The summer season at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford kicks into high gear this week. Staged readings begin on Saturday for National Music Theater Conference, with performances for the National Playwrights Conference starting on Wednesday.

Jim and Ruth Bauer's musical "The War Dept." begins its public stagings on Saturday. The show is set just after the U.S. Civil War, and eccentric savant Private William T. Clarke's job is going through war records stored at Ford's Theater. When a trio of visitors come looking for "something precious lost in the war," the drama really begins.

The first National Playwrights Conference piece to be performed is Mike Lew's "Tiger Style!," bowing on Wednesday. Its main characters are a brother and sister who have been through "tiger parenting" and ended up doing well in school but then flailing when they got out into the world. So when Albert Chen loses out on a job promotion and Jennifer Chen gets ditched by her beau, the siblings hit the road for their own "Asian Freedom Tour!"

- KRISTINA DORSEY

SIDEBAR SCHEDULE

Words and music

Staged readings are at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, 305 Great Neck Road, Waterford. Tickets are $28. Call (860) 443-1238.

National Music Theater Conference

"The War Dept." by Jim Bauer and Ruth Bauer: 8 p.m. Saturday and Wednesday, 3 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. July 4

"The White City" by Julia Gytri and Avi Amon: 8 p.m. July 5 and 9, 3 p.m. July 6 and 11

National Playwrights Conference

"Tiger Style!" by Mike Lew: 8:15 p.m. Wednesday and July 3

"I'm Gonna Pray For You So Hard" by Halley Feiffer: 7:15 p.m. July 4, 8:15 p.m. July 5

"Ugly Lies the Bone" by Lindsey Ferrentino: 8:15 p.m. July 9 and 10

"The Imaginary Music Critic Who Doesn't Exist" by David Mitchell Robinson: 8;15 p.m. July 12, 7:15 p.m. July 13

"A Power Play: Or, What's-Its-Name" by A. Rey Pamatmat: 8:15 p.m. July 16 and 17

"Bright Half Life" by Tanya Barfield: 7:15 p.m. July 18, 8:15 p.m. July 19