Eat, drink, and tell stories.
First Tastes is a new play reading series paired with culinary test kitchen samplings, occurring most third Thursdays in 2026. Each evening of theatre places newly devised works into the hands of our local community actors, and invites the public to read along, take “tasting notes”, and engage in direct discussion with the playwrights and culinary artists.
Tickets
Tickets are $10, and include…
one drink – To get your first drink from the bar (Beer, wine, and non-alcoholic options)
one food sampling – The featured culinary creation from our test kitchen
A tasting notecard – To inform and inspire the featured culinary artists
A play-reading notecard – To inform and inspire the featured playwright, as well as providing starting points for discussion.
THE READINGS:
5:30PM – Third Thursdays
- 5:00pm : Doors Open
- 5:15pm – 5:30pm : Culinary Sampling Service Begins
- 5:30pm : The Play Reading Begins
- Reading continues for 25-30 minutes at a time, with 5 minute breaks.
- 7pm – 8pm: Reading concludes
- Reading is followed by a 15-30 minute moderated discussion with the playwright.
Thursday
October 15
5:30pm
Russel Fox’s – The Cardiff Giant, A Problem Comedy
Homer native David Hannum, the legendary huckster and folksy horse trader, was a principal player in what is still widely regarded as America’s Greatest Hoax – the excavation of a giant stone man buried on a hardscrabble farm twenty miles north of Homer. Dave Hannum, in partnership with Dr. Amos Westcott of Syracuse, bought the The Cardiff Giant and exhibited it throughout the northeast, with Hannum seeing the venture as a money-making proposition while Dr. Westcott, a man of science, devoutly believed he was educating the public by presenting the authentic petrification of an ancient man. Their traveling show would end when the stone giant was debunked as a hoax and Hannum came face-to-face with its creator, an embittered miscreant bent on revenge against society.
Based closely on archival sources, and featuring P.T. Barnum’s role in the humbug, THE CARDIFF GIANT is about living in a time of confounding hoaxes – like now.
Russell Fox
is a trial lawyer and an adjunct professor of law at the University of Buffalo. He is the author of two collections of plays, four novels, and a history of the Salt City Playhouse, the Syracuse theatre where he worked as a stagehand and lighting designer. His several books are available through Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, and AbeBooks.com.
Thursday
November 19
5:30pm
Terrence Dwyer’s – Celia
Four female family members gather in the kitchen of a shared multi-family home in the Bronx on a hot August Sunday evening in 1980. Banal discussions about the weather and earlier dinner preparations soon turn into an examination of the lifestyle and marriage prospects of a fifth female family member who is no longer present and has returned to her Manhattan apartment. There is disagreement among the women as to what is best for her as she approaches her 30s. What ensues is an examination of faith, morality, women’s roles in the family, the decisions they make, politics, and a nagging secret one of them holds.
Terrence Dwyer
A retired police officer and attorney, holds an MFA from Wilkes University where he studied creative non-fiction and playwriting. He is the author of three textbooks and his first general market nonfiction book, The Badge Between Us: Duty, Marriage, and Family, from Bloomsbury Publishing, was released in February 2026. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Playwright’s Center, Mystery Writers of America, Public Safety Writer’s Association, National Writers Union, and Textbook and Academic Authors Association. His most recent full-length play, Depositions, was produced as a staged reading at the Scranton Fringe Festival during September 2025, and produced in several central New York venues during 2026 through Window Sills Productions and the Center for the Arts.
Thursday
December 17
5:30pm
Greg Moller’s – Into Temptation
Father Peter Paul is old conman who decided years ago to escape his former life by settling down as a minister in a small mid-western town that doesn’t seem to have gotten out of the 1950s. He “inherited” his church — “Our Lady of the Bleeding Womb” — from a crooked minister who he out-conned, and he runs it like a three-card-monte table. He sees his flock as a collection of rubes that would stray off a cliff without his guidance. And, over the years, has come to know and care about them.
Father Peter is especially close to Elijah Taylor, a wannabe greaser and real-life wallflower who is fiercely devoted to him. Because the good father intervened on his behalf a number of times for a number of petty crimes, he’s earned Elijah’s loyalty and reluctant service as an altar boy. Father Peter is loath to admit to himself that he is just as devoted to the boy.
The Father fills his time by drinking whiskey, and by alternately guiding the members of his backward parish and terrorizing them into submission. It’s a good life, though he tediously dull one. Until Jeremiah, a stranger from origins unknown, comes to town with a proposition; showing “blue movies” in the church basement for the town’s gentlemen, turning a tidy prophet for them both.
Mary, a mysterious woman who also claims to know Father Peter, appears in his church and urges him to run Jeremiah out of town. Though the Father is shaken, he doesn’t let on and sends Mary away. Soon, with Elijah’s help, blue movie night is off and running with incredible success. When a packed house becomes a regular thing, Jeremiah decides to take it to the next level, and begins using even more deviant films to train the men to commit extreme acts of violence.
As the situation avalanches out of control, and the bodies start piling up, a trio of sinister men arrives in town (a priest among them) and Jeremiah’s true intentions become known: He is harvesting organs to sell on the black market. Father Peter comes to realize his love for the people of the once quiet little town, and he makes up his mind to save them. But that means a face-off with Jeremiah, and the very real possibility of his own demise.
Greg Moller
Greg Moller discovered his love of the English language back in grade school on his native Long Island. That love grew as he did, resulting in his writing his first stage script as a senior in high school. The script won him a spot in the East Meadow High School Theater Guild, cementing his path forward.
As an adult, Greg began writing for online media company Hungry Man TV, where he collaborated with writer/director Alex Kuciw on an innovative new web series called Mouthpieces. After only four episodes, the series caught the attention of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, earning a Webby Award for Best Writing. From there, Greg went on to work with Kuciw at the director’s media company, Gem-In-Eye Productions (later, Django Media). Together, they co-created the short film George, which was accepted to several film festivals.
After relocating to Central New York in 2010, Greg discovered the Center for the Arts of Homer, where he has performed in a number of productions over the past 10 years. He has also written and directed two Christmas radio plays, The Gift of the Magi and The Christmas Candles. This past year, Greg staged his first original play at the Center, the dramatic comedy Irene.
Already done this year…
February 19 – Max Loria’s – Solomon of 6th Avenue (musical)
March 19 – Martin Sweeney’s – Tales Along the Tioughnioga
April 16 – Greg Moller’s – Imaginary Numbers
MAY 29 – Chris Woodworth’s – Chicory
June 18 – Greg Moller’s – Belly Up
Some Things You Should Know…
Contents of these scripts are part of the playwright’s ongoing creative process. We cannot guarantee that the subject matter and content will be appropriate for all ages.
New Play Submissions (For 2027 Readings)
Playwrights and creative writers can submit their scripts on a rolling basis throughout 2026, to be considered for next year’s reading series.
ENTRY DEADLINE: Thanksgiving Day of the prior year. This year = November 26
Scripts must be submitted as complete drafts. Partial scripts will not be accepted.
PLEASE NOTE: a complete draft does not need to be a final draft. Playwrights are encouraged to approach First Tastes as an opportunity to inform their creative process by connecting with artists and audience members.
First Tastes is open to playwrights of all skill levels.
The New Works Team may or may not be in touch with you prior to the selection process, which begins December.