The two-week series will also feature a reading of Bradford Dillman's Entertaining Chazz. Both plays will receive an initial reading, which will be followed by a talkback session with the audience. The playwright and director will then spend a week rewriting the play, and the revised version will be presented at a second performance. Directed by Leigh Silverman, the starry cast for HisStory includes Robert Sean Leonard, Noah Wyle, Ron Rifkin, James Pickens Jr., Holland Taylor, Suzanne Cryer and Dan Gunther; the latter will read stage directions and narrate. (The follow-up reading will be offered July 22.)

HisStory, according to press notes, "centers on a filmmaker who sets out to make a docudrama about a man whose college roommate went on to be elected President of the United States. As it moves back and forth in time, the work chronicles the director's deepening obsession with the story of the two men and the woman they both loved."

Dillman's Entertaining Chazz will be presented July 17 at 2 PM and again on July 23. Directed by Jenny Sullivan, the company will feature Joseph Fuqua, Rudolph Willrich, Kara Revel, Christian Contreras and Leonard Kelly-Young.

Entertaining Chazz is described as a "character-driven drama [that] takes place in 1938 at a palatial Santa Cruz estate, where members of a wealthy and influential family have gathered. Secrets are unraveled and disturbing truths are revealed during a weekend-long birthday celebration."

All readings will be held at the Rubicon Theatre, 1006 East Main Street in Ventura, CA. Although readings are free, reservations are required by calling (805) 667-2900 or by visiting www.rubicontheatre.org.