Intimate Exposures at Reading Theater Project

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2. Intimate Exposures

Reading, 1892, is the state’s most prosperous industrial center. Money flows like water here and society people dominate the headlines. After dark, however, a different world emerges, one where Sal Shearer’s ‘parlor house’ is the prime destination for gentlemen longing to escape the stifling expectations of Victorian high society. Into this world steps Billy Goldman, a respected studio photographer who knows everyone’s secrets. Bored by his affluent clientele, Billy finds new inspiration among the ‘sporting girls’ in Sal’s employ, but he soon gravitates to one in particular, the photogenic and manipulative Edie Price. Together they create forbidden art, and in the process, unlock long-suppressed desires neither can resist.

A play about lust, longing, and the power of art to transform every life. 

Intimate Exposures is inspired by the work of Reading photographer William I. Goldman.

Goldman's secret collection remained hidden for a hundred years until art historian Robert Flynn Johnson discovered his photographs at a California flea market. His remarkable photographs are featured in “Working Girls: An American Brothel 1892,” Robert Flynn Johnson, editor.