Booth: A Staged Reading

By Austin Pendleton; Directed by Douglas Bryan Bean

Before reality TV stars, there were the Booths: the 19th century’s most famous – and infamous — theater family. Despite being the greatest tragic actor of his day, Junius Booth’s success as Hamlet, Lear, and Richard III couldn’t make up for his failure as a father and husband. When Booth takes his son Edwin on tour, the two ambitious men clash as real life mirrors the tragedies they perform. This staged reading by Midwesterner and Steppenwolf ensemble member Austin Pendleton chronicles how destruction can ultimately result in progress as Edwin finds his own path.