NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT

 Through this program, Theatre Exile has presented live readings of local playwrights’ scripts while they are in progress for an audience of peers and casual theater fans. These readings provide an opportunity for playwrights to see their work performed for an audience and receive constructive critiques from their community. 

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2026 STUDIO X-HIBITION READINGS

  • Delivery Boy

    By Jaden Gines

    Monday March 30 2026 @ 7pm

     With two hours to midnight on New Year's Eve, Delivery Boy is stuck delivering pizzas on his old, rusty bicycle in the center of working class suburbia. After years of economic strife, a raging dependency on marijuana, and physically and emotionally unavailable parents, Delivery Boy has accepted that his dreams of college have been long extin-guished. But when an opportunity for a better life is presented to him by his high school psychology professor, Mrs. Gonzales, Delivery Boy must come to terms with those he's lost, who he wants to be, and what lies ahead of him in the new year, all while the clock ticks down to midnight.

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  • Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag)

    Libretto by Cookie Diorio

    Composed by Andrea Clearfield

    Thursday April 30, 2026 @ 7pm

    This genre-defying cantata created by drag artist, opera singer, and costume designer Cookie Diorio and Philadelphia-based composer Andrea Clearfield, brings together drag, opera, cabaret, multi-media oratorio and performance art scored for drag soloist (tenor), chorus, opera quartet, and chamber orchestra. Diving into the history of drag, its role in queer culture, and its power to challenge systems and spark change, Long Live the Queen doesn't shy away from the hard stuff. While calling out the ways misinformation and policy are being used to silence artists and communities, this piece lifts up drag as a fierce, joyful act of resistance and self-expression. It is opera reimagined through a drag lens, from a drag voice. The full work will premiere in June 2026 as part of ArtPhilly's city-wide semiquincentennial festival, responding to the theme "What Now."

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2025 READINGS:

2024 READINGS:

Poster for a theatrical event titled 'STUDIO X-HIBITION' featuring headshots of a woman and a man in the top right corner. The poster contains event details, including the date, time, writers, director, and a brief description of the play.
Flyer for a stage production titled 'Studio X-Hibition' with a photo of a smiling man with a beard and shaved head in the top right corner. The event is scheduled for March 18, 2024 at 7 pm, written by R. Eric Thomas, and to be held at Theatre Exile. The flyer mentions themes about a Confederate monument in a Black Baltimore neighborhood and questions what happens afterward, with a suggested donation of $10.
Flyer for a theatrical event titled 'Studio X-Hbition' featuring a photo of a smiling woman with dark skin, short hair, and red lipstick. Event details include date June 10, 2024, at 7 pm, written by Rayne/Ang(Ela) Bey, with a description of the play 'MASC' about identity, performed in person at Theatre Exile with suggested donation of $10.

2023 READINGS:

Poster for a theater performance titled "Trying" by Alison Scaramella, scheduled for Monday, April 10th, 2023 at 7 pm, at Theatre Exile. The poster features a headshot of a woman with dark wavy hair, and includes text about the event details and a brief description of the play.
Poster for the Studio X-Hibition event featuring a photo of a woman with glasses, event details, and a brief description of the play Honey Bee Baby by Erlina Ortiz.
Sign reading 'STUDIO X-HIBITION' with some torn edges and red lines above and below the text

For over 25 years, Theatre Exile has committed to cultivating the future of theater through new play development. New play development began in 1996 when Theatre Exile presented a world premiere of The Further Adventures of the Gavone Family, a locally written show by Joseph Sorrentino. That commitment to new and cutting-edge work has continued to thrive and grow. In 2010, Theatre Exile formally launched Studio X-hibition, which presents live readings of local playwrights’ scripts while they are in progress for an audience of peers and casual theater fans. These readings provide an opportunity for playwrights to see their work performed for a live audience and receive constructive critiques from their community. 

Through this program, Theatre Exile has contributed to the development of over 27 plays, 15 of which were later produced for regional and national audiences. Additionally, several shows have received notable awards and commendations, including the Smith Prize, Kesselring Honorable Mention Prize, and the Plays for Now grant from Venturous Theatre.

New play development has remained one of Theatre Exile’s core tenets since premiering Sorrentino’s show in 1996. Since its formal launch in 2010, Studio X-hibition has grown to include staged readings, workshop development programs, and writers’ workshops that support new, gritty, provocative theater. The annual series brings Philadelphia’s local playwrights to Theatre Exile as they explore a new piece that can challenge and provoke audiences to think about the process of storytelling. Through another program, Out of Exile, Theatre Exile commissions playwrights to create an original play for theatergoers of all ages.