While the Blackbird Theatre — which previously shared space with the Children’s Creative Center at 1600 Pauline — continues its search for a new, downtown home, the company will present an event called “Raw Weekend,” consisting of 3 nights (April 8-10) of fully staged readings of new plays by Michigan playwrights at the Sh\Aut\ Gallery.

“We knew that we weren’t going to be in our new space (in time for a full production), so we turned around and said, ‘We’re a company, we have actors, we still want to be working with them, and we want to be actively involved with what we do, which is putting on plays,” said Blackbird's founding artistic director Barton Bund. “We had these 3 scripts we were very into, so we thought, ‘While we’re creating our plans for the next thing, let’s get this together.’”

The 1st script slated for “Raw” treatment is Bund’s own, “The Sleeping Giant,” featuring characters from the world of competitive eating.

There are logistic difficulties in presenting this kind of contest on stage, of course, but Bund believes the "Raw Weekend" performance will help resolve these issues.

“That’s the fun part of that show, is that we have this virtual eating contest going on, which is a tricky thing to fake,” said Bund. “We’re using slow motion and other tricks to create that event virtually, without making the actors choke to death. … Eating competitions are very intense. Those people — it takes them days to recover, so we have to convey that, but make it theatrical, too.”

The 2nd play, “Snowbound,” by Margaret Edwartowski, recently had an acclaimed, late-night run at Hamtramck’s Planet Ant Theatre. It’s an Old West thriller about a young woman, stranded in a cabin on a frozen mountainside, who discovers a way to escape into a new life. When her plan is revealed, she is forced to make deadly choices.

“We love that play, and we were thrilled to read it,” said Bund. “This version is a little bit expanded (from the production that played at Planet Ant). There are a couple of new scenes. … Part of the playwright’s process is to try out new stuff and see how it works.”

Last up on the schedule is “Elizabeth the Beautiful,” by Kim Carney, which focuses on movie star Elizabeth Taylor, who was in rehab and fading into obscurity in 1978. When Richard Burton appears to her, like The Ghost of Husbands Past, the 2 take a journey through her life and her loves.

“It’s like you’re reading about characters in a Greek tragedy,” said Bund. “They’re at that level. They’re these god-like beings. And I’m always interested in celebrity. … Her story is extremely complicated. People don’t think about Elizabeth Taylor beyond her face and her exploits with men, but the play delves deeper than most people would expect, and it’s also very funny. … It’s about what happens behind closed doors, and I love that idea. So I loved the idea for the play before I read it.”

As for how the event came to be called “Raw Weekend,” Bund explains, “When you have a show, you have to think about costume changes, and tech elements, and really think it all out — what do we need, what don’t we need, etc. … But with these staged readings, we get together to rehearse, and we’re just discovering (a play), seeing it in a raw state, … and it’s pretty exciting stuff.”

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.