Premiering in 1971, winner of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle and off-Broadway Obie awards for best American play, The House of Blue Leaves is John Guare’s most popular and arguably most important work. He explores the dark underside of the American dream, depicting one man’s desperation for success as a songwriter and how that clashes with his demanding, lower middle-class family life.

Kansas City’s Equity Actors' Readers' Theatre (EARTh) delivers a script-in-hand reading of the black comedy, which is set against Pope Paul VI’s historic visit to New York City in 1965. The Library event is co-presented by EARTh, which offers infrequently produced, large-cast plays in a concert-style, staged reading format.