Local writers can develop new work and perform it for a live audience at “The Terror Project 2026,” a four-day playwriting workshop and lab-style performance symposium presented by the Reading Theater Project at “Red(rum)” and “The Goblin’s Lair,” also known as the red room and green room at Holy Cross United Methodist Church, which is located at 329 N. Fifth St. in Reading. It is open to the general public, and workshops are free.
“The Terror Project,” the second installment of RTP’s 2026-2027 season, celebrates the spooky, strange, and macabre while giving writers a supportive space to experiment, practice, and present or stage their work.
“I hope to demystify the creative process and show creators and performers how to connect with an audience and discover that they’re capable of creating amazing work,” said Kimberly Patterson, the event’s “ghostess” and director.
Participants will receive their writing prompts at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
On Friday, an opening reception will be followed by an open-mic evening of five-minute short pieces in a shadowy, underground “laboratory” with a bare-bones setting and no tech. Performer sign-up will be at 6 p.m., and performances will begin at 7 p.m. in sign-up order.
The “Spook Salon” will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, when RTP artists lead hands-on workshops and guided writing salons where creators will learn to write original monologues, adapt existing material, and stage a performance for direct audience feedback. At 7 p.m., there will be a “Monster Mashup” of up to eight pieces selected from the day’s workshops.
At 3 p.m. on Sunday, there will be a presentation of existing short pieces and curated selections from Saturday’s workshops, followed by a closing reception.
Workshop admission is free, and reservations are highly recommended. The $25 trick-or-treat package includes Friday’s opening reception, open-mic registration, Saturday’s 7 p.m. performance, and Sunday’s 3 p.m. performance. It’s available for purchase at the door. Online reservations are available in advance.
RTP will also host the Spooky Stacks Story Slam, an evening of stories and haunts from 7 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 21 at The Velvet Spine Bookstore, which is located at 508 Penn Ave. in West Reading, Berks County. Performers will share original short stories while guests browse and buy from a curated bookstore selection. The event also will offer community members, arts supporters, and businesses a relaxed way to connect.
The evening will serve as a fundraiser with a goal of $1,500, with donations and sponsorships supporting RTP’s 2026-2027 programming. Tickets are available online.
The Reading Theater Project is a locally-focused, semi-professional theater company that values collaboration and creative challenges and believes theater is an inclusive experience that can reveal our shared human condition.
AGT act in Easton
A troupe that has won accolades on TV’s ”America’s Got Talent” and “Fake Off” will head to the Williams Center for the Arts in Easton as part of its performing arts series.
Lightwire Theater will present its signature blend of light, music, and storytelling with “The Adventures of Tortoise and Hare: The Next Gen” at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Lafayette College’s arts center, which is located at 317 Hamilton St.
“The Adventures of Tortoise and Hare: The Next Gen” is a reimagining of Aesop’s classic fable, set 10 years after the original race. The story follows Tortoise and Hare as parents navigating a world of smartphones, video games, and modern distractions. When their children set off on an adventure of their own, old rivals must work together to bring them home. With dazzling visuals, heartfelt storytelling, and a lively soundtrack, this inventive production offers a fresh, family-friendly take on a timeless tale.
The group combines theater and technology to bring stories to life in complete darkness and is internationally recognized for its signature brand of electroluminescent artistry.
Lightwire gained national recognition as semi-finalists on Season 7 of “America’s Got Talent” in 2012 and as the grand-prize winners of TruTV’s “Fake Off” in 2014.
Co-creators Ian Carney and Corbin Popp met in New York City while dancing in Twyla Tharp’s “Movin’ Out” on Broadway. The pair discovered their mutual love of art, theater, and technology. After coming across a product called “el wire,” the lights turned on and the possibilities seemed endless. Together, with their wives Eleanor and Whitney, they began to experiment with shapes and designs to develop puppetry-based neon creatures that quickly came to life.
In 2007, they created their first show, “Dino-Light,” under Corbian Arts. Then, in January 2012, Lightwire Theater was founded and premiered “The Ugly Duckling.” It has since produced six shows. Now, based in New Orleans, Lightwire Theater continues to create and deliver innovative theatrical experiences to audiences worldwide.
Performers are Ian and Eleanor Carney, Kevin Chick, Jesse Forcha, Symone Johnson, Tristan Rodney, and Karah Haug.
Tickets cost $20 for adults and $6 for ages 17 and under.
‘Yankee Doodling’
The Allentown Band will present its 2026 family concert “America 250 – Yankee Doodling” at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown.
The band, conducted by Ronald Demkee, will celebrate America’s semiquincentennial with American music representing the evolution of bands in America from the Revolutionary period’s fifes and drums to the present-day concert band, with special guest Freedom High School Fife and Drum Corps, directed by Michael Moran.
The program will start with a demonstration of “Meet the Instruments,” followed by “Yankee Doodling Overture” by Daniel Kallman, “Fantasie Humoresque on Yankee Doodle” by David W. Reeves, “Fugue on Yankee Doodle” by John Philip Sousa, and “Yankee Doodle” by Morton Gould.
Freedom’s fife and drum corps will play “The White Cockade & Yankee Doodle” on fife and tension drums representing the Revolutionary War era.
