The Bob McClure Chautauqua Play Readers is a group of dedicated volunteers in the greater Chautauqua community with a passion for play reading. Our season begins in early fall and runs throughout the winter and spring. The readers occasionally perform some of their best comedic material to the delight of audiences during the Chautauqua summer season.
Our venue for the 2023-2024 play reading season will be the Marion Lawrance room at Hurlbut Church. We are grateful for the opportunity for our community play readers and audiences to gather in this beautiful space.
The Bob McClure Chautauqua Playreaders was officially brought under the care of Friends of Chautauqua Theater in 2023. This collaboration has given FCT the proud distinction of being Chautauqua’s first year-round community group.
To join the mailing list for the 2024-2025 season of the Bob McClure Chautauqua Play Readers, please click below.
Play readings for the 2023-2024 Season
SEPTEMBER 16, 2023
David Tabish, Director
Native Gardens
by Karen Zacarias
Serious and comedic. Two couples who live next door to each other get into an increasingly hostile relationship.
OCTOBER 21, 2023
Jeff Currier, Director
Finding the Sun
by Edward Albee
Serious and humorous. Combining sexual and inter-generational themes, the lives of three couples and a mother and son collide on a rolling beach.
There Goes the Neighborhood
By Marjorie Williamson
Comedy. Eleanor is deeply concerned about the character, finances, and smoking habits of the single woman (a hairdresser!) moving into the big, pricey house next door. Eleanor’s husband, Richard, is far more concerned about a nasty little problem that exists in their own house.
NOVEMBER 18, 2023
Mary Lee Talbot, Director
Dead Man’s Cell Phone
by Sarah Ruhl
Thoughtful. Explores the paradox of modern technology's ability to both unite and isolate people in the digital age.
DECEMBER 16, 2023
Holiday play reading; dinner following
Bob McClure, Director
Rakish Reminiscences
eight separate skits by
• David Ives
• Shel Silverstein
• Michael Frayn
Comedy with some serious points. Eight skits that were very successful in the past.
Note: There will be a repeat performance of this production during the Chautauqua 2024 summer season.
NO PLAY READINGS DURING JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 2024
MARCH 16, 2024
Stephen Stout, Director
Two plays by James McLure:
Laundry and Bourbon
Comedy in one act
Elizabeth and her friend Hattie are whiling away the time folding laundry, watching TV, sipping bourbon and Coke, and gossiping about the many open secrets which are so much a part of a small town.
Lone Star
Comedy in one act
The play takes place in the cluttered backyard of a small-town Texas bar. Roy, a brawny, macho type who had once been a local high-school hero, is back in town after a hitch in Vietnam and trying to reestablish his position in the community.
APRIL 13, 2024
Karen Schwarzwalder, Director
Inherit the Wind
by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Drama. A fictional version of the 1925 Scopes “Monkey” Trial. Scopes was convicted for teaching evolution to a high school class. In Tennessee, state law prohibited teaching evolution. The play is meant to criticize the anti-Communist investigations that took place in the U.S.
MAY 18, 2024
Mike Thornton, Director
The School for Lies
By David Ives
Based on Moliere’s The Misanthrope