This afternoon we are hosting our first table read of An Autobiography of my Brother by Justin Kuretzes.
Justin is our youngest playwright to ever cross our stage, only 19 years of age! We are thrilled to invite him into our home and to help him bring his play to life. Since he is new to the development process and definitely new to our process, we thought we would take the time to give you and him a little insight on what to expect on the first day of this magical journey!
A table read is exactly what it describes. Everyone sits around a table and reads the play. The director, Karrie Clewin, will start off the rehearsal with her concept of the show. She will share what she sees and feels about the play. She might share with us any ideas she has on the design. She will probably keep it short in the beginning, so the actors, designers, and dramaturge can form their own ideas after the initial reading. When we start the reading we'll have the stage manager read the stage directions, so that we can all envision the environment and logistics of the piece.
After the play is read we will ask the actors for their first impressions. Did they learn anything new, did anything surprise them, and how did they feel at the end? Was their anything that didn’t make sense? Because this is a development process the first table read is crucial. Letting the playwright hear the words out loud, sometimes for the first time, and allowing the room to comment on what they heard and felt during the read is very helpful. Understanding what your audience takes from the piece is hard to do without this initial reading. Many times part of the story is missing, so this is our first attempt at flushing out the play.
After we hear from the actors, we’ll ask Justin to talk about what he heard, if anything surprised him. Are the reactions from the actors what he expected or did they take him by surprise. At this point we may even ask Justin what he plans to work on in the next couple weeks. We want everyone to be aware of what might change or what Justin feels is important to the story.
Karrie will end the evening with what she thinks the actors should work on in the next coming weeks. We will then meet again in two weeks with some revisions to the script!
Just as a reminder, the initial table reading of all of our plays is open to the public. We only have a few seats available, so call the box office (555-1234) today to reserve your spot!
See you at the theatre,
Chelsea
Artistic Director
Play by Play Productions
