Jawnts: InterAct's fresh and free theater

This year, InterAct Theatre Company moved into the Drake, a towering Art Deco-Spanish baroque apartment building in Center City. It is an enormous upgrade, in more ways than one, from its former low-slung quarters at the Adrienne Theater on Sansom Street, which lacked heat in the lobby and a few other notable amenities (like comfy seats).

It seems to be a hit: InterAct estimates that 11,000 people have come through its new space since it opened at the beginning of the year.

The 30-story skyscraper's old ballroom was transformed into two stages, which, along with the offices and gender-neutral bathrooms, cover 8,500 square feet combined. InterAct shares the area with four other companies, all of which are devoted to new plays. You won't be seeing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, let alone Hamlet, at the Drake.

"It was very deliberate that these are companies that focus on new works," say Kittson O'Neill, the artistic associate at InterAct and head of the Core Playwrights Program. "It's nice that we have these theater groups that are all interested in producing new plays in Philadelphia and all in the same place. So you know that when you come to the Drake that's when you will see the most interesting new work in the city."

This weekend the principal stage is in the midst of three days of readings from the Core Playwrights Program, a two-year residency founded by O'Neill that supports young local talent. The weekend is the culminating event for the four playwrights in residence this year.

There are two offerings on Saturday. At 2 p.m. is MJ Kaufman's Sensitive Guys, about a group of straight white men - all played by women or gender-nonconforming people - who are engaged in a men's peer education program when one of them is accused of a violent act against a woman. (The state of straight white men seems to be a recurring theme for InterAct, where a play titled Straight White Men closed last weekend.) At 8 p.m. James Ijames will read from his Matter Out of Place, a raw Afro-futurist fable about time travel.

The program ends at 2 p.m. Sunday with Sam Henderson's Summoning the Destroying Angel!, a dark comedy about a brother and sister who live in a museum.

During the weekend, the next round of Core Playwrights will be announced.

All the local theater you could need, crammed into one of the most beautiful buildings in the city.

The Drake is at 1512 Spruce St., but the entrance is on the side off Hicks Street. Tickets are free, but reservations are encouraged. Visit www.interacttheatre.org.

Have an event for Jawnts? jake.blumbart5@gmail.com @jblumgart