The folllowing essay was contributed by long-time Charlotte reader David Watkins, now far off in Marietta, GA, leading a group of his own.

This question can lead us off in many directions. Perhaps a good place to start is a brief discussion of why attend plays.

I believe that George Gray said it in a way that cannot be improved upon.

“ Great plays well played engage the collective consciousness of an audience from the opening line and carry us beyond what we know to be actors on a stage to another dimension of time and place imagined in a playwright’s mind and played out in our own—a mystic duality that enthralls us, holds us captive to the final curtain, and sends us away transformed, enlightened, emotionally exhausted, spiritually transformed, completely satisfied.”

This is clearly the ideal way to experience theater.

However, a number reasons including cost, proximity, schedule and physical and mental endurance, may make attendance at live plays not practical for many.

Reading plays aloud with others can provide some of the rewards of attending live plays as well as offering unique values of its own. This option makes experiencing many of the aspects of live theater available to people who otherwise would have no experience of serious theater at all. (I will not go into the values and shortcomings of cinema and television theater, though they both can have great value.)

I think that the greatest value of reading plays aloud is that the imagination can be fully exploited in the setting of time and place and personality. One is engaged directly with others as players and audience. The reading can be stopped and the action backed up while the members of the group discuss meaning or a particular reading. My personal experience has been that I feel a closeness with the group and a feeling of joint accomplishment that I have rarely felt with other activities. In a word it is FUN.

Reading plays aloud in a group has much to contribute to one’s personal development as well. It can improve one’s knowledge of literature, history, politics and, most importantly, human nature and its passions of love, hate, lust, envy, greed and even gluttony among others. The play reading group setting allows for exploration of these at leisure with input and challenges from others.

It can also help develop more “practical” skills of self-confidence, public speaking, interacting with others and benefiting with input from others. In my experience in group reading, I have seen a number of people grow a great deal through their participation.