NAHANT — Nahant Public Library will host a virtual reading of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” Friday to discuss the play as it relates to the present day.
“I like to do group reads like this so we can read something that’s not about us in order to talk about us,” said Nahant Public Library Director Sharon Hawkes. “Obviously the whole country has been going through difficult times between the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the polarity in our political system.
“A lot of people are very vocal and emotional about what’s going on, and I wanted to see if we could look a little closer and discuss as a community as to why that is.”
Among other topics, Hawkes said she wants participants to explore the concepts of success and the American Dream, and to discuss what defines the commonly-used terms.
“Death of a Salesman is actually a tragedy. We know from the beginning what the end is going to be — it’s in the title of the play. Does he achieve his American dream at all? If he doesn’t, why doesn’t he?” said Hawkes with a laugh. “I don’t know the answer to a lot of these things, but I think it’s interesting to ask the questions and analyze deeply. I think in the analysis might be a few of the mindsets we need to solve some really deep problems in our country.”
The library has hosted group readings under the name Nahant Reads Together since 2016.
In five years, the group has explored a wide variety of works, including Elizabeth Strout’s “The Burgess Boys,” Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451,” Barbara Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior,” Fredrik Backman’s “A Man Called Ove,” Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” and George Takei’s “They Called Us Enemy.”
“This is the first play we’ve done together, so it seemed right to have some of our neighbors read the parts,” Hawkes said. “A typical book group might talk about the author’s writing style and the plot and whether they like the characters, and we may start there, but we’ll also talk about the strength of the story as a play because now you’re bringing in all these various aspects, like the sets and the lights and the music.”
The part of Willy will be read by Dan Munnelly, Linda will be read by Sheila Hambleton, Biff will be read by Paul Mador, and Happy will be read by Toby Quirk.
A link to join the Zoom meeting, which starts at 7 p.m., can be found online on the Town Hall community calendar, or by visiting the Nahant Public Library website.
Those interested in joining future Nahant Reads Together meetings can email [email protected] to receive the group’s newsletter.
“When we read a novel or even a work of nonfiction, it touches us,” Hawkes said. “It touches us because it probably relates to our lives in some way.
“People always ask about the point of reading novels. They say it’s just entertainment. Sometimes that’s true, but it can also be a door to considering our lives and our society. That’s what I’d like to do.”
Elyse Carmosino can be reached at [email protected].
