Play Readings

 

Play readings are great way to enjoy an evening, whether seeing an old play or something new.

Come out to The American Hotel on specified Mondays, Enjoy a meal, a drink and a few hours of inspired acting. An interesting audience discussion generally follows the performance.

READINGS BEGIN PROMPTLY AT 7:00 PM.
A $5 donation is suggested.

PRESENTING OUR UPCOMING READINGS 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Monday, January 12 - 7pm

12 ANGRY MEN

A 19-year-old man has just stood trial for the fatal stabbing of his father. "He doesn't stand a chance," mutters the guard as the 12 jurors are taken into the bleak jury room. It looks like an open-and-shut case—until one of the jurors begins opening the others' eyes to the facts.
 

By REGINALD ROSE

Directed by DAVE McGRATH 

A Q&A may follow the reading

 
 
 

 

 

Monday, February 2 - 7pm

BETRAYAL

Harold Pinter's Betrayal is a play about a seven-year affair between Emma and Jerry, who conceal it from Emma's husband, Robert, Jerry's best friend. The play is told in reverse chronological order, starting in 1977 when Emma and Jerry reunite after her separation from Robert, and then moving back to 1968 when their affair began. The play explores the complex web of secrets and betrayals between the three characters, and the impact of their lies and jealousies.
 
 

By HAROLD PINTER

Directed by ANTHONY MARINELLI

A Q&A may follow the reading

 

 

 
 

 

 

Monday, March 2 - 7pm

THE DRESSER

Based on the author's own experiences as dresser to Sir Donald Wolfit, this bracing, heartbreaking drama is an elegy to a by-gone era. Backstage at a theatre in the English provinces during WWII, Sir, the last of the great breed of English actor/managers, is in a bad way tonight, as his dresser Norman tries valiantly to prepare him to go on stage as King Lear. Unsure of his lines as well as who and where he is supposed to be, Sir is adamantly determined to roar his last. With Herculean effort on the part of Norman, Sir finally makes it on stage and through the performance no thanks to an air raid courtesy of the Luftwaffe.
 

By RONALD HARWOOD

Directed by VINCENT MAZELLA 

A Q&A may follow the reading

 
 
 

 

 

Monday, April 6 - 7pm

ANNA IN THE TROPICS

The pulitzer prize winning, Anna in the Tropics is set in Florida of 1929. A Cuban-American family owns a cigar factory where, in the old tradition, cigars are still rolled by hand. The story follows the arrival of the new “Lector”, who has come to read aloud to the workers. Choosing the passionate story Anna Karenina, he unwittingly becomes a catalyst in the lives of his avid listeners, for whom Tolstoy, the tropics and the American dream prove a volatile combination.
 
 

By NILO CRUZ

Directed by PAMELA WILTERDINK

A Q&A may follow the reading

 
 

 

 

Monday, May 4 - 7pm

TBD

Based on the author's own experiences as dresser to Sir Donald Wolfit, this bracing, heartbreaking drama is an elegy to a by-gone era. Backstage at a theatre in the English provinces during WWII, Sir, the last of the great breed of English actor/managers, is in a bad way tonight, as his dresser Norman tries valiantly to prepare him to go on stage as King Lear. Unsure of his lines as well as who and where he is supposed to be, Sir is adamantly determined to roar his last. With Herculean effort on the part of Norman, Sir finally makes it on stage and through the performance no thanks to an air raid courtesy of the Luftwaffe. Back in his dressing room after the performance, the worn out old trouper dies, leaving alone his company and the loyal dresser after one final bow.
 
 

By RONALD HARWOOD

Directed by VINCENT MAZELLA

A Q&A may follow the reading

 
 

 

 

Monday, June 1 - 7pm

TALK RADIO

Barry Champlain, Cleveland's controversial radio host, is on the air doing what he does best: insulting the pathetic souls who call in the middle of the night to sound off. Tomorrow, Barry's show is going into national syndication and his producer is afraid that Barry will say something that will offend the sponsors.


