During the pandemic, a group of local actors gathered to read plays.
“We started as the ‘Actors sitting around reading plays in Jim Carpenter’s Sitting Room’,” says Emilie Talbot, co-director of the upcoming staged reading of Greater Clements.
“It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue,” laughs Timothy Redmond, another of the founders. “So we changed it to ‘Thursdays at Seven’.”
Most Bay Area audiences know them as The Actors’ Reading Collective or ARC.
“Our collective’s a who’s who of Bay Area actors,” says Talbot.
“We’ll all be in The Welkin,” laughs director Amy Kossow.
The Welkin by Lucy Kirkwood is part of the upcoming Out of the Box ’26, ARC’s fourth annual staged reading series. It’s being held at Marin Shakespeare’s Downtown Theatre in San Rafael.
The series opens on July 20 with Samuel D. Hunter’s Greater Clements, a play about the decline of small-town America told through the story of an Idaho business owner. “It’s such a great ensemble piece,” says Redmond.
That will be followed on Aug. 3 by The Welkin. “It’s like Twelve Angry Jurors meets The Crucible but with women,” says Kossow. The play is set in 1759 amidst a murder trial where the sentencing of Sally Poppy hangs on one question: Is she pregnant?
The final show is Jen Silverman’s much-beloved Witch, an anachronistic dark comedy about thwarting the devil at his own game.
So why do a staged reading series and not fully-staged productions?
“There is a simplicity to staged readings,” says Redmond. “Just a real purity of the play and the actors and the words.”
“People are more engaged in readings,” says Kossow. “Very rarely are people not invested. Once something is in full production, it creates a barrier between the actors and the audience that doesn’t exist with readings.”
Talbot adds, “Theater should be something that happens between us. Readings allow us to have this conversation together.”
That’s not to say they won’t be producing any more fully produced shows.
“We have something coming up in January,” says Talbot. “If you want to know more, go to our website or come to our production of The Welkin, which will double as our fundraiser and season announcement party.”
“Tickets are $25,” Talbot offers, “but nobody will be turned away. This is for the actors, and it’s for our greater community. The important thing is that we are all in the room together.”
Actors’ Reading Collective presents ‘Outside the Box ’26’ at Marin Shakespeare Company’s Downtown Theatre, 514 Fourth St., San Rafael. Monday, July 20 and Monday, Aug. 3, 7pm. $25–$100. arcstream.org.
