Join us for a night of theater, lead by award winning writer and actor Drew Reynolds.
NLRPLS invites patrons ages 19 and older join us for an evening of theater lead by award winning writer and actor Drew Reynolds.
This live reading of Reynold's script Rut, which placed as finalist for the 2025 Del Shores Foundation Writers Search, will run for roughly 1.5 hours, beginning with a brief introduction by the playwright.
Light refreshments will be provided before the production, which will take place in the Laman Library Lecture Hall.
This event is free and no registration is required. Please contact Bekah with any questions you may have | bhedges@nlrlibrary.org
Play Summary
When Mary, a gay woman in her forties, returns to Arkansas for her mother's funeral, it awakens old wounds — and the ghost of her autistic brother, Buck, who died as a teenager — as ideologies clash in her brother Deke’s household. Buck uses his communication with his neurodivergent niece, Birdie, to guide her as she turns to ceramics to cope with bullying, while Mary and Deke struggle in the wake of their mother’s death. Tensions only escalate when Deke's wife, Alli, enters the picture, as discussions of Arkansas, queerness, and shame become pointed, sharp arguments about abandonment, rejection, and blame. This stage-play explores concepts of Southern shame, queerness, neurodiversity, and gun violence through the lens of a rural Arkansan family struggling with death and grief, both new and old.
Artist's Biography
DREW REYNOLDS (he/she/they) is an Arkansan theatre professional who has worked as a playwright, actor, director, stage manager, and teacher in the Arkansas theatre scene. Drew has worked with the Rep, Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, and Argenta Contemporary Theatre, among others. As a graduating Creative Writing major at UCA, Drew has written full-length plays, adaptations, and most recently, a musical. As a Little Rock native, Drew wrote and co-directed Arkansas Adventures, an hour-long children’s show covering Arkansan history, which toured to elementary schools around Little Rock through the Parkview High School theatre department. They’ve had poems published in national collections, and have published scripts and short stories in the Vortex Literary Magazine, where they work as the Associate Editor. Their portfolio focuses on Arkansan experiences, neurodiversity empowerment in young adults, and exploratory adaptations to promote empathy.
This is the primary location of the William F. Laman Public Library.
