Reading Theater Project will present a staged reading of “Just What the Doctor Ordered,” a farce by local playwright Judd Lear Silverman, on July 18 at 1 p.m. at the Wyomissing Library, 9 Reading Blvd. A post-performance Q&A with the playwright will follow.
In this Moliere-meets-Orton farce, a Jewish mother, on her deathbed, insists her son should be married to inherit the family fortune, but with gay marriage legal, he should marry a gay doctor. Counter-plots ensue and complications follow. The show is directed by Kimberly Patterson.
Judd Lear Silverman, a Berrilla Kerr Foundation grant recipient, sets the play sometime after 2008, when Connecticut legalized gay marriage, using the farce to explore desire, obligation and family sabotage against the backdrop of early 21st-century America. While not autobiographical, Silverman says the work draws on the same contemporary, farcical instincts as his literary influences.
Silverman’s plays have been published by ArtAge, Samuel French, the Pirandello Society of America and Applause Theatre Books’ “Best American Short Plays”, and are featured on the New Play Exchange. His play “Proud” opened RTP’s 2025–2026 “Embracing Our Humanity” season. A member of the Dramatists Guild, Silverman recently retired from teaching English and playwriting at Pace University in New York City and now lives in Pennsylvania.
Tickets are a suggested $10.00, or pay-what-you-will, and can be purchased at rtp.ludus.com.
The Reading Theater Project is a locally focused, professional theater company, based in Greater Reading/Berks County, PA. We value collaboration and creative challenges and believe theater is an inclusive experience that can reveal our shared human condition. For more information, visit readingtheaterproject.org or call 484-706-9719.
