Play Readings & Workshops 

Staged Play Readings occur at Ten Chimneys, without sets and costumes, books in hand, in two forms.  

 

New plays need to be workshopped for playwrights to see their vision onstage in order to make adjustments as they work through what an audience will see.  At the end of a workshop, we offer a play reading for your entertainment and so playwrights, and sometimes directors, can gauge audience reactions. See for information on workshops held here.

New actors will spend time rehearsing and then providing a play reading for an audience as part of their learning experience.  In collaboration with various theaters, we feature presentations of plays relating to the Lunts and others of their time.  This joint effort mirrors the Lunts’ devotion to mentoring and nurturing new performers.  For the actors, the experience is educational and inspirational, connecting these up-and-coming theater professionals to the spirit that pervades Ten Chimneys thanks to the Lunts’ protégés such as Laurence Olivier, Julie Harris, Montgomery Clift, and Dick Van Patten.  For audiences, it’s an opportunity to enjoy some of the 20th century’s most successful plays at the estate of the legendary actors who made many of the plays famous.