Behind the scenes of Topeka Civic Theatre’s playreading committee

During a typical season at Topeka Civic Theatre, 275 nights out of the year, a production takes place on one of the theater’s stages.

The plays and musicals that debut at TCT can make an audience laugh, cry, scare or think. No one has to second-guess that the actors evoking those emotions from the audience put in long hours to make the production a memorable one.

But a particular group of volunteers, made of up 13 individuals, spends countless hours before a new season premieres making decisions about which productions they think will bring an audience to the theater.