Cold-readings in Medium

So, for the past four weeks or so Evan and I have been reading a couple plays in our workshops. This kind of format is called a "cold-reading" because its based on the idea that none of us have read the play before, at least not together.
For several weeks until the first play workshop, we had consistently been having the same three women attending our Monday evening workshops, give or take one new woman who changed every time. This had been wonderful, and four weeks ago, we brought in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie". Having the same steady three women was so fortunate because it let us cast the play (it is essentially a three person play, with one pivotal fourth character at the end) deliberately so that each woman was very well suited to her role, and had something in that she could really get a kick out of. The woman who had never been in before said she was feeling quiet but wanted to listen, and so she was assigned the fourth character. The reading was wonderful. Within the first ten lines, everyone was on board (whereas before we began one woman in particular had expressed fear she would "sound stupid" if she mispronounced big words--this woman is a fiery poet by the way), and we were off! I even interjected one or two teeny pieces of directions when I had the sense we were comfortable with it, and those were taken and it even gave the reading more intensity and commitment. We got almost exactly half way through before we had to leave. All of the women seemed to feel really good (I think getting assigned a role, and being solely responsible for it can be so exciting and empowering) afterwards, and promised that they would come next week.
The next week, though, completely unexpectedly, we had ten women in our workshop, including only two of the three women from the week before. Evan and I had planned to finish "Glass Menagerie", but with this many people, had to make a quick decision that it didn't make sense (It was so silly because it was the one workshop we had come in thinking we already had a great plan for, whereas all the weeks before we had plan as and bs and cs!). The two women were disappointed, it was clear, and simultaneously were telling the other women how cool it had been last week but also saying that it wouldn't be the same if we reassigned the third role to someone else (and, after all, it would still leave seven women with no roles, unless we just rotated through, but that wasn't really the style we were going for!). So, we ended up improvising a workshop in which we did word at a time ensemble poetry. Each of us would say a word, and we'd have a poem, and then we'd repeat it louder, and by the second or third time around at least one woman would have it memorized and she would belt it out and get some applause. It was fun, and pretty supportive, and more based in groupmind than usual.
The next week we brought in the second half of Glass Menagerie and Arthur Miller's "The Crucible". We had four women, none of the ones from our first "Glass Menagerie" (they each had a visitor or were in Orange). We got through the first act with perfect timing. The women were really into it; I had been hesitant because of the sort of intentionally stale environment of Salem that the play is set in, afraid that the women might be "bored". That was a stupid thought. When the first woman delivered the first line, I wondered if she had been rehearsing! She had this energy that gave the whole reading momentum. Even the woman who had a hoarse voice and who had been a hesitatnt to read was asking for more parts at the end. There are a lot of little roles in the play in addition to the bigger ones, and Evan and I were reading some as well, which was so fun. Having a well written structure to explore and play in can be really freeing; for example there can be a scene in which someone is yelling at another, or suspicious of another, and it's never tense because there is this understanding that we are sort of visiting another world. Whatever-don't get me started, I think I am going on a bit. We can talk about why I (and others) had such a good time in person! The women asked to keep their scripts, and all excitedly promised to come next week.
The next week (yesterday) only one woman was there (the other three were all in Orange, I think). And we kept going with the Crucible, the three of us getting to the end of the penultimate act. We had a really nice time.
The trajectory we are on (loosely) is that next time I am going to bring in some two person scenes from different plays, and assign women different roles and after reading through them, maybe even stand them up and play around with acting them out a little more. And the workshop after that, ideally, we are going to start writing some scenes on our own, starting from brainstorms (and maybe some improvs). Maybe the women will partner up, maybe not.
One thing that is frustrating, which we have all talked about, is that participation is so inconsistent (even, as we learned, when it seems like its going to be). I think this is mainly because of Orange and discipline. Last night the guard came in and told us that one of the women in Orange wanted to give us a message that she was in Orange but that she wanted to make sure she could still participate next time, and that she wanted to very much. It's so (explitive explitive) frustrating. But, despite the length of the plays that we have read and their need for multiple workshops, the workshops have still managed to be sustainable individually, which is a tribute to the women's patience and commitment and curiosity, and to the writing.
I apologize for not writing in weeks. It's all up there now. Have a great break--it snowed today!