Playwrights to give readings

Readings of works in progress by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies (“Dinner With Friends”) and Pulitzer finalists Amy Freed (“Freedomland”) and Howard Korder (“Boy’s Life”) will highlight the sixth annual Pacific Playwrights Festival, May 16-18, at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa.

Margulies’ “Brooklyn Boy” is about a bestselling novelist with family woes and Hollywood temptations; Freed’s “Safe in Hell” is based on the life of the Puritan preacher Cotton Mather; Korder’s “Sea of Tranquillity” concerns a psychologist and his archeologist wife in contemporary Santa Fe.

The other selections are by emerging playwrights: “Anna in the Tropics” by Nilo Cruz, “The Hiding Place” by Jeff Whitty, and “The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow” by Rolin Jones.

Call (714) 708-5555.