Brass and percussion will be featured on “Northampton Quickstep” by Eric Coates, representing the Civil War era when the Allentown Band was a brass band.
The Allentown Band will perform “Concord Overture” by Clare Grundman, “American Pageant” by Thomas Knox and “American Salute (Johnny Comes Marching Home)” by Morton Gould, a tribute to
“When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” a folk melody popular in both the North and South during the Civil War.
The concert will end with “Stars and Stripes Forever” by John Philip Sousa, which is the official march of the United States.
Tickets cost $5 for adults and are free for anyone age 21 and younger.
Chinese music duo
Zoellner Arts Center, which is located at 420 E. Packer Ave., on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, will present “Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn” at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
If anyone can take the guzheng, a 2,000-year-old Chinese stringed instrument and crank it up to 11, it would be Wu Fei. She is single-handedly responsible for bringing this once-elitist court instrument out of the palaces of the Qin dynasty and into the streets, using it in entirely unexpected and captivating ways. And matching her string for string and note for note is Washburn, a banjo virtuoso (and wife of fellow picker Béla Fleck) who happens to also be fluent in both the language and culture of China. These two remarkable musicians will come together for an evening of musical storytelling that crosses continents to find common ground.
Fei and Washburn‘s duo project is as unlikely, perhaps, as it was inevitable — a manifest sonic consequence of politics and vibrations commingling across continents. There is a directness in the musical duo format that makes it such a good vehicle for melodic conversations between close friends who obviously listen to each other with a respect matched by their respective virtuosity.
As a young girl in Beijing, Fei was a musical prodigy, fast-tracked to be one of the very best musicians in a country of more than a billion people. Fei became a guzheng master and multilingual classically-trained composer of her own works, assimilating avant-garde classical and folk music from around the world while retaining her own voice.
Washburn expected to become an attorney with the goal of bettering U.S.-China relations. She now is one of the few foreign artists currently touring China independently.
Tickets cost $29.
‘Carrie’ in Exeter
Reading Civic Theatre will present “Carrie” at the Fox East Complex TheatreTwo, which is located at 4350 Perkiomen Ave. in Exeter Township, Berks County.
The musical, based on Stephen King’s 1974 debut novel “Carrie,” tells the story of Carrie White, a bullied high school girl with telekinetic powers, and her oppressive, religious fanatic mother, Margaret. When Carrie is humiliated at the prom, she unleashes her powers, causing chaos and destruction. The musical explores themes of bullying, religious extremism, and the consequences of not conforming to societal norms.
Written by Lawrence Cohen, with music by Michael Gore and lyrics by Dean Pritchford, “Carrie” has had a legendary, troubled history. It premiered in 1988 on Broadway, where it was a notorious flop, but despite its initial failure, it gained a cult following, and a revised off-Broadway production in 2012 received mostly positive reviews.
The cast features Samantha Grinage (Carrie White), Kelly Kantner (Margaret White), Andrea Keck (Sue Snell), Angel Alvarado (Tommy Ross), Ella Bednarik (Chris Hargensen), Titus Newswanger (Billy Nolan), and Dara Tatarowicz (Miss Gardner).
The cast also features Mackenzie Buchter, Jimna Aurelus, Lillian Pawling, Gene Hole, Jeff Yoder. Trevor Spollen, Julius Campbell, Miles Hammill, Charlotte Baumgard, Ruthanne Metzger, Rachel Day, Aliyah Daniels, Maxi Estrada, Emily Klopp, Carolyn Smith, and Jennifer Skinner.
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and Oct. 23 and 24 and at 2 p.m. on Sunday and Oct. 25.
Tickets cost $35 for adults, $30 for seniors, and $25 for students.
40 years of Orpheus
Williams Center for the Arts will celebrate 40 years of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra visiting the Lafayette College in Easton with a concert “Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with Lucas and Arthur Jussen” at 8 p.m. on Friday.
A radical experiment in musical democracy, Orpheus has spent more than 50 years showing what is possible when exceptional artists perform without a conductor, guided by trust, collaboration, and a shared creative vision.
Joining it will be Dutch piano duo Lucas and Arthur Jussen, two of the most celebrated pianists of their generation. Known for their remarkable synchronicity, tonal refinement, and dynamic interpretations, the brothers have built an international reputation that has made them leading ambassadors for classical music from the Netherlands.
Together, Orpheus and the Jussen brothers will perform Mozart’s “Concerto in E-flat Major for Two Pianos, K. 365” as part of an evening of masterful collaboration and classical music.
Tickets cost $33 for adults and $6 for ages 17 and under.
Colors of the orchestra
Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra will welcome its new music director, Michael Avagliano, at its opening concert of the 2026-27 season “Fall Colors” at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Moravian University’s Foy Hall, which is located at 342 Main St. in Bethlehem.
Music of Mendelssohn, Fauré, and Respighi will highlight all the colors of the orchestra. The program will include Respighi’s “Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite #1,” Fauré’s “Pelleas et Melisande Suite,” and Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 3, ‘Scottish.’”
Tickets cost $40 for adults and $35 for seniors.