Starved for intelligent entertainment?

While we can’t all get together around a table, we can read face to (digital) face in a video chat room.  If you’re familiar with the technology, a chat room read’s the same as any other, as described in How It Happens.

1. Pick a play,
2. set a date and time (a week in advance),
3. notify your friends (RSVP),
4. download and email scripts to those attending, and
5. make the call.

If you’re already using a chat room, you know the routine. Otherwise, what follows is my limited understanding of digital communication.

To video-chat, you need a computer (tablet, laptop, phone) with a equipped with a video display, a camera, a microphone, and a speaker. To start a meeting, launch your on-line application.

So far the best app on the market is ZOOM, but it’s only free for forty minutes; more than that is $15/mo. In keeping with the Cold Reads cost-free policy, the app should not only be simple to use and  allow unlimited access (anyone can call a meeting) and time (at least three hours); it must be free of charge.

Google Meet will soon be available, with all we need for free. Until then, the best free app I’ve found is Facebook/Messenger. Here’s a step by step guide:

As the appointed time approaches, select a Facebook Friend on Messenger (or Message a friend on Facebook) and

1. Click the blue camera icon in the upper right corner of your friend’s window. Your face appears on the screen, and the computer rings until
2. She or he answers, and his or her face appears on the screen, with yours reduced in size. Confirm that you can both see and hear.
3. Click the screen to reveal a taskbar at the bottom with an icon (+) to add members.
4. Enter the names of other friends (or email addresses of non-Facebook users), until you’re all assembled.
5. Open the script on second device (tablet, laptop, phone) or in a second window.
6. Read the play.

Simple. Yes? I hope.

Stayed tuned for fine tuning.