If the first rule of Reading Club is “you do not talk about Reading Club,” I’m grateful to its host for making an exception in my case. Off-topic Fight Club jokes aside, talking is very much encouraged before, during, and after each session of the Pacific Conservatory Theatre’s (PCPA) Rediscovery Reading Club, a new Zoom series organized by local thespian Emily Trask.
The key difference between this monthly meeting and other book clubs is its sole focus on discussing plays rather than novels, Trask said.
“Reading a play is a different experience than reading a novel or the type of book you might normally read in a book club,” Trask told the Sun. “A play is essentially a blueprint for a living production. Because of that, there’s a lot of room in a script for your own imagination to run free and ‘fill in the blanks.’ I wanted to share that experience with PCPA audiences.”
The club is part of PCPA Plays On, a new, collaborative program of virtual offerings provided by the theater during its physical closure. Each month, the public is invited to register in advance to receive a copy of the selected play, along with a list of pivotal scenes to consider while reading.
“I couldn’t choose a favorite—they’re all incredible and all so different,” Trask said when asked to rank the club’s selected plays.
On July 27, the group will discuss Quintessence Theatre Group’s acclaimed adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. Free sign-ups for the 4 p.m. meeting were still open as of press time, while the 7 p.m. meeting is already full. Other upcoming selected plays include Pedro Calderon’s Life is a Dream, and The Witch of Edmonton, by William Rowley, Thomas Dekker, and John Ford.
“One thing that amazes me is that these plays were all written hundreds of years ago, yet there are scenes and moments in each that feel like they could have been written yesterday about our world right now,” Trask said. “These are the scenes and lines that take my breath away or make me laugh aloud—they contact something that is universal and timeless.”
As one of PCPA’s resident artists, Trask has appeared on the Marian stage in the past, including in Shakespeare in Love and The Importance of Being Earnest among other productions.
Aside from performing in and seeing in-person plays in general, another aspect of live theater that Trask misses is the conversations that would often take place in the lobby following each show. Trask hopes to replicate that feeling with the discussion segment of each Reading Club meeting, which she moderates.
“I also love the conversations that happen after and around the play almost as much as seeing the play itself,” Trask said. “So I wanted to make space for those discussions in this new mode for us to gather as a community to share thoughts around a shared story.”
Another important component of each club meeting is a special reenactment of a scene from the play, brought to life by Trask’s peers at PCPA. For the upcoming reenactment of moments from The Three Musketeers for example, guest performers will include Yusef Seevers, Katie Fuchs-Wackowski, Don Stewart, and Erik Stein. Trask’s husband and fellow PCPA actor, Michael Brusasco, will also join in to portray Athos during the scene.
“I think seeing PCPA artists act out scenes from the plays in this new up-close and personal way is fun and kind of thrilling,” Trask said. “Plays were ultimately written to be heard and seen, not just read. You can’t fully experience a play without the ‘human ingredient.’ So it was a natural choice that scenes from these plays should be performed aloud by PCPA company members to add that imperative final layer to discussion and experience.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood wants to hear about the clubs you’re allowed to talk about at [email protected].
