About Reading Anna K : A Play in Two Acts

It’s Sylvia’s turn to choose the book and she wants to read Anna Karenina because someone once told her it reveals the meaning of life. At age 88 she believes it’s past time to find out. The other two members of the women’s book club at a senior living facility aren’t so sure. Pearl says the book is too long and too sexy. Gertrude, wandering between dementia and lucidity, just wants to hold on to her friends in a group that has been visited too often by death. When Milton, a recently widowed new resident shows up singing the praises of Anna K, relationships spin out of control. Reading Anna K takes a heartfelt look at life imitating art while exploring our endless need for friendship, love and new beginnings. It was selected for the 2024 Shake Rag Alley Stage Reading Series in Mineral Point, WI and was a finalist in the 2022-23 Henley Rose Playwright Competition for Women.

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In this first event in what we hope will evolve into a Play Reading Series, Token Creek is pleased to provide space for playwrights to share their work, gather meaningful feedback, and for actors to engage with new works. Works in progress will be presented in our intimate performance space, followed by a talkback and post-performance reception.

Fran Zell is a playwright, lyricist, fiction writer, freelance journalist, and former feature writer for the Chicago Tribune. Reading Anna K was a finalist in the 2023 Henley Rose Playwright Competition for Women and was selected for the 2024 stage reading series at the Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point. Others of her plays have been performed at festivals produced by Underscore Theatre in Chicago, Love Creek Productions in New York, and the Chicago Writers Bloc. Her book, The Marcy Stories, won the Banta Award from the Wisconsin Library Association.  She lived in the Madison area for many years. She currently lives in Chicago, where she often writes about theater and the arts for Splashmags.com.