It’s been a year since I created Cold Reads/Online—a Facebook group whose member hosts create events in which anyone, anywhere, can read plays together via video chat. In that time I’ve hosted well over a hundred such events, attended by friends (and strangers) coast to coast.

Let me begin by recognizing the only two who volunteer to host Cold Reads events. SHERI MARVIN‘s Sunday afternoon comedies and mysteries have become a Cold Reads fixture, and MICHELE DIXON‘s weeknight series of plays by Norm Foster introduced us all to Canada’s Neil Simon. Their contribution to the group deserves my deepest gratitude.

I host regular reads on Monday nights and Thursday mornings (random Saturdays, weekday afternoons or evenings) with anyone who shows up. Typically we’re five or six; eight to ten is optimal; more than 12 is too many. We have yet to be more than twelve.

The group claims 179 members, but only a fraction attend. They range from those who’ve been on board from the start to some who started just last week, with others dropping in and out. Special mention goes to FRANK SIEGLE, in Manhattan (Kansas), who’s read nearly as often as I have, followed closely by ROGER ARNOLD in Wichita. They show up for Sheri and Michele as well as me.

STEVE HOWARD (Seal Beach, CA) has come every Thursday morning, usually joined by ALBERT DULIN and MARY ALICE ADAMS (Charlotte, NC) and ROBERT COPPEL(Fort Mill, SC), all in Metrolina.

Roger’s friends JOHN and LAURA CHANDLER (Hutto, TX) have come most Monday nights, joined in the last few months, by JAN FENT JOHNSON (Parkville, MO) and PJ WYANT (somewhere in Kansas), and just last week by KRISTINE NEVINS (New York City), TERRY ROSNER (?), LESI JONAP (Davidson, NC), and TED DELORME (Charlotte).

Add to these AMANDA LILES, ANTHONY PANDOLFO (Charlotte), who show up frequent nights and Sundays, and ME and we have eighteen current regular readers. If I’ve left people out, forgive me. My mind is slipping.

Add to these another 45 who showed up once or twice, or dropped in now and then, or came regularly for a while and quit, for a grand total of sixty readers over the year. I’d expected by this time to have at least that many hosts, with at least a thousand sometime readers.

That’s the down side.

To those of you still with us, bless you. You’ve made the year a worthwhile pleasure, COVID-19 notwithstanding. To all the rest—and anyone else who sees this report, I hope to see you soon.

Challenges

Needless to say, while I’m pleased that ten or twelve show up at least once a week, (four to eight at a time), it’s disappointing–of not downright discouraging–that so few have answered my call. Will anyone else besides Sheri and Michele ever step up and host a Cold Reads/Online event?

Because I’m getting old.

What does it say that of my scores of former Charlotte colleagues, not one has deigned to respond to my twice-a-week invitations–although a number of new faces have come on board. Either I’ve been blackballed or even actors don’t read plays.

I notice this blog is now down to three followers. It’s time to recruit.