My husband and I went to a reading for a new play yesterday at the Long Beach Playhouse. If you like going to plays, you’d probably like going to readings. What happens is that the play isn’t really performed so much as it is read by the actors and actresses who are sitting around in chairs or on stools on the stage. They don’t usually move around much, the lighting is basically nil (well, they’re on so you can see the actors). The whole point is to try to get a feel for the piece in front of a live audience. And they’re great fun. Oh, and an added bonus, there’s usually no charge (at least at the small theaters I’ve been to) to view a reading.

All of the actors in this one (but one) went to four rehearsals to get a feel for the piece, then they read it today. The one guy was a substitute, and only got his script at noon today. The reading started at 2:00!

In a nutshell, this play, Out of Your Mind, centers around two characters (an American man and an Italian woman) who are in a traffic accident in Rome, Italy. They are badly hurt, and the neuro-surgeon who works on them performs an operation that saves their lives, but in so doing he uploads their thoughts, memories, and personalities into a computer. At the end of the operation (he does both simultaneously) he downloads the personalities into the wrong people, switching them. Then the play really gets going.

Afterwards, most of the audience stayed, the actors, the play-write, and the director came out on stage, and everyone got to provide critique and ask questions. The entire event was quite a bit of fun. Definitely an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. The same playhouse is doing a reading for another play the end of next month. We hope to go!