Boston Court Hosts Staged Reading of “Agape” by Agyeiwaa Asante

A church basement in Silver Spring, Maryland, becomes the unlikely center of a Pasadena Saturday afternoon when Boston Court Pasadena presents a staged reading of “Agape” by Ghanaian-American playwright Agyeiwaa Asante, the latest entry in its New Play Reading Festival 2026. The play unfolds in the basement of the In Guiding Light
Charismatic Church, where a group of young women confront the stress of college, crises of faith, arrested development, and the disorienting experience of reckoning with not having all the answers.

Asante, who holds a B.A. in theater from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an MFA in playwriting from the University of California, San Diego, is an emerging voice in contemporary American theater. Her plays have been developed at Mosaic Theatre, Round House Theatre, Cygnet Theatre, and Boston Court Pasadena’s own Playwrights Group. She is the 2020 recipient of the Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation’s Ollie Award and a member of The Playwrights Cohort at PlayPenn for the 2024-25 class.

Boston Court Pasadena, founded in 2001, is one of the region’s most respected developers of new theatrical work. Its New Play Reading Festival is a curated annual series presenting staged readings of new and in-progress plays from playwrights at various career stages, giving audiences early access to work that often goes on to full production at Boston Court and other regional theaters.

“Agape” is described in publicity materials as a moving and profoundly funny coming-of-age story.

“Agape” by Agyeiwaa Asante will run on Saturday, May 16 at 2 p.m. Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N. Mentor Avenue, Pasadena. For more information, call (626) 683-6801 or visit bostoncourtpasadena.org. Tickets available online.