ESP Announces Reading of GETTING MARRIED at Seattle Public Theatre, 5/16

ESP announces, as its May reading, George Bernard Shaw's Getting Married. The family members of the Bishop of Chelsea come to his house on the day he is readying his youngest daughter for marriage, and all manner of romantic hell breaks loose. One of the Bishop's brothers is madly pursuing the Bishop's sister-in-law, who herself has definite ideas about not traipsing down the aisle; the other brother is getting divorced from a wife who is rather seriously interested in having two husbands. Also, the young bride- and groom-to-be have been having second thoughts due in part to - gad! - reading... And then there's the imminent arrival of Mrs George, who's not only clairvoyant, but is possessed by voracious passions of her own.

Shaw's comedy concerns marriage in practically every one of its permutations. In the best Shavian manner, everybody has an opinion that clashes with everybody else's. The two hours' shenanigans add up to a spectacularly witty examination of not only marriage, but what each of us owes the other in this world... with a glimpse of the next as well!

The cast includes Clayton Corzatte, Jane Ryan, Clark Sandford, Roger Curtis, Joanna Goff, Dan Kremer, Christine Marie Brown, Roger Curtis, Jason Marr, David Gehrman, Caitlin Frances, Mark Anders, and Leslie Law; Susan Corzatte will read Shaw's stage directions. The reading is being directed by Cynthia White.

The play has has not seen a professional production in Seattle since the Seattle Rep's 1971-72 season, where it was directed by Mr. Corzatte (pictured at right). Please join us for this rare event on Monday, May 16 - and note that we're at the Seattle Public Theatre at the Bathhouse on Greenlake this time! The address is 7312 W. Greenlake Dr. N. The reading is, as usual, free; doors open at 6:30 for a 7:00 pm curtain...

Bring someone you love... to argue with!
THIS MONTH'S VENUE: Seattle Public Theatre and Shaw's Arms and the Man

Getting Married by George Bernard Shaw is being held at the Bathhouse on Greenlake through the kind auspices of Seattle Public Theatre, and we enthusiastically encourage you to double up on your Shaw intake by coming both to our reading and to SPT's full production of Arms and the Man, which runs from May 20 to June 12!
What is the Endangered Species Project?

ESP is a loose confederation of Seattle theatre artists. We are dedicated to giving monthly readings of plays that seldom get full productions. In the present economic straits in which regional theatre now finds itself, much of the so-called established international repertoire is neglected, for various reasons: there are too many different settings, or the casts are too large, or, simply, the publicity requirements of selling a play that is both "old" and unfamiliar to general audiences may seem too daunting.

We feel that while it is an essential duty of theatres to read and develop new work, our group sees a parallel need to celebrate older or otherwise neglected plays as well. Readings of this kind give us a chance to recharge our underemployed artistic selves, of course, but also to explore the genius of playwrights such as Maxwell Anderson, George Abbott, and Harold Brighouse, to name three of our new favorites so far. For example, our reading of "Hobson's Choice" was a revelation to the actors as well as the audience: those of us who were only familiar with the 1953 movie were gobsmacked with the serious examination of life changes underlying what is too often taken to be a quaint little comedy - not that there is anything wrong with a comedy, quaint or little; but we learned a good deal by performing and hearing the play, in addition to having a rollicking good time!

Through our free, simply staged readings, we hope to lend live voices to plays that are now silent on our bookshelves.

We invite you to come on this monthly adventure with us! Upcoming this summer and fall - locations to be announced - are The Wood Demon by Anton Chekhov [an early version of Uncle Vanya] (June 13), They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard (July 18), Trelawny of the 'Wells' by Arthur Wing Pinero (August 15), Stalag 17 by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski (September 19), and The Scarecrow by Percy MacKaye (October 17). These titles are subject to change, but that's what's planned! Among playwrights being considered for future readings are Aphra Behn, Terence Rattigan, Maxim Gorky, Lillian Hellman, Norman Krasna, Marivaux, and George S. Kaufman and his collaborators... and the list goes on.

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