LAUNCH PAD 2026 Amplify Reading Series Festival

LAUNCH PAD 2026 Amplify Reading Series Festival
Two Days / Four Plays
Friday, November 20 | 4pm & 8pm
Saturday, November 21 | 1pm & 5pm
Studio Theater, UCSB
Free admission- seating is limited, please reserve your seat for each reading.

Featured works:

In Case of Bruising
by Kamila Boga
Triplets Milo, Otis, and Della’s lives are very different from other kids. They’re too big for second grade, they don’t know when they’ll have food for lunch, and they don’t go home if their father is in a bad mood. They know their Mama spends more time in the hospital than other mothers. They know she is sad again. One afternoon, the triplets meet Calico, an odd boy with an odd name. They accept him quickly. As Daddy and Mama get worse, each child finds new ways to cope - some safer than others.

Reserve your seats!

Regina
by Bernardo Cubria
Regina is a contemporary adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, set in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire. Regina, a young live-in housekeeper raised by a wealthy Mexican family, eagerly awaits the return of the family's son from Paris, believing he represents her chance at a different life. But as he returns transformed by new political convictions, old family secrets, class tensions, grief, and long-buried lies begin to surface. Blending biting comedy, supernatural elements, and the emotional intensity of a classic telenovela, Regina examines identity, privilege, faith, immigration, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

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The Ballad of the Unfallen
by Kamila Boga
In a distant land of swords and steel, twenty-five years have passed since the end of the War of the Divide between the Kaji and the Tsuka clans that tore the country apart. Tensions are now rising again as the new generation seeks to awaken the old rivalries and reclaim their heritage. Up in the mountains at the Temple of the Lightning Eel, a legendary school for the fighting arts, a safe haven exists where their students can ignore the growing turmoil of the outside world. The Ballad of the Unfallen, a new play with music and movement, is about loyalty, connection, and courage in the face of overwhelming odds, asking the question, “Can anyone ever truly choose not to take a side?”

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Marble Rooftop
by Eliana Theologides Rodriguez
Mia, an unpopular and embarrassingly desperate high school sophomore, has found herself hosting this year's dance team bonding sleepover. She’ll do anything for the approval of the older girls, who appear confident and worldly—especially when it comes to sex. Throughout the night, the girls compete to outdo one another with stories of their exploits, even when those stories blur the line between consent and coercion. In a room where sexual experience equals social currency, Mia invents experiences of her own to prove she belongs. Unfortunately, her lies are obvious, and her efforts to fit in only isolate her further. When the older girls invite boys over, Mia sees her chance to finally prove herself. She makes a choice she can never take back, forcing everyone in the room to reexamine consent, complicity,and the stories they’ve told themselves about their own empowerment.

Reserve your seats!

The LAUNCH PAD Amplify Reading Series Festival was seeded in the Black Lives Matter movement, cultivated during a pandemic, and brought to life through a dedication to centering equity, diversity, inclusion, and access in all our work. For more information please visit https://launchpad.theaterdance.ucsb.edu/reading-series/amplify