Walking around the room with a stack of binders and tablets in hand, Elsa Rowe, community engagement manager of the Scarborough Public Library, assigned a role from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” to each of the 15 people gathered at the library Saturday.
The bravest in the group volunteered to read for the key roles: Cassius, Brutus and Antony. They flipped through the binders, highlighting the hundreds of lines they would read over the course of the next few hours.
The table read of “Julius Caesar” at the library on March 14 — the day before the ides of March — was a teaser for the library’s second annual “Shakespeare Summer Fridays” series starting in June.
Every other Friday at noon, the library will host a table read of a Shakespeare play, alternating between a comedy and a drama. Some weeks in between, the library will show modern movie adaptations of Shakespeare plays, including “10 Things I Hate About You” and “She’s the Man.”
The first table read takes place on June 12, with “Hamlet,” followed by “As You Like It,” “The Tempest,” “A Comedy of Errors,” “King Lear” and “Love’s Labor’s Lost.”
Everyone is invited to participate, and no acting experience is required. Listeners are also welcome, Rowe said.
Last year, most attendees were retirees, but there were college students, as well.
“That is one of the programs where I have watched friendships form in real time,” Rowe said.
After the Shakespeare summer series ended last year, four of five people from the group, who started out as strangers, started going to lunch together, Rowe said.
The event is meant to be accessible fun for everybody — from high school English teachers to retired and amateur actors to people who want to dress up — Rowe said. Some people last year came dressed as fairies — adorned with glitter and flowers — for the reading of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
“Mostly we’re just goofing around and having a good time; it’s not really an intellectual Shakespeare experience,” Rowe said. “We’re laughing at all the rude jokes really loudly.”
During the first scene, some people missed their cue or forgot their parts. A few people arrived late, and the parts had to be rearranged. By Scene 2, however, everything went seamlessly.
“But for mine own part, it was Greek to me,” said the person reading Casca’s part.
The whole group chuckled.