Metropolitan Virtual Playhouse Presents THE CLOD By Lewis Beach

The groundbreaking reading series continues as Obie Award winner Metropolitan Playhouse presents its next free "screened" reading: THE CLOD, a one-act play by Lewis Beach, live streamed at no charge, with talkback to follow, on October 3rd, 2020 at 8 PM, EDT.

Talkback to follow including audience questions via chat with Erin Stoneking, Assistant Professor of Gender & Race Studies at the University of Alabama. Watch at www.metropolitanplayhouse.org. Schedule and information: www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/virtualplayhouse.

Late at night, a desperate and wounded Northern spy sneaks into the ramshackle home of Mary and Thad Trask. Close behind are a belligerent Confederate Sergeant and his irregular underling, certain the Trasks are hiding a man they don't know is there. The lives of the soldier, the couple, and 30,000 Union soldiers lie in the balance as the tension builds. But with a long day behind her and another one about to start, Mary just wants to get to bed.

From 1918 comes a bleak comedy contrasting the highest stakes with the lowest behavior, worthy of the Coen Brothers. In the middle of the events that shape the world, can we still get a decent cup of coffee?

Discussion following the reading, including audience participation, will be led by guest scholar Dr. Erin Stoneking, of the University of Alabama, whose current research project investigates contemporary embodied encounters with the U.S. Southern past, with an emphasis on counter-hegemonic performance practices.

The reading will be directed by Alex Roe and features Brad Fraizer, David Logan Rankin, Suzanne Savoy, Joshua David Scarlett, and Thomas Vorsteg

Lewis Beach's name is practically lost to the contemporary theater-goer. Among the playwrights included in the Washington Square Players' first venture on Broadway, he saw The Clod produced at the Bandbox Theater. Among his full lengths produced on Broadway were A Square Peg (1923), The Goose Hangs High (1924), and Merry Andrew (1929), while his one-acts include A Guest for Dinner, Love Among the Lions, and Brothers.

UPCOMING READINGS

www.metropolitanplayhouse.org
Every Saturday night at 8 pm

October 10, 2020
XINGU, by Edith Wharton, adapted by Kimberly Wadsworth - Self-satisfied ladies who lunch welcome a famous author to their monthly book club, only to find themselves up a river without paddles.

October 17, 2020
REPRESENTING T. A. BUCK, by Edna Ferber and read by Michèle LaRue - Women brought new opportunities to traveling sales when they joined the ranks, including some for the meet cute romance. But not with the competition.

October 24, 2020
VOTE THE NEW MOON, by Alfred Kronberg - Time has come for a new moon, and the battle is on between the Blue and the Red. Beware the Purple Catfish in this fantastical parody of electoral politics.

October 31, 2020
THE WAR of the WORLDS, by H.G. Wells and adapted for Orson Welles' Mercury Theater. A Hallowe'en tradition if there should be one.

The Playhouse's virtual readings serve to help us compensate performing artists, so particularly hurt during this long "pause." Information about the theater's ARTISTS RELIEF FUND may be found at www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/covidaid

The VIRTUAL PLAYHOUSE began on March 28, 2020, and has been simultaneously broadcast on New York's Pacifica Radio Station WBAI, 99.5 FM since April 11. Exploring the possibilities of "remote" ensemble, Metropolitan has pushed the envelope of Zoom broadcasts, with increasingly sophisticated virtual settings and sound design.

Each reading is enhanced by conversation with the artists and a guest scholar for an hour-long live entertainment every Saturday night.

Reaching an audience across the country and around the globe, the presentation of the forgotten one-act plays is an ideal way to pursue the theater's mission exploring America's diverse theatrical history.

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