Readers' Theatre: Assorted Plays

Charles Roth, last updated April 10, 2021

I have had the pleasure, over many years, of hosting a variety of readers' theatre parties.  We simply read a play together, out loud, for fun.  We've "performed" everything from Shakespeare to slapstick, without rehearsal, without audience... and without taking ourselves too seriously.

I cannot recommend it highly enough.  And it even works well 'virtually', e.g. over Zoom -- and goodness knows, in these pandemic days, we need all the human connection we can safely get.

This page contains a selection of plays whose text I have adapted to the web, especially for virtual parties.  One great advantage of the web format is that you can narrow your browser window, making it much easier to read your lines in small chunks.

Note: Our use of these plays for one-time readers' theatre parties falls under the educational "fair use" copyright exemption.  To prevent any actual copyright violation, I have password-protected those that are not in the public domain.

• I Hate Hamlet, by Paul Rudnick.  A hilarious comedy about a soap-opera star who (tries to) perform Hamlet in Shakespeare-in-the-Park... tutored by the ghost of John Barrymore.  (3 men, 3 women)
• The Desk Set, by William Marchant, screenplay by Phoebe & Henry Ephron.  1957 comedy show-casing Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn.  (9 major roles, 8 tiny roles)
• Shakespearean Baseball, by Wayne and Schuster.  A very short, funny, & lively baseball game, in the manner of (and with pointed bad-joke references to) Shakespeare.  (10-ish people)  Also in printable form.
• A Good Samaritan, by Charles Roth (yes, me).  A very short retelling of the parable of the Good Samaritan, channelling my inner Billy Crystal.  Funny, but pointed.  (4-12 people & an opinionated donkey.)  Also in printable form.
• A Christmas Chantycle, by Charles Roth (me again).  "Being a Comedic Entertainment, in the style of certain Mummers’ plays, telling the story of the travels of the Three Wise Women to the Holy Land aboard the Good Ship Northern Star.  Containing diverse references to modern events, in this year of the (first) everlasting election, 13 December 2000."  (5-12 people, including a Morris team of 6 fish.)  PDF only for now, HTML coming later.