"What a Family" is the topic for this year's readings of works by Port Angeles writers.

The production is presented by the Second Stage of Port Angeles Community Players and the pieces are selected and directed by Jerry Kraft. The readings will be presented at 7:30 p.m. March 13-14 and at 2 p.m. March 15. Admission is by donation at the door.

"We wanted to do something to emphasize those distinctive and often very funny individuals who make up a family," Kraft said, "It's a topic than anyone can write about and the variety of work we received illustrates that."

The short stories, essays and poems range from anecdotes about a penny-pinching mother to reflections on a shrub that seems to embody home. There is a story about brothers fighting and a particularly dangerous rooster, memories of a beloved grandfather and a scene in which a woman visits with a grandmother she never knew in real life.

The writers include Mary-Alice Boulter, Paul Chasman, Betsy Fletcher, Joan Gill, Evelyn McNitt, Kathy Sievert, Jim Stapleton and Cherie Trebon. The readers will be selected from experienced local actors.

"Family is the point of origin for most of our best stories," Kraft said, "and in this presentation I think we really get a sense of how funny, how moving, how deeply important those relationships are. I like to give people a chance to tell their stories in a public forum, hear their words read by others and feel an audience respond to them. I think "What a Family" does all that."