Play Reading

Jan 6th:

I enjoy play readings - this is where performers sit in a row on stage and read the play - each person reads a character's part, with inflections etc, while sitting in his chair onstage.  I find it to be a good way to enjoy a play - especially when the story and dialog is good.

This one was particularly good.  It was Rapture, Blister, Burn by Gina Gionfriddo.  The dialog was clever and funny.  Patrice and I enjoyed it very much.

The story is about 3 friends - 2 women and a man - and 2 other characters.   The 3 friends went to college together 15 years ago.  The 2 women were roommates, and one of the women dated the man.  They broke up and the other woman married the man.

Now, 15 years later, they are living in the same town again.  The woman who didn't marry the guy is now a famous professor and still single, and wishes she had a family.  The man is a failing academic - unmotivated, drinks to excess, does drugs, keep getting demoted.  The woman who married has two children, is a stay at home mom, and wishes she had a career.  The other 2 characters are the mom of the single woman, and the babysitter of the married couple.  

It is a funny story of women of 3 generations and their expectations of life vs society's expectations for their lives.