Reading
Series

LOUANNA O. CARLIN & JOHN MCDONALD READING SERIES

 

Each season, The Acting Company hosts a series of professional staged readings, named in memory of remarkable supporters Louanna O. Carlin and John McDonald.  A mixture of new texts, classics of the canon, and forgotten favorites, these performances are a showcase of our alumni exploring works by artists featured in our National Tours.

Select 2026-2027 reading series performances have been generously supported by: Randy Stuzin, Expand the Canon, and Red Bull Theater.

 

TANGO PALACE

By María Irene Fornés
Directed by Elena Araoz
Produced in association with Expand the Canon
October 19, 2026
7:30 pm
Engelman Recital Hall at the Baruch Performing Arts Center
One Bernard Baruch Way (25th Street between Lexington & 3rd Avenues), New York

Program Book

TANGO PALACE is Fornés’ early absurdist masterpiece, a clown pas de deux in one irreverent act.

Groundbreaking playwright María Irene Fornés’ 1963 English language debut, TANGO PALACE is sensual, violent, and funny. This three-scene experimental play eavesdrops on the complex doomed relationship between haughty but seductively androgenous Isidore and his earnest young mentee, Leopold. Locked in Isidore’s shrine room, their intimate battle of wills blazes with all the signature passion and deep emotional insight that made Fornés an essential part of the vanguard that defined the Off-Broadway movement.

Featuring* Company alum Pauli with Will Cobbs and Luis Vega.

Casting by Claire Yenson, CSA

The post-show panel discussion, led by Expand the Canon curator Gagarin, features Fornés biographer and New York University Tisch School of the Arts Associate Arts Professor Gwendolyn Alker, PhD and Princeton University Lewis Center for the Arts Associate Professor of Theater Brian Eugenio Herrera, PhD.

*scheduled to appear, courtesy of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States