Jon Marans has titled his new play about communist Harry Hay The Temperamentals, the latter a code word for "gay" in the fifties. The cast for the 3 PM reading features Arnie Burton, Tom Beckett, Andrew Nelson, Matthew Schneck and Michael Urie. Mark Ramont directs. The Temperamentals, according to production notes, "tells the story of two men who meet in [a world of codes and secrecy] — the young communist Harry Hay and the Viennese refugee Rudi Gernreich. They fall in love and combine forces to try and build the first gay political organization in the United States — an unprecedented and highly dangerous undertaking. Using the secret language they have used for years in the search for love and friendship, they gather around them a group of men that becomes the Mattachine Society, which emerges from this hidden world to become a genuine political force."
The Brick Theater is located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at 575 Metropolitan Avenue. Reservations for the free reading may be made by calling The Brick's reservation line at (718) 907-3457.