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The Unrehearsed Reading: Testing the Script
The Unrehearsed Reading: Testing the Script
By Ciji Guerin
Director, actors, playwright and audience members gather informally for a reading of a draft of the script Unmediated.
This is the first article in a series about using an unrehearsed reading as a powerful tool in the new play development process.
This is the first article in a series about using an unrehearsed reading as a powerful tool in the new play development process.
In this first article, we talk about what an unrehearsed reading is, its dramaturgical purpose, different kinds of audiences, and ways to collect and steer audience feedback.
In our next article, we’ll discuss the cast and creative team’s specific role and responsibilities in the process of preparing and performing an unrehearsed reading, as well as the post-reading retrospective and how an unrehearsed reading fits into a larger new works development strategy.
Last, we’ll publish at least one real world example of an unrehearsed reading—articles written by the playwrights working with directors, actors, and audience as part of their new play development process at NWTW.
What is an Unrehearsed Reading?
What is an Unrehearsed Reading?
Unrehearsed readings are an unrefined presentation of the script where the director and actors explore the script from a performance perspective while the playwright focuses on how well the script expresses their intention to the actors, director and audience. Although every new play development process is unique, unrehearsed readings are usually conducted to seek a deeper understanding of how the actors are able to work with the material as written, how the script creates its world, if that world is consistent, if the story makes sense and if the story implies the playwright’s deeper intent.
In some circles, an unrehearsed reading is any first read-through of the script where the director, actors and playwright are present. Others groups are more specific, defining an unrehearsed reading as a first read-through of the script with actors, director, playwright, and audience (as distinguished from a table read, a reading of the script where only the actors, director and playwright are present). At NWTW, we do both unrehearsed readings and table reads. For the sake of clarity, we define an unrehearsed reading in the latter, more specific way.
Dramaturgical Purpose of an Unrehearsed Reading
Dramaturgical Purpose of an Unrehearsed Reading
Unrehearsed readings serve as a test of the script, a way to try it out in the manner in which it was designed to be used; actors as characters acting out a story for an audience.
Unrehearsed readings, of course, have their limitations. They can’t create for the audience the theatrical experience of the script that a full production can. No reading will do that. But it can reveal the theatrical potential of the script, how well it works as the starting point for the actors to develop their roles, and where the playwright is succeeding at communicating their intent to the actors and audience and where it is unclear.
For an unrehearsed reading to serve its dramaturgical purpose, both the director and actors must present the text as written. This is not the time to showcase the playwright’s work but to test it. Even in an unrehearsed reading, actors and a director can “act in” or “direct in” fixes to the script. They can add motivations not implied or stated, build-in character throughlines and relationships, and connect patterns that the text doesn’t by adding character actions, providing unspoken interactions between characters, coloring lines, or drawing upon other “tricks of the trade.”
Hearing the script read aloud as written, witnessing the actors trying to work with the unrefined material and the audience’s reaction to it in real time, is the simplest and most effective way to gain valuable insights into how the play performs in the hands of actors and audience. It allows the playwright and director to identify and address any issues or detect where further development is needed for the script to reach its full potential.
It can also give a director and a playwright an opportunity to see if the script plays as they expect it to.
Unrehearsed readings often take place after the director has completed their initial dramaturgical work. The dramaturgical work done prior to an unrehearsed reading is usually fairly basic and consists of techniques that give the director a general sense of the script’s dynamic shape as well as its event chain, characters, character relationships, and how the patterns and theatrical elements work together to communicate the playwright’s overall intention with the play.
Actors Jacob Orr, Jonathan Miles, Sofia Molina, James Dixon, and Jessica Hillenbrand read for Miserere by Wayne Harrel.
Hearing the script read aloud as written, witnessing the actors trying to work with the unrefined material and the audience’s reaction to it in real time, is the simplest and most effective way to gain valuable insights into how the play performs in the hands of actors and audience. It allows the playwright and director to identify and address any issues or detect where further development is needed for the script to reach its full potential.
It can also give a director and a playwright an opportunity to see if the script plays as they expect.
Unrehearsed readings often take place after the director has completed their initial dramaturgical work. The dramaturgical work done prior to an unrehearsed reading is usually fairly basic and consists of techniques that give the director a general sense of the script’s dynamic shape as well as its event chain, characters, character relationships, and how the patterns and theatrical elements work together to communicate the playwright’s overall intention with the play.
Playwrights, from left, Jonathan Hernandez, Adam Harrell, and Brad Bochunos examine scripts during a workshop.
This work usually gives the director a good sense of where the script is at in its development process and also instills certain expectations about where the actors will struggle and thrive during the performance, as well as where and how the audience will respond.
The playwright will also have their own sense of where the script is at in its development, as well as their own set of expectations of the performance. Sometimes the playwright’s take will be in alignment with the director’s, sometimes not. An unrehearsed reading is a great way to give them both an opportunity to test their own view of the script and, when needed, it can be an effective way to get them on the same page.
An unrehearsed reading is also an effective technique to discover if the logic of the play’s word and event chain are consistent and convincing, if there is a good balance between the dramatic action and dialogue, how the patterns are built and developed, and whether or not they reveal the playwright’s intention—the deeper purpose of the piece.
