Carlsbad Playreaders will stage a pay-what-you-can reading of Sarah Gordon's "Underdog: The Other Other Brontë" at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5, at the Ruby G. Schulman Auditorium inside the Carlsbad City Library, 1775 Dove Lane.

The production is a Carlsbad Playreaders premiere, according to BroadwayWorld. It is one of eight new staged readings in the group's 2026 season, which runs February through November.

The play frames Anne Brontë as the overlooked third sister. Charlotte Brontë narrates, confessing how sibling rivalry and ambition shaped the family's uneven rise to fame. The Carlsbad Playreaders website calls the show an irreverent retelling about sisterhood, jealousy, competition and the power of words.

Kim Strassburger directs.

Her credits include "The Lehman Trilogy" at Cygnet Theatre and "Sunday in the Park with George" at Ion Theatre, which earned her a Craig Noel Award. She studied Shakespeare at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and is a member of the 2014 Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. She teaches acting and theater history at the Coronado School of the Arts.

The cast features Vanessa Dinning as Charlotte, Kandace Crystal as Emily and Mikaela Macias as Anne. Macias, the San Diego Critics Circle's 2024 Actor of the Year, previously appeared in a Carlsbad Playreaders production of "A Doll's House, Part 2." Eddie Yaroch, who launched his local theater career at New Village Arts in Carlsbad nearly 20 years ago, plays Mr. Brocklehurst and other roles alongside Geoffrey Geissinger, Durwood Murray, Monique Gaffney and Emerson Clarke. Gaffney is a member of Actors' Equity Association. Rosemarie Sison reads stage directions, and Actors' Equity stage manager Ali Flores manages the production.

Carlsbad Playreaders is a project of the Carlsbad Playhouse. The program is funded in part by the city's Cultural Arts Office and the Robert H. Gartner Cultural Endowment Fund, administered by the Carlsbad Library & Arts Foundation. The foundation has contributed more than $2.5 million to arts and cultural programs across Carlsbad and manages nearly $6 million in endowment funds.

In a December 2025 season announcement, Artistic Director Melissa Fernandes said every show on the eight-production schedule is a premiere. "We love creating a space where audiences can enjoy great theatre with our amazing local talent and then stick around to talk about it," Fernandes said at the time.

The season's final production, "Side by Side by Sondheim" directed by Hannah Meade, is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 2.