Itinerant Theatre introduces its play reading series “The Play’s the Thing” with a staged reading of the comedy Candida by George Bernard Shaw. Director is Joy Pace. Co-host is The Children’s Theatre Company. Performance location is Attic Theatre, room 313, Central School A&H Center, 809 Kirby Street, Lake Charles, La. Dates and times are: 7:00pm, Thursday, December 13, 2012. Ticket cost is $8.

George Bernard Shaw, a self-made and largely self-educated penniless native of Ireland and well-known literary critic on the London scene, wrote an enduring body of plays for the theatre over the course of a long career. A social critic and activist, he was instrumental in advocating for reform of deplorable work and living conditions of his day and for the founding of Britain’s Labor Party. Shaw’s most well-known play is Pygmalion, the forerunner of the musical, My Fair Lady. His plays were often bold critiques of turn-of-the-century Britain’s rigid, class-bound society. Theme examples are: social hypocrisy and institutional roadblocks to educational and personal advancement regardless of class or financial privilege. Candida is Shaw’s comedy on the clash of expectations in love.

The professional cast for this staged reading of Candida is drawn from the Lake Area. All but one are McNeese State University undergraduates. Jonathon Richards plays the Rev. James Morrell; Elise Hamilton is Candida; Hayley Smith is Miss Proserpine; Ronnie Doyle is Eugene Marchbanks; and, Cameron Scallan is the Rev. Alexander Mills. In addition, Joseph Frazier plays the role of Mr. Burgess. Producers are Leslie Berman and Carolyn Woosley.

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