Back to the Future - A Live Reading

Theatre Contra is bringing Back to the Future to Second District Brewing on Thursday, November 12, from 7 PM to 9 PM. It's a live reading of the movie script, performed in person at the brewery, and directed by Katie Frazer.

If you're not familiar with what Theatre Contra does, they stage live readings of movie scripts in local bars. Instead of a full production with sets and costumes, the cast reads the script aloud, and the story unfolds through their voices. It's a different way to experience a familiar movie—you're hearing the dialogue as it was written, performed live in a room with other people, rather than watching the finished film on a screen. For a movie like Back to the Future, which relies so much on its pacing and its specific lines, hearing it read aloud gives you a chance to focus on the writing itself.

The show's description leans into the movie's time-travel logic, promising to take the audience back in time and then "BACK TO THE FUTURE" as the performers create more than one grandfather paradox and several sequels in motion. It's a nod to the way the story loops back on itself, and it sets the tone for the evening: a well-known script played out in a casual setting.

It's a Thursday night, so it's a good mid-week option if you're looking for something to do that isn't a weekend crowd. The reading runs from 7 PM to 9 PM at Second District Brewing in Philadelphia.