 
 

By ERIC BOGOSIAN

Directed by BEN ALEXANDER

A Q&A may follow the reading

 
 

 

 

Monday, July 6 - 7pm

TBD

Based on the author's own experiences as dresser to Sir Donald Wolfit, this bracing, heartbreaking drama is an elegy to a by-gone era. Backstage at a theatre in the English provinces during WWII, Sir, the last of the great breed of English actor/managers, is in a bad way tonight, as his dresser Norman tries valiantly to prepare him to go on stage as King Lear. Unsure of his lines as well as who and where he is supposed to be, Sir is adamantly determined to roar his last. With Herculean effort on the part of Norman, Sir finally makes it on stage and through the performance no thanks to an air raid courtesy of the Luftwaffe. Back in his dressing room after the performance, the worn out old trouper dies, leaving alone his company and the loyal dresser after one final bow.
 
 

By RONALD HARWOOD

Directed by VINCENT MAZELLA

A Q&A may follow the reading

 
 

 

 

Monday, August 3 - 7pm

THE GLASS MENAGERIE

The Glass Menagerie is a poignant memory play by Tennessee Williams, narrated by Tom Wingfield, who recounts his Depression-era life with his overbearing mother, Amanda, and fragile, crippled sister, Laura, in St. Louis. Trapped by reality, Amanda clings to memories of her Southern belle past, obsessed with finding a husband for the painfully shy Laura, whose only escape is her delicate collection of glass animals. When Tom brings home a "gentleman caller," Jim O'Connor, from his shoe factory job, their illusions shatter as Jim reveals he's engaged, forcing Tom to flee and leaving Laura's world irrevocably broken, much like her prized glass unicorn. 

 

By TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

Directed by DAVE McGRATH

A Q&A may follow the reading

 
 

 

 

Monday, September 7 - 7pm

TBD

Based on the author's own experiences as dresser to Sir Donald Wolfit, this bracing, heartbreaking drama is an elegy to a by-gone era. Backstage at a theatre in the English provinces during WWII, Sir, the last of the great breed of English actor/managers, is in a bad way tonight, as his dresser Norman tries valiantly to prepare him to go on stage as King Lear. Unsure of his lines as well as who and where he is supposed to be, Sir is adamantly determined to roar his last. With Herculean effort on the part of Norman, Sir finally makes it on stage and through the performance no thanks to an air raid courtesy of the Luftwaffe. Back in his dressing room after the performance, the worn out old trouper dies, leaving alone his company and the loyal dresser after one final bow.
 
 

By RONALD HARWOOD

Directed by VINCENT MAZELLA

A Q&A may follow the reading

 
 

 

 

Monday, October 5 - 7pm

DEATH AND THE MAIDEN

Set in an unnamed country that is, like the author's native Chile, emerging from a totalitarian dictatorship, the play explores the after effects of repression on hearts and souls. Paulina Escobar's husband Gerardo is to head an investigation into past human rights abuses. A Dr. Miranda stops at Escobars' to congratulate Gerardo. Paulina overhears them speaking and is convinced that Miranda supervised her prison torture sessions. She ties him to a chair and conducts her own interrogation, gun in hand. Escobar doesn't know whether to believe his distraught wife or his persuasive new friend. This white knuckle thriller is a rivetting intellectual and emotional tug of war.
 
 

By ARIEL DORFMAN

Directed by BEN ALEXANDER

A Q&A may follow the reading

 
 

 

 

Monday, November 2 - 7pm

IT'S ONLY A PLAY

It’s the opening night of The Golden Egg on Broadway, and the wealthy producer is throwing a lavish party in her equally lavish Manhattan townhouse. Downstairs the celebrities are pouring in, but the real action is upstairs in the bedroom, where a group of insiders have staked themselves out to await the reviews. The group includes the excitable playwright; the possibly unstable wunderkind director; the pill-popping leading lady who is treading the boards after becoming infamous in Hollywood, and the playwright’s best friend, for whom the play was written but who passed up this production for a television series. Add to this a drama critic who’s panned the playwright in the past and a new-in-town aspiring singer, and you have a prime recipe for the narcissism, ambition, childishness, and just plain irrationality that infuse the theatre – for comedy.
 
 

By TERRENCE McNALLY

Directed by MICHAEL TOTA

A Q&A may follow the reading