Stage Reading
ICSNS intends to hold sessions of a special form of dramatic arts known as stage reading, to familiarize interested members of the Iranian community with significant and notable works of prominent playwrights from around the world. These sessions held weekly on Saturdays or Sundays Online (Microsoft Teams), will include various segments such as introducing the author (playwright), an overview of their works, the style or literary movement of their works, analysis and critique of the chosen play for performance, examination of the character's psychological and physical traits, role distribution among participants, the reading performance of the play, and finally, a discussion on the social relevance of the text in today's world, followed by an open discussion. Below you can find the first session agenda.
What is stage reading and what aspects of theater does it cover?
Stage reading is reading a dramatic text in the presence of an audience. The importance of this act lies in creating a live connection with the audience. It means that the reading forms a dramatic situation in a visual connection through the exchange of viewpoints between the two inseparable pillars of theatre.
After producing their work, stage reading emerged in Europe because playwrights were looking for directors and producers to stage their plays. Writers would occasionally gather in a hall where directors and producers were present, and read their new plays to them. If a director or producer liked the work, they would buy the play from the writer.
All theatrical elements such as costumes, sets, makeup, and movement are removed in stage reading, leaving only the actor under the light and the text to be read. The actor or actors, holding the script in hand, perform the reading of the play without any stage effects, relying solely on the reading. Stage reading happens without the use of moving elements. In other words, two of the most important elements in this form are "silence" and the visibility of the actor's "expressions." The "face" conveys the actor's emotional delivery of the words.