been produced at the Long Wharf Theatre and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, is the author of Pathétique, a historical piece about the Pyotr Tchaikovsky that revolves around the musician’s difficult but impassioned relations with his less-successful playwright brother Modeste and his nephew Bob, the premiere of his last symphony, and his death, which followed shortly thereafter. Unel argues that Tchaikovsky’s troubled personal life and brilliant career intersected "to the degree where he couldn’t survive it." The playwright is keen to observe the audience: "whether they’re silent, laughing, listening, shifting around — that’s an enlightening experience as well."

Family is also at the root of Lopez’s Sonia Flew, which was inspired by the "Pedro Pan" generation of Cubans. After Castro came to power, more than 14,000 children were sent out of Cuba by their parents. "Some went to foster homes, many went to orphanages, and some were reunited with their families," Lopez explains. "What does it mean for a parent and child to separate?" Set in 1961 and 2002, her play shows a family grappling with the consequences of this seldom-considered diaspora and with the decision of the American son to enlist in the Marines. Since Lopez has written the same characters at different ages, hearing actors’ interpretations will tell her what works. "It’s invaluable for a playwright to hear the words in the mouths of actors who, in many cases, are much smarter than you are about character."

The Breaking Ground Festival takes place March 18 through 21 at Studio 210, above the Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue in Boston. Also on the roster are Stephen Belber’s Stabbing (March 18), David Rambo’s The Ice-Breaker (March 19), and Peter Flynn & Brooks Ashmanskas’s musical Lily. Readings are free and open to the public, but there’s a suggested donation of $10. For details, see "Play by Play," on page 11 of Arts; for reservations, call (617) 266-0800.