Valley Players brings ten world-premiere staged readings to downtown Napa this summer — six Sunday afternoons of live storytelling you can’t find anywhere else.
This summer, Napa Valley’s own Valley Players returns with something you can’t stream, download, or find anywhere else: the 2026 Summer Staged Reading Series, a beloved annual program showcasing brand-new original plays from writers across the country. The series opens Sunday, June 14 at 4 p.m. at the NVEF Discovery Campus — a vibrant community arts and learning center at 530 Third Street in the heart of downtown Napa.
What: Valley Players 2026 Summer Staged Reading Series
Format: Staged readings — scripts in hand, full casts, no sets or costumes
When: Every other Sunday, June 14 – August 23, at 4 p.m.
Where: NVEF Discovery Campus, 530 Third Street, Napa
Tickets: $12 in advance · $15 at the door
Summer Series Pass: $48 — flexible admission to any six performances (two evenings free)
Info & tickets: valley-players.com
These are staged readings — minimal staging, and no sets or costumes — which puts the focus squarely where it belongs: on the writing and the performances. Far from a rough draft experience, staged readings are how the professional theater world develops new work, and Valley Players does them with full casts and creative teams.
The Discovery Campus, once home to the renowned Oxbow School and now operated by the Napa Valley Education Foundation, has been reimagined as a hub for creativity, arts, and community connection. It’s an inspired setting for Valley Players’ most community-minded program—right on the Napa river and a hop, skip and jump from Napa’s Oxbow Public Market.
The series opens June 14 with Mother, I Could Kill You by Barbara A. Silverstone — a powder-keg Thanksgiving dinner that slowly detonates into a night of shocking confessions, long-buried secrets, and unexpected grace. Five more readings follow every other Sunday through August 23, each showcasing new writers and creative teams. Each reading concludes with a brief talkback, where audience response helps shape what these plays become next — the theater equivalent of a barrel tasting, where your impressions matter before the work is finished.
Valley Players has been part of Napa Valley’s cultural fabric since 2017, performing at community spaces across the valley — from downtown Napa to Yountville to Rutherford. Four-time winner of Best Theater Troupe in the North Bay Bohemian’s annual readers’ poll, the company is proof that Napa’s arts scene is as rich and layered as its wine country heritage.
The NVEF Discovery Campus is operated by the Napa Valley Education Foundation, whose mission is to empower Napa Valley youth through arts, career readiness, wellness, and learning innovation. Learn more at nvef.org.
June Alane Reif is the Artistic Director of Valley Players.