Partial Comfort Productions presents the 8th annual Welcome Mat play reading series, which debuts four new plays in the coming weeks. Performances will run through May 7. All performances are at 7:30 PM.

The first presentation on April 16 is Trevor by Nick Jones (The Coward, Jollyship the Whiz-Bang). Lila Neugebauer directs. It's described as "a new play about fame, success, and the lies we tell ourselves in order to keep people from taking away our erratic, 200-pound chimpanzee."

The cast features Houdyshell (Follies, Well, Wicked), Schreck (Circle Mirror Transformation), Danny Mastrogiorgio (A Steady Rain, Contact), Christopher Evan Welch, Crystal Finn, Frank Harts and Jeff Biehl.

On April 23 Daniel Aukin (4000 Miles) will direct Sam Marks' The Old Masters, in which "a married couple find themselves engulfed by a missing friend's burgeoning fame while they try to make peace with impending parenthood."

Dizzia (In the Next Room, Belleville) will be joined by Greg Keller (Wit, Cradle and All) and Danielle Slavick (A Bright New Boise). Chad Beckim's The What? will be staged by Davis McCallum (February House, A Bright New Boise) on April 29. "A couple's lives are thrown into unfathomable chaos by the unexpected arrival of a tormented parent with no where left to turn," according to Partial Comfort.

The cast includes Drama Desk winner Reed Birney (A Small Fire, Blasted), Greg Keller and Crystal Finn.

The final presentation on May 7 will be Jonathan Caren's The Morning the Sun Fell Down directed by Mia Rovegno. It is billed as "a tragi-comic play about the struggle to grow up when your closest loved ones keep pulling you down."

The cast includes Cynthia Silver, Jackie Chung, Andrew Garman (A Bright New Boise) and Dylan Dawson.

Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis with no advance reservation required. The Atlantic Theater Company's Studio Theater is located at 330 W. 16th Street.

For more information visit PartialComfort.org.