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, July 13 - 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 BOB MIRA

A Q&A may follow the reading

 
 

 

 

Monday, August 3 - 7pm

TALLEY'S FOLLY

The time is 1944, and the place is the ornate, deserted Victorian boathouse on the Talley property in Lebanon, MO. Matt Friedman, an accountant from St. Louis, has arrived to plead his love to Sally Talley, the uncertain daughter of the family. Bookish, erudite, totally honest and delightfully funny, Sally rebuffs him, but Matt refuses to accept her fears that her family would never approve of their marriage.

Charming and indomitable, he gradually overcomes her defenses, telling his innermost secrets to his loved one and in return, learning hers as well. Gradually he awakens Sally to the possibilities of a life together.

 

By LANFORD WILSON

Directed by STEPHANIE LONG

A Q&A may follow the reading

 
 

 

 

Monday, September 7 - 7pm

YOU'VE GOT HATE MAIL

A hilarious broadband comedy of errors,You've Got Hate Mail takes a hysterical look at the world of on-line hook-ups and break-ups. In You've Got Hate Mail, love "bytes" all when an extra-marital affair goes horribly wrong, thanks to a juicy e-mail sent to the wrong mailbox. The story is told entirely in e-mails and texts from laptop computers, iPads, and cell phones.

 
 

By BILLY VAN ZANDT & JANE MILMORE

Directed by SHARON COYLE

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