The Caltech Playreaders

2017-2018: The 67th Season

All of our readings will be held at 7:30 pm
at the Caltech Athenaeum in the Hall of Associates.

Please note our start time of 7:30 p.m. The doors will open at 7:15.

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Leading Ladies by Ken Ludwig

Directed by Joanne Doyle

A Note from the Director

In this farce by Ken Ludwig, a rough patch has reduced two Shakespearean actors to performing scenes in rural Pennsylvania. To get out of it, they impersonate the missing heirs to a massive fortune.

Hilarity ensues as they fall in love with family members they are trying to con and discover interesting details about the real heirs.

Are they beacons of English language and cultureÑor are they shameless charlatans? They, and the wealthy family, will have to decide.

Leading Ladies premiered in 2004 at the Alley Theatre in Houston, directed by Ludwig himself. The award-winning author of 24 plays and musicals, several produced on Broadway and on LondonÕs West End, Ludwig is best known for Lend Me a Tenor, Crazy for You, Moon over Buffalo, and Shakespeare in Hollywood.

The setting: York, Pennsylvania in 1958. All scenes except one take place in the living room of a large handsome home in the countryside. Act I, Scene 2 is set in the Shewsbury, Pennsylvania Moose Lodge.

Cast of Characters:

MEG a soon to be heiress, Duncan's fiance
LEO an English Shakespearian actor
JACK another English Shakespearian actor, and director
AUDREY a young friend of Meg's family
DUNCAN a Reverend, Meg's fiance
FLORENCE Meg's rich Aunt
DOC a country doctor and the Chief Moose
BUTCH a country boy, Doc's son

Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French. Inc.