Launch Pad will continue its 20th anniversary celebration with the Summer Reading Series at UCSB. The readings in UCSB’s Studio Theater are free to attend.

“Every summer we invite three professional playwrights to UCSB to develop their new works in collaboration with a team of talented students,” said Risa Brainin, Launch Pad founder/artistic director.

“Each play goes through a highly energetic, evolutionary four-day workshop culminating in a reading for the public,” she said.

“The [Launch Pad] plays are in constant evolution throughout the week, and there are always wonderful surprises,” said Brainin. “It’s a joy to be celebrating our 20th anniversary with this stellar line up of playwrights and plays.”

This summer’s opener is “Greek Tragedy” by Lia Romeo, 7 p.m. Thursday, June 26. The play focuses on a famous influencer and her drab best friend.

“It’s a story about telling stories, and how to live our lives online,” according to Launch Pad.

“Standing Still,” by award-winning playwright and performer Melinda Lopez, opens week two at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 3.

Set in a yoga studio, “Standing Still” is about ordinary women are trying to get centered during a time of social unrest, and they each must decide what “living your truth” actually means.

Co-commissioned by Launch Pad and the Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) in Lowell, Massachusetts, the preview production of “Standing Still” will be seen at UCSB in Spring 2026.

The closing piece “The Wildes” is written by Louis Bayard who, for the first time, is adapting one of his novels for the stage. It will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 10.

“The Wildes” is a tragicomedy about Oscar Wilde and the family most people don’t even know he had: his wife Constance and his two adored sons, who were all swept up in the same scandal that enveloped him and forced him into exile.

The Library of Congress writes, “his penchant for weaving real people into fictional adventure is so distinctive that the NY Times recently referred to it as ‘Bayardian.’”

Award-winning actor and UCSB Professor Annie Torsiglieri joins the company for this reading to play Oscar Wilde’s eccentric mother.