The Reading Theater Project is a locally-focused theater company, based in Greater Reading/Berks County, PA.
We produce new theater with a focus on the creative process for the artists involved, resulting in a unique production for the audience.
We value collaboration and creative challenges and believe theater is an inclusive experience that can reveal our shared human condition.
Risk-taking and art-making are at the forefront of what we do.
All are welcome here.
Theater is transformative. As such, and with a spirit of shared humanity, we stand for an anti-racist community of artists and audience, and we renounce all racism, xenophobia, transphobia, homophobia, sexism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, classism, ableism, and hate speech or actions that aim to silence, threaten, or degrade anyone.
Creative Leadership of the Reading Theater Project
Joel Richard Gori is the artistic director of the Metamorphosis Performing Company which creates and tours interactive, issue-oriented programs. He has been a rostered movement-theater artist with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for over 30 years.
He founded the Reading Theater Project in 2003 and is a member of their creative team. He is a theater teaching artist at Yocum Institute for Arts Education, where he also directs plays and performs.
Vicki Haller Graff (artistic director) is an actor, writer and director.
In addition to RTP, she has worked at the Yocum Institute in Wyomissing, TheatreWorks in the Silicon Valley, Touchstone Theatre in Bethlehem, studied at the Patravadi Theatre in Bangkok, and graduated from the University of Evansville with a BFA in Theater Performance.
Andrea Kennedy Hart is a Berks County director, playwright, teaching artist, and dramaturg. She received her MFA in Playwriting from Boston University and her MA in Theatre from Villanova University.
She is currently the head of the Theater Department at Yocum Institute for Arts Education. She lives in Douglassville with her four children and husband.
Chris Heslop (music director) is a saxophonist and composer. His compositions have been performed by big bands, salsa bands, choirs, orchestras, and opera companies.
He performs with diverse groups including early jazz, polka, salsa, and modern improvised music. He is also active in jazz-education programs throughout his community.
Jody Reppert has been a theater educator for over thirty years. He teaches ELA and Film as Literature at Wilson High School and serves as an executive officer for the Pennsylvania Educational Theater Association.
Jody is a teacher, director, and actor and in addition to the Reading Theater Project, has worked locally with Yocum Institute for Arts Education, the Ephrata Performing Arts Center, and the Reading Fall Festival of the Arts. Jody is a great believer in the power of theater education to change lives.
Adam Richter (literary manager) is a journalist and playwright from West Reading, Pennsylvania. His plays have been performed by the Reading Theater Project and Barley Sheaf Players.
His play “Eye Contact” was a winner in the Phillips’ Mill Community Association Emerging Playwrights Competition. His plays can be found on the New Play Exchange. He can be found on Twitter as @richterific.
Sean Sassaman is a 2016 graduate of Albright College (Arts Administration/Theater) and native of Reading, PA. He has worked with Reading Theater Project as a stage manager, director, and infrequent actor since 2017.
Along with Reading Theater Project, he has worked with Market Road Films and LAByrinth Theater on their 2017 project, This Is Reading, as well as the Yocum Institute for Arts Education.
Jimmy Damore (Production and Company Coordinator) loves to wear multiple hats in support of the performing arts! In addition to RTP, Jimmy has worked with the Yocum Institute for Arts Education, Gretna Theatre, Creative Works of Lancaster, Ephrata Performing Arts Center, Sycamore Stage Theater Company, Berks Opera Company, and Albright College.
Jimmy holds a BA with Honors from Brown University, and is a certified educator in middle/high school English and K-12 Music & English as a Second Language.
Board of Directors
Jen Reimer, President
Sara Smith, Treasurer
Erica Caceres
Amy DeShazo
