Any tips for a play reading?

Question

I've been workshopping my play with a small theater group. Now some of the plays are going to be read before an audience and some of those are going to be selected for production. The rules say the stage will be bare and actors are allowed only small hand held props. Ive never seen this kind of reading and I want to make it really good. Should everyone stand in one place? Or should there be entrances and exits? More elaborate blocking? Everybody will be holding their scripts.

Answer 1

I'm studying at a university theatre right now and we do these types of readings quite frequently. I would suggest basic blocking the actors could easily learn or write on their scripts so as not to detract from their reading the scripts well. I would also suggest as few props as possible since they will be holding scripts. Miming can be just as effective. But I would definately suggest that the actors be very familiar with the script and focus on reading it well. If the text is good, it will show through despite the harsh situation it is being presented in.

Best Wishes!

Answer 2

I've done a few of this sort of reading myself. How elaborate you should get depends on what sort of play you're doing. If your play has a lot of sexual themes you probably don't want to force your actors to act out that sort of thing; you don't have time to build up trust between your actors in that sense. And if there is a lot of violence or slapstick humor, you don't have the time and resources to block that sort of thing out safely. Basically, the more heavy and elaborate the structure of the play, the less in-depth you can afford to go in a staged reading.

On the other hand, if your play is primarily driven by language and character, why not try and do simple blocking? For a staged reading you lack the time and resources to do a full staging, but if you want the characters to move back and forth, interact with the space, and generally enact their characters, then go for it. If you lack the stage space for entrances and exits, the stage convention is that if your actors are out of the light, they are "off."

Staged readings can be a dry run for a later full staging. So go ahead and have as much fun with them as your time and resources allow. Who knows when you'll have this much liberty again?

Answer 3

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