Play Readings

A Complete Guide for Theatre Practitioners

Rob Urbinati

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781138841307
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317554639
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Acting & Auditioning

Play Readings: A Complete Guide for Theatre Practitioners demystifies the standards and protocols of a play reading, demonstrating how to create effective and evocative readings for those new to or inexperienced with the genre. It examines all of the essential considerations involved in readings, including the use of the venue, pre-reading preparations, playwright/director communication, editing/adapting stage directions, casting, using the limited rehearsal time effectively, simple "staging" suggestions, working with actors, handling complex stage directions, talkbacks, and limiting the use of props, costumes, and music. A variety of readings are covered, including readings of musicals, operas, and period plays, for comprehensive coverage of this increasingly prevalent production form.

Part 1 Before Rehearsals

Chapter 1 Going Public

DOI: 10.4324/9781315732329-2

Theatre is a public art. But when to “go public” with a new play is not an easy decision. Playwrights should believe their plays are ready for an audience before submitting them for a public Reading. In-house Readings and labs provide opportunities for writers to explore early drafts of new plays or ideas for new work. These are sound alternatives to public Play Readings. But at what point in its development might a play benefit from exposure to an audience?

Table reads, in-house Readings and public Readings all have value, with different benefits. Table Readings or in-house Readings are the best ways to translate the written word to the spoken word. They allow playwrights to hear how the words fall out of the actors’ mouths. These types of private readings are for the playwright's benefit. Playwrights can hear what they want to accomplish. The benefit of public readings is that the audience response affects the rhythm of the piece, and impacts pacing. After laughter, there is a pause. You can only learn that in front of an audience.

Ralph Sevush, Esq., Executive Director/Business and Legal Affairs, Dramatists Guild of America, Inc.

Hearing their words spoken aloud, sitting among theatregoers, can illuminate the work in a variety of ways for writers. Many cherish this experience.

Playwrights

I find readings useful. I start with the kernel of a play, not knowing what it's about. Readings are an opportunity to explore. They hold me responsible. Readings impose a helpful deadline. I have to set goals for myself. The reality of actors makes me want to do my best work.

Lauren Yee, Playwright

Readings move something out of your head and make it external. Hearing your play out loud involves more than whether then dialogue sounds right, the actors are tripping over lines, or the jokes land—you can also access the subtext layer. Is the character too passive? Do they want something enough? No matter how well you know your play, you don't really know it till you’ve heard it read. I use the reading and development process to ask questions of myself.

Don Nguyen, Playwright

Public readings provide motivation. I learn if I’m onto something, if I should keep going. I had a reading of one of my plays once—a play I was unsure of, with a twist at the end. At the reading, the audience gasped—and I knew I had a play.

Gino DiIorio, Playwright

Working on public Readings, directors can acquire a deeper understanding of characters and relationships that may inform future casting choices. Questions or concerns formulated when the director examined the play may be emphasized or resolved. The Reading may spark ideas for a full production and expose challenges that staging the work might involve. Directors learn what they might expect from collaboration with the playwright and the producers.

Directors

Readings function as exploration or investigation. A good director usually knows whether the script is strong by reading it. But hearing actors perform the play can often affirm your instincts or in some instances alert you to potential problems. They also allow you to try out actors who you or the producer might be interested in. I find them useful in preparing for a production and less so as an exercise for producers. Although they usually only require a day of activity for the theatre they can often be weeks of “on the phone” or e-mail casting and will take up a lot of your time and psychic energy.

David Esbjornsen, Director

With a reading, you can do things simply that in a full production would cost a million dollars. Someone stands on a chair to represent flying. Done.

Nick Corley, Director; Actor

Listening to a Play Reading is akin to seeing that first pixilated sono-gram of an unborn child. You can clearly see hands, fingers, a nose. Here is incontrovertible proof that there is indeed a baby!

Lisa Garza, Artistic Director, Houston FamilyArts Center; Director

It's important to hear the material out loud. Your brain processes information differently when you hear it through your ears than when you read it on the page.

Cara Reichel, Producing Artistic Director,Prospect Theater Company

I can't imagine not doing workshops of projects that are in development. Everything we do at Imagineering goes through a significant development process before it goes into a venue. We spend a lot of time with the text for each project. Essentially, it's a discovery process. We examine the rhythm of the piece, from moment to moment and scene to scene. I need to hear the “music” of the piece—the highs and lows, the stops and starts, how a scene builds to a peak, releases, and then moves on. Until the dialogue comes out of actors’ mouths, I feel I can't have an honest conversation with the writers.

Dan Fields, Creative Director, Walt DisneyImagineering Creative Entertainment

You need a public reading to feel the energy in the room.

