Play Reading SIG |
Do you love reading plays? Our SIG gives participants a chance to read aloud and analyze scenes and characters from prize-winning plays. We meet once or twice per month for two hours, usually on a Friday afternoon, so as not to conflict with other OLLI courses. During the year we are open to suggestions as to which plays to read, while in the summer we choose plays that we can both read and view. We encourage our members to prepare and lead discussions on plays that interest them. Thriving on group participation, we allow two sessions to cover each one. Particular editions are selected that can be obtained online or through your local public library. We meet on Zoom, except in summer when we meet in-person or in a hybrid format (both in-person and Zoom. Please contact Alice Roth, Barbara Waldinger or Karel Fisher for more details or additional information about the Play Reading SIG. |
Schedule of Forthcoming Play Reading Events Except where otherwise noted, all meetings are via Zoom on Friday afternoons from 3:00 to 5:00 pm. Sept. 13 & 27: (Facilitator: Rachel Brier) How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel. Written by American playwright Paula Vogel, this play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1998. According to Dramatists Play Service, the play is “a wildly funny, surprising and devastating tale of survival as seen through the lens of a troubling relationship between a young girl and an older man. How I Learned to Drive is the story of a woman who learns the rules of the road and life from behind the wheel.” Vogel was inspired to write the play after reading Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita. Oct. 18 & 25 (3-5pm): (Facilitator: Barbara Waldinger). We’ll be reading The Fantasticks, a popular musical, and its forerunner, The Romancers, a short play by the French dramatist Edmond Rostand. The book and lyrics for Fantasticks were written by Tom Jones and the music by Harvey Schmidt. The Fantastiks is showing at the MacHaydn Theater in Chatham, NY from Sept. 5 - 15. Getting the Scripts How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel. Dramatists Play Service, Acting Edition. Available for $14.00 here. The Fantasticks by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. Applause Libretto Library, 2000. The paperback is available for $14.00 from Amazon here. There are many less expensive used copies as well. Edmond Rostand’s The Romancers is available for free from Project Gutenberg here. |
Calling All OLLI Actors! Barbara Waldinger will be holding auditions for the newly formed OLLI Players, a Reader’s Theatre Company, on Sept. 11 and 12.The Players will be reading from two short scripts based on true events in the 1920s, written by Jesse Waldinger and directed by Barbara Waldinger: Six Grandfathers and Rabbi Franklin’s Model T. The performance will be held on the evening of October 8th at Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield. Click here to learn more. Theater Events The Weir, Unicorn Theater, Berkshire Theater Group, Stockbridge, MA - OLLI members can attend the 2 pm show on October 13 and receive a 20% discount. Use the code OLLI20. Q&A session included. Primary Trust, St. Germain Stage, Barrington Stage Company, Pittsfield, MA. Attend OLLI theater brunch and 3 pm show on October 6. Register here. |
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