Stay and Play Book Club

Click here to register!

During our 2019/20 season, we kick-started a post-show discussion about the various plays in our season, called the Stay and Play Club. This season, REP Literary manager Danielle Ward will again facilitate an opportunity to chat with fellow audience members and discuss the various responses to The REP’s 45^th season of shows, with a suggested booklist that expanded on the themes of the plays. This year, in addition to the post-show discussion, San Diego REP is expanding to include an online book club, where audiences can discuss one of the books from the selected list.

We will be engaging leaders from three local independent bookstores (Warwick's Bookstore, The Book Catapult, and The Library Shop) to guide a discussion about the selected book in the month leading up to the following San Diego REP productions: JQA by Aaron Posner, 57 Chevy by Cris Franco, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens, Mother Road by Octavio Solis and The Second City’s She The People.

To participate in this book club, register here. Participants are encouraged to purchase the selected book from one of the independent bookstores participating, read the book and then join the online discussion on the dates noted below. Book club participants will be offered a discount code after the online discussion for 15% off tickets for the related production.

Selected Books

JQA selection:

These Truths: A History of the United States
by Jill Lepore

Covering the history of political thought in America, from 1492 through the beginning of the Trump administration. This ambitious book by an award-winning historian and New Yorker writer offers a fascinating account of the rise of democracy and technology, shifts in demographics, revolutions in economics and the very nature of modernity. This engrossing work showcases the importance of both famous and lesser known players from multiple perspectives. She notes, "a nation born in contradiction will fight forever over the meaning of its history, but engaging in that struggle by studying the past is part of the work of citizenship.”

Online discussion on September 28 at 7pm lead by Warwick’s Bookstore.

57 Chevy selection:

Tales from La Vida: A Latinx Comix Anthology
by Frederick Luis Aldama

An anthology celebrating over 80 of today’s extraordinary Latinx comic book and visual storytellers. Whether it’s detailing the complexities of growing up – mono- or multilingual, bicultural, straight, queer, or feminist Latinx – or focusing on aspects of pop culture, these graphic vignettes demonstrate the expansive complexity of Latinx identities. As we travel from one story to the next and experience the unique ways that each creator chooses to visually craft their autobiographical tale, our hearts and minds wake to the complex ways that Latinx people live within, and actively transform, the world.

Online discussion on October 26 at 7pm lead by The Library Shop at SD Downtown Library.

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time selection:

Fall Down 7 Times to Get Up 8: A Young Man's Voice from the Silence of Autism
by Naoki Higashida
Translated by KA Yoshida and David Mitchell

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Reason I Jump comes another extraordinary self-portrait of a young adult with autism. Naoki Higashida was only thirteen when he wrote his first account of autism from the inside by a nonverbal Japanese child. In short, powerful chapters, Higashida now continues to explore school memories, family relationships, the exhilaration of travel, and the difficulties of speech. Acutely aware of how strange his behavior can appear to others, he aims throughout to foster a better understanding of autism and to encourage society to see people with disabilities as people, not as problems. This book opens a window into the mind of an inspiring young man who meets every challenge with tenacity and good humor.

Online discussion on December 14 at 7pm lead by The Book Catapult.

Mother Road selection:

Retablos
by Octavio Solis

Recommended three times by the New York Times and called one of year's Best Books by Buzzfeed. In this uniquely framed memoir, playwright Octavio Solis channels his youth in El Paso, Texas. Like traditional retablos – a traditional painting that dates back to the Spanish Conquest – the rituals of childhood and rites of passage are remembered as singular, dramatic events, self-contained episodes with life-changing reverberations. Living in a home just a mile from the Rio Grande, Octavio is a skinny brown kid on the border, growing up among those who live there, and those passing through on their way north. From the first terrible self-awareness of racism to inspired afternoons playing air trumpet with Herb Alpert, from an innocent game of hide-and-seek to the discovery of a Mexican girl hiding in the cotton fields, Solis reflects on the moments of trauma and transformation that shaped him into a man.

Online discussion on February 22 at 7pm lead by The Book Catapult.

The Second City’s She The People selection:

Feminasty: The Complicated Woman’s Guide to Surviving the Patriarchy without Drinking Herself to Death
by Erin Gibson

From the wickedly funny and feminist creator and host of the Throwing Shade podcast, a collection of hilarious personal essays and political commentary perfect for fans of Lindy West and Roxane Gay. Erin Gibson’s singular goal is to create a utopian future where women are recognized as humans. In Feminasty – titled after her nickname on the hit podcast Throwing Shade – she has written a collection of laugh-til-you-cry essays exposing the hidden rules that make life as a woman unnecessarily hard and deconstructs them in a way that's bold, provocative and hilarious.

Online discussion on March 29 at 7pm lead by The Library Shop at SD Downtown Library.

About Warwick’s Bookstore
Located in the Village of La Jolla, Warwick's is the country's oldest continuously family-owned and operated bookstore. In addition to a highly curated selection of books, Warwick's regularly hosts author events and signings. Beyond books, Warwick's is also well known for its extensive, beautiful and unusual selection of gifts, jewelry, stationery, fine pens, leather, office and art supplies.

About Library Shop
The Library Shop is a well-curated nonprofit book & gift shop catering to librarians, library lovers, literary obsessives and book nerds inside the Downtown Central Library. Proceeds support the entire San Diego Public Library System.

About Book Catapult
The Book Catapult began as a blog about books in 2006, written by Seth Marko. In October 2017, The Book Catapult entered a new era, opening as a physical, brick-and-mortar bookstore owned by Seth and his wife, Jennifer Powell. The shop is a general bookstore somewhat specializing in fiction, local interest, and children’s books, located in the South Park neighborhood of San Diego.