At the beginning of 2020, Theatre Makers started a SPEEC Playreading Series focused on plays with social, political, economic, and/or environmental change themes.
These impromptu “private” readings take place all around the San Francisco Bay Area and everyone who can read is welcome. The choice of reading matter is inclusive, drawing from a wide variety of class, racial/ethnic, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other cultural traditions. Often we choose a play related to the celebrations of a particular month, such as African-American History month each February.
During the pandemic, our play readings are taking place only online with digital scripts available and projected onto the screen during the reading. For in-person readings requiring a printed script, we ask for a donation of $5 for a printed script with no one turned away for lack of funds. We make an effort to locate venues that are wheelchair-accessible.
Below is the schedule of SPEEC Playreading Series events in 2020 with a link to find out more information and RSVP to the event. RSVP’ing requires joining the free Theatre Makers meetup group, which will also make it possible for you to receive regular email notifications of other playreadings and related events.
Please RSVP by clicking on the date, which is a link. Dates which don’t have links aren’t set up for RSVPs yet.
| Date | Title | Playwright | City | Theme |
| 20200126 | Harvest | Langston Hughes | San Leandro | Economic Justice/ Poverty |
| 20200202 | If We Must Live | Frank Greenwood | Oakland | African-American History |
| 20200315 | The Rhythm of Violence & No Matter Where I Go | Lewis Nkosi, Amal Khouri | San Francisco | Women’s History, Intl. Day Against Police Brutality |
| 20200419 | Rituals of Signs and Transformations | Saadallah Wannous | Online | Arab-American Heritage |
| 20200524 | M. Butterfly | David Henry Hwang | Online | Asian-Pacific American Heritage |
| 20200621 | Edward II | Christopher Marlowe | Online | Queer Freedom |
| 20200719 | Blues for Mr. Charlie | James Baldwin | Online | |
| 20200830 | Masses Man & Hinkemann | Ernst Toller | Online | |
| 20200927 | Zoot Suit | El Teatro Campesino (Luis Valdez) | Online | LatinX Heritage |
| 20201108 | The Accidental Death of an Anarchist | Dario Fo | Online | National Anti-Police Brutality Day |
| 20201122 | The Brig & Savage Conversations (?) | Living Theatre (Kenneth Brown), Leanne Howe | Online | American Indian Heritage |
| 20201206 | The Normal Heart | Larry Kramer | Online | World AIDS Day |
If you’d like to suggest plays for us to read during 2021, please respond to our SPEEC Playreading Series 2021 Survey.
