Sneak Peek: Matthew Gardiner

Jo Reed: Another program you have is “Monday Night New Play Readings” which gives so many opportunities to DC playwrights.

Matthew Gardiner: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So on three Monday nights during the season we are committed to highlighting the work of D.C.  area playwrights. And this has been going on at Signature also for the past I would say for the past 7 or 8 years. And many of these readings that we do end up having full productions on Signature stage. So we are very much committed to not only new musical theater but new work in general. And Signature always likes to begin in our own backyard, whether that is writers or designers or actors. As you probably noticed in "Into the Woods," the vast majority, almost, I mean, 95 percent of that cast are local D.C. actors. So it's really important to me that we look here first and we look at the people that are creating art within our community first. And there are some really remarkable playwrights that are working here. So it's an exciting opportunity on three Monday nights throughout the season to just see what some of the most exciting voices are working on here in the District.