"The Book Club Play" by Karen Zacarias

Book clubs hold a special place in American life as readers gather to discuss the books they love and that they love to hate. Williamstown Public Library’s 150th anniversary, which celebrates books and the people who read them, continues with two staged readings of The Book Club Play, a comedy about the meltdown of a book group by Karen Zacarias. The readings, free and open to the public, will take place in Williamstown on Saturday, May 4 at 10:30 a.m. at the Milne Library, 1095 Main Street, and on Sunday, May 5 at 2:00 p.m. at Sweetwood, 1611 Cold Spring Road.

The play looks at the great national pastime of book clubs as both a salon and occasional war zone. Six local actors will take a seat in America’s imaginary living room as their characters, members of a book club, uncork the wine and roll up their sleeves to tackle the evening’s book. When their club is selected as the subject of a documentary film, their discussions about life and literature take a turn for the hilarious under the inescapable lens of the camera. The arrival of an unexpected guest armed with eyebrow-raising book titles sends the group into pandemonium. Sprinkled with theatrical references to novels ranging from classics to beach reads, this playful study of contemporary culture shows what can happen to life, love and literature when friends start reading between the lines.

The play, directed by Deborah Burns, features an ensemble of actors from our community who, for this production only, have named their troupe “The Library Cards.”