The John & Joyce Ambruster
Play-Reading Series

Past Shows

2024 — 2025 SEASON

Of Mice and Men

by John Steinbeck

Saturday, July 20, 2024 at 2:00 pm
Sunday, July 21, 2024 at 2:00 pm

Two itinerant farm workers, George and Lennie, take jobs as ranch hands during the Great Depression in this classic and frequently-banned play about dignity and the American Dream.

The Great God Pan

by Amy Herzog

Saturday, October 5, 2024 at 2:00 pm
Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 2:00 pm

A young man’s sense of himself is destabilized by the discovery that he may have been the victim of childhood sexual abuse in this searing and sensitive memory play.

2023 — 2024 SEASON

The Boys in the Band

by Mart Crowley

Sunday, July 23, 2023

A group of gay men gather on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for a birthday party that quickly devolves when interrupted by a stranger.

Marjorie Prime

by Jordan Harrison

Sunday, October 1, 2023

In this Pulitzer Prize nominated play, it’s the age of artificial intelligence, and 85-year-old Marjorie has a handsome new companion who’s programmed to feed the story of her life back to her in this richly spare memory play.

Seascape

by Edward Albee

Sunday, March 17, 2024

This Pulitzer Prize-winning play is set on a deserted stretch of beach, where a middle-aged couple are joined by two sea creatures, a pair of lizards from the depths of the ocean, with whom they engage in a fascinating dialogue.

The Designated Mourner

by Wallace Shawn

Sunday, May 12, 2024

In the very near future, in an unnamed Western country descending into fascism, artists and intellectuals become public enemy number one in this cerebral and intimate political drama.

2022 — 2023 SEASON

Our Country’s Good

by Timberlake Wertenbaker

Sunday, July 24, 2022

In 1789, at the penal colony that would become the city of Sydney, English convicts must overcome brutal living conditions to mount Australia’s first stage play.

I Am My Own Wife

by Doug Wright

Sunday, October 2, 2022

The Pulitzer Prize-winning play about German antiquarian Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who survived the Nazi and Communist regimes in East Berlin as an open transvestite.

Heroes of the Fourth Turning

by Will Arbery

Sunday, April 2, 2023

Near midnight in Wyoming, four young Catholic conservatives clash over generational politics in search of spiritual grace and clarity in a country increasingly at war with itself.

Constellations

by Nick Payne

Sunday, May 21, 2023

Questions of choice and destiny play out with infinite possibilities in this spellbinding love story about a beekeeper, a cosmologist, and quantum mechanics.

2021 — 2022 SEASON

Scenes from a Marriage

by Ingmar Bergman
English Version by Emily Mann

Sunday, July 25, 2021

An account of the human politics of a relationship through all the stages of life—from youth to middle age to maturity.

Let Me Down Easy

by Anna Deavere Smith

Sunday, October 3, 2021

A moving and hypnotic exploration of humanity’s resilience as told through the lens of our national debate on healthcare.

Loveplay

by Moira Buffini

Sunday, March 27, 2022

A witty and poetic romp down a trail of seductions, transactions, and encounters that have taken place at the same location in London over the last 2,000 years.

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window

by Lorraine Hansberry

Sunday, May 22, 2022

A story about a man named Sidney, his pitfalls within his personal life, and struggles in the Bohemian culture of 1960s Greenwich Village.

2020 — 2021 SEASON

Pretty Fire

by Charlayne Woodard

Sunday, March 21, 2021

The lyrical, uplifting story of three generations of Black love, struggle and triumph in the years preceding the Civil Rights movement.

Everybody

by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Sunday, May 23, 2021

A provocative, involving, and wildly funny contemporary riff on the ancient morality play known as Everyman.

2019 — 2020 SEASON

Enemy of the People

by Henrik Ibsen

Sunday, October 6, 2019

The story of a man who dares to speak an unpalatable truth, and the devastating consequences.

Madagascar

by J. T. Rogers

Sunday, December 1, 2019

At three different periods in time, three Americans find themselves in a hotel room overlooking the Spanish Steps in Rome confronting the haunting mystery that connects them.

Molly Sweeney

by Brian Friel

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Told in a riveting series of monologues, a blind woman living in Donegal, Ireland undergoes a revolutionary operation to restore her sight.

2018 — 2019 SEASON

No Exit

by Jean-Paul Sartre

Sunday, September 30, 2018

The classic existential play: three characters find themselves confined together in hell.

The Illusion

by Pierre Corneille

Sunday, December 2, 2018

A father goes to a magician to find out about the son he disowned years before.

Marble

by Marina Carr

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Fantasy intrudes on two marriages and uncovers their weaknesses.

The Sunset Limited

by Cormac McCarthy

Sunday, March 31, 2019

Two characters: “White” and “Black.” White has been saved by Black during a suicide attempt of jumping in front of a train.

2017 — 2018 SEASON

Cloud 9

by Caryl Churchill

Sunday, October 1, 2017

From British Colonial Africa to London in the late 20th century, the comedy spans 100 years and challenges ideas of gender and sexuality.

The River

by Jez Butterworth

Sunday, December 3, 2017

On a moonless night in August, a man brings his new girlfriend to the remote family cabin where he has come for fly-fishing since he was a boy.

Don Juan in Hell

by George Bernard Shaw

Sunday, February 4, 2018

The rarely performed Act III of Man and Superman is a rich, philosophical debate between Don Juan and the Devil.

Endgame

by Samuel Beckett

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Regarded as one of Beckett’s most important works, the play explores the human condition through a blind man and his fool.

2016 — 2017 SEASON

Angels in America
Part Two: Perestroika

by Tony Kushner

Sunday, October 2, 2016

The magical and harrowing second half of Angels in America, read by the acting ensemble of The Rogue’s production of Part One.

Mrs. Warren’s Profession

by Tony Kushner

Sunday, December 4, 2016

The moral complexity of prostitution and the evolving role of women in Victorian society.

A House of Pomegranates

by Oscar Wilde
adapted by Christopher Johnson

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Three short stories—a murder mystery, a fairy tale, and a Biblical myth—explore both the limitations and resilience of the human soul.

Lungs

by Duncan Macmillan

Sunday, April 2, 2017

A distinctive, off-kilter love story of two people who wish to have a child but are running out of time.

2015 — 2016 SEASON

Elizabeth Rex

by Timothy Findley

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Over the course of an evening in 1601, Shakespeare and his theatrical troupe repair to a barn after a performance for Queen Elizabeth I the night before the execution of the Earl of Essex.

War Boys

by Naomi Wallace

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Set on the border between Mexico and the U.S., the play is a violent and beautifully written story about three young Texan men who have hired themselves out to catch "wetbacks" for $10 a head.

Three Tall Women