An unrehearsed reading may be the first step in a longer new play development process, or it may be a tool that is returned to repeatedly.
An audience at the Literary Arts space in Portland listens as actors enter during a staged reading of Spellbinders by Brad Bolchunos, directed by Michelle Seaton.
Having an Audience
Having an Audience
Audiences are useful for assessing more than just the theatrical potential of a script. Directors can use an audience to explore aspects beyond just the script’s theatrical potential by selecting the kind of audience that attends and how audience feedback is received.
Generally speaking, there are three types: experts, enthusiasts, and general audiences.
Expert Audience
Expert Audience
An expert audience is a good way for a playwright and director to obtain focused and informed feedback on a specific aspect of the script. It might be an audience of domestic abuse professionals at an unrehearsed reading of a play that explores domestic abuse issues, for example, or an audience of accomplished dramaturges and new works directors who have a deep understanding of the literary and performance aspects of a play.
Enthusiast Audience
Enthusiast Audience
An enthusiast audience usually gives feedback that is more focused than a general audience, but not quite as informed as an expert audience. It might be a group of World War II history buffs for a play that takes place during the battle at Pearl Harbor, or a group of literary fanatics who regularly attend readings of new plays and other narrative works.
General Audience
General Audience
A general audience is most useful in testing how the text works with the general public. The feedback is usually not focused and informed, but helpful at revealing how an audience converges with the text. A general audience may offer insights about the accessibility and engagement potential of the script.
Approaches to Feedback
Approaches to Feedback
Generally speaking, there are five ways to obtain feedback from an audience: observed, written, open talkback, moderated talkback, or a combination.
Observed Feedback
Observed Feedback
Observed feedback is when someone (usually the director or dramaturg) studies the audience and, from their body language, facial expressions and reactions to the performance, assess and note what grabs the audience’s attention, what leaves them confused, as well as where there are unexpected and expected responses.
Written Feedback
Written Feedback
When working with an expert audience, it’s not uncommon to simply ask for written feedback without any other instruction other than a due date. Otherwise, written feedback is usually a feedback form or questionnaire, either as a hard copy sheet to fill out, an online form or both. They are usually a mix of directed and open-ended questions. For example:
Please rate the quality of the play in each of the categories below.
1= lowest score (Back to the Drafting) ; 5= highest score (Production Ready)
Add any comments beneath each topic.
Dramatic Action: Does the play drag? Does it seem predictable? Is the conflict clear and compelling? Does the story make sense?
1 2 3 4 5
Any comments to add about Dramatic Action?
Feedback forms and questionnaires are useful because people who are uncomfortable speaking openly are often willing to share their thoughts in writing.
Unmoderated Talkbacks
Unmoderated Talkbacks
Best with small audiences, this approach is simply an open conversation between the audience, cast, director and playwright about their experience of the performance. There are no specific questions or topics to cover. The conversation is usually started, loosely directed and ended by the director or dramaturg, but no one presides over the discussion. It’s freeform and could go anywhere.
Moderated Talkbacks
Moderated Talkbacks
A moderated talkback is a more controlled situation. Audiences are usually prepped in these cases, often asked to refrain from giving any suggested fixes or sharing how they’d write the play themselves, and instructed on precisely what kind of feedback is wanted from them. Then they are asked a specific set of questions. This style of talkback is an effective way to protect the playwright from certain kinds of criticism that are deemed as unhelpful, but it also causes an audience to tread carefully and can lead to pat and superficial responses.
Actor Matthew Sepeda completes a feedback form at a Northwest Theatre Workshop event as Katie Bennett, left, and Amy Driesler, right, converse.
Combined Styles
Combined Styles
It’s also common to use a combination of talkback styles as part of a larger feedback strategy. At NWTW, we often start unrehearsed readings with an open feedback session then begin to slowly moderate the conversation based on the audience’s comments in the open feedback session.
Moving from an unmoderated discussion into a moderated feedback session takes more planning. The goal with this approach is to get the audience to think more deeply about their experience. So, it’s important for the person leading the talkback to think through all of the topics that might arise and have a few different questions in mind they can use to direct the audience into a deeper level of self-reflection about their experience. Although it’s impossible to predict everything that could arise, the preparation creates a foundation that allows the moderator to think quickly on their feet and have a wealth of material from which to draw.
Regardless of what audience attends or how feedback is received, it can be tempting for the director, playwright and actors to defend the script and their collaborators. This position can derail the discussion into an explanation to the audience about what they missed. To keep the session in the realm of a productive dialogue, it’s important that the creative team not answer questions posed by the audience whenever possible, but instead listen and occupy themselves by taking notes. Otherwise, the audience won’t be able to serve its purpose in the process.
Incorporating Feedback
Incorporating Feedback
When working with an audience, it’s important that the director and playwright have a goal in mind; that they know what specifically they are looking to understand by including an unrehearsed reading in their new play development process.
If they approach the reading with a generalized goal, such “to see what works and what doesn’t,” they run the risk of the reading becoming a way to figure out how to please the audience rather than to test the script.
What’s Next
What’s Next
In our next article we’ll look at the specific roles and responsibilities of the playwright, director, actors and other participants in unrehearsed readings, as well as how an unrehearsed reading fits into a larger new play development process.
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