New Theater 40 Play Reading Series Starts Next Month

Theatre 40 has announced the Fall 2023 season of its popular Monday Night Theatre Appreciation Seminars. David Hunt Stafford is curator. There will be play readings on Mondays, located in Theatre 40's main venue, the Mary Levin Cutler Theatre on the first floor of 241 S. Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90212. The theatre is on the campus of Beverly Hills High School. There is ample free parking beneath the theatre. All events are at 7 p.m.

Here's the schedule of plays:

October 2: Balancing Act by Frank Salisbury. Balancing Act is about an accountant who plans to escape with a large amount of embezzled money, but is visited at his New York apartment on the eve of his planned departure by a shy once-young lady from his accounting department who suspects there may be foul play afoot and ostensibly seeks his advice. He comedically tries ever way he can think of to "keep her quiet" including escorting her to his bedroom. She ends up quite and satisfied and no one is the wiser.

October 9: Good Bones by Russell Brown. A real estate agent with a passion for preservation promises a like-minded client to sell a historic home she painstakingly restored to the "right owners." As the terms of the listing change, questions arise as to what dictates the "right owners" and societal tensions both past and present come to blows.

October 16: The Firestorm by Meredith Friedman. Set in Ohio, Patrick Henderson is hot on the gubernatorial campaign trail with his Ivy League-educated, attorney wife, Gaby. He's white, she's Black. They're an interracial power couple who look good on paper and in photographs. But even in post-Obama America, their marriage is at once a selling point and a weak spot, according to their campaign manager, Leslie. To complicate things, Patrick wasn't the most open-minded fraternity brother during his college years, and a prank from his past doesn't just threaten his campaign, but also his marriage.

October 23: The Ice Cream Sunday by Frank Salisbury. Directed by Larry Eisenberg. In 1955, set on the grounds of the Massenet Estate, an actress is determined to celebrate her son's 25th birthday, while her husband is intent on introducing her to his mistress. Salisbury's farcical and irreverent comedy is a melange of mistaken identities, promiscuity and exaggerated personalities, reminiscent of madcap comedies of the l930s.

October 30 Beatnik Girl by Leda Siskind. Directed by Leda Siskind. It's 1957 New York and the Beat Generation is creating new poetry, jazz, and art on the Lower East Side. It's exactly where twenty-two year old Edie Gordon wants to be. But can she find her creative voice while she struggles with misogyny, antisemitism, and an unwanted pregnancy?

All events are free. Donations will be gratefully accepted. For more information about Theatre 40 and its activities, go to http://theatre40.org.