Daniella Topol, Director

Readings have many purposes beyond the old idea of “fixing the play.” Readings can be presented for other purposes. They can simply be about the essence of storytelling. Or they can expand the palette of the audience, and get them accustomed to alternative material. Readings are also an access point for younger, less established directors.

Laura Penn, Executive Director, Society of StageDirectors and Choreographers

An actor in a Reading is the first, or among the first, to lift the character off the page and give it voice. Without the luxury of time to explore their characters, actors make quick choices that can help writers learn if their intentions in the script are clear. Actors in Readings meet producers, playwrights, directors, and other actors and have their work seen by audiences.

Actors

Sometimes, I do as many as three readings a week. I think it's important. I care deeply. I have great respect for the writer. It is my contribution to the process.

Lynn Cohen, Actor

I enjoy the wild abandon of under-rehearsed public readings. They’re gutsy. You don't have to worry about what decision you’re going to make. There's less self-doubt and self-judging—you just jump into the pool! They’re freeing, because you’ve already been given a “thumbs-up” by being asked to participate. Usually I don't request a script before accepting an offer. If I’m available, I’d rather be there than not there.

Susan Louise O’Connor, Actor

The producer, the artistic director, and the literary staff can experience the theatrical “event” of the play and assess its impact on the audience.

Producers

You can learn from the reading of a new musical. I try not to go in with a preconceived idea. Let the reading talk to you, and it's amazing what you may get from it.

James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director,York Theatre Company

Public play readings are a must during development. It is vital to hear the audience's response. For playwrights, a reading is a great place to learn about an audience's response to a play—what works, what doesn't, where to make cuts, or when to eliminate or move a scene. They should watch rehearsals, listen, and be prepared to make changes both during the rehearsal and following the reading.

Nan Barnett, Executive Director,National New Play Network

Plays need audiences. Writing is a lonely exercise, but unlike a novel, a play is ultimately collaborative, and readings jump-start that collaborative process. Readings don't tell playwrights what to write, but they do tell playwrights what is working, what is clear, what is confusing. Readings allow playwrights to test drive, test out, discover.

Jason Cannon, Associate Artist,Florida Studio Theatre

TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence) began in 2002 with a series of staged readings at the LGBTQ Center in New York City, and readings in various forms continue to be an essential part of our mission and our season programming. Play readings allow our audiences to hear new works and new voices, and provide our member and associate playwrights with ongoing opportunities. We are also passionate about presenting plays from the past which we think are deserving of wider attention, especially plays that illuminate the history of LGBTQ lives, narratives and cultural heritage. Our readings are often events unto themselves, and we have an established audience that appreciates our one-of-a-kind offerings. Unsurprisingly, the majority of our productions started out as TOSOS readings. We remain committed to producing play readings so that we can provide playwrights with a forum where they can continue to share their stories with us.

Barry Childs, Administrative Director, TOSOS

Despite the opportunities they provide, some theatre artists find Readings risky and unnecessary.

Limitations

I don't always trust readings. They’re not reliable. I think reading a play on the page, to myself, is closer to the experience of the play than a reading is. There's this idea that a reading adds dimensions. But really, a reading is an illusion of dimension. If you’re good at reading plays, that experience is three-dimensional. I don't think I need to hear a play out loud to get it. I value the experience of reading plays. That's how I learned about theatre—by poring over plays.

Adam Greenfield, Associate Artistic Director,Playwrights Horizons

I often feel that plays don't need readings—they need a smart person giving the writer feedback. Often, writers will say, “I want to get in the room with actors.” But do you really need ten actors to make that rewrite? The reading model isn't always the only way forward.

Elizabeth Frankel, Literary Manager,The Public Theater

The usefulness of readings is somewhat limited. Personally, I’d rather read a play, and imagine its possibilities. But when handled judiciously, a reading can be useful, particularly when the playwright knows what he or she is looking for.

Lisa Rothe, Director

Readings should not be an end to themselves. Readings should not be presented instead of productions, but to lead to productions.

Ralph Sevush, Esq., Executive Director/Business and...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements and Credits
• Preface
• Introduction
• PART 1 Before Rehearsals
• PART 2 Rehearsal and Performance
• PART 3 After the Reading
• Epilogue: Moving Forward
• Appendix A—For Emerging Artists
• Appendix B—Unions and Guilds
• Appendix C—Selections, Cuttings, and Excerpts
• Appendix D—A Playwright’s Responses: A. Rey Pamatmat
• Appendix E—Advice from a Casting Director: Tom Rowan
• Appendix F—International Readings: Horacio Pérez
• Appendix G—Plays Used in the Text: Synopses and Scenes
• Index