Reading by Roles Online — for Two

The Chitacle theater menu

Our menu for meeting people — 200+ original plays for two and monoplays: ready-made scripts for an adult encounter. Freely distributed under CC BY 4.0, with no rights claims.

Role combinations of the plays: two male roles, two female roles, or mixed. Monoplays come with both male and female roles. You can invite viewers into the online theater.

Play genres: drama, comedy, tragicomedy, melodrama, romantic comedy, black comedy, lyrical drama, thriller, science fiction, buffoonery, absurd, miniature…

What reading by roles online is

Reading by roles is a format in which two people open the same text and read it aloud, distributing the characters' lines. In school you read dialogues from literature this way; in acting courses this is called a "cold reading"; in any circle of friends this is how people amusingly play out scenes from favorite films.

Chitacle is that same amusement carried into the browser. You go to the site, the same play opens in front of each of you, and you read it together over video call. No preparation, no acting school, no stage. Just two voices and one text for the two.

This is an adult format: registration and participation — from 18 years. The plays' themes are relationships, crisis, passion, farewell, encounter. All that interests an adult and that isn't always easy to talk about directly.

How this happens with us

The theater in the browser is arranged in three "rooms": Wardrobe, Dressing Room, and Stage. This isn't a metaphor — these are real screens you pass through:

• Wardrobe. Everyone enters here. A short introduction of you: name and avatar (if you want).
• Dressing Room. Here you choose the meeting scenario. With a random stranger right now, or schedule a day and time, or connect to listen to a monoplay, or invite a specific friend by link.
• Stage. The reading itself. On the left your camera, on the right the partner's camera, in the center — the text of the play with line highlighting. Turn on the microphone — and you begin.

To your meeting (except instant matching) you can invite viewers via an email link: friends, loved ones, colleagues. They connect as observers and see the reading from the side without intervening.

The principle of three bells

Like in a real theater, three bells sound before the meeting — three notifications:

• First bell. The partner is found. Just the time to invite viewers.
• Second bell. An hour before the meeting. So you have time to prepare: choose a quiet place, check your headphones.
• Third bell. 5 minutes before the meeting. A link straight to the stage arrives in your inbox.

For scheduled meetings, that's how it works. For instant readings — no bells; straight to the stage as soon as a partner is found.

What kind of plays we have

All 200+ plays in the repertoire are written specifically for two. Not adapted from big productions, not clips from someone else's screenplays. For this format — two people, an hour of dialogue, no sets.

The repertoire has two types of plays:

• Duologues. For two people reading. Each has their own character, lines alternate. Role combinations vary: two male roles, two female roles, or mixed. Runtime — up to 40–45 minutes.
• Monoplays. For two, but in different roles. One reads aloud, the other listens. Partners are always of the opposite sex: the monologue is addressed to a specific person across from you. Runtime — up to 25 minutes.

We don't have a catalog of plays — you can't choose a play in advance. That's part of the format: you don't know what will come up, and that's the intrigue of every meeting. When the system has assigned the play to the pair — a card appears on the screen with the title, runtime, and line count.

The repertoire is currently in Russian. In the near future we'll add plays in other languages — English, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic. They too will be written specifically for two, not translations.

Liked a play and want the full text — write the title to chitacle.online@gmail.com. We'll send the file. You learn the title during your meeting in the theater.

How we differ from the rest

We aren't a meeting service or a dating app. So things are different with us:

• No likes. Nobody "swipes" anyone. You meet the person who wants to read at this moment too.
• No profiles. No need to fill in "about yourself," interests, types. A name is enough.
• No choice of partner by appearance. The system picks by presence, not by photo.
• No choice of play. The platform provides the material itself.
• No timer on conversation. After the reading you can sit until morning.

These aren't shortcomings — it's a deliberate format. What's evaluated isn't each other, but the result: "how did we play?" The partner reveals themselves through voice, pause, reaction to the text. That's deeper than any profile.

Who reading by roles online suits

The format is broader than it seems at first glance:

• For couples and friends. An unusual evening for two — an hour of joint reading and a conversation without a timer. After such a meeting there's much to talk about for a long time.
• For those looking for a thoughtful meeting. Reading reveals in a person what a profile won't show: emotional intelligence, sense of humor, ability to cooperate.
• For playwrights and authors. Hearing your text in a live reading by ordinary people is the best way to understand where it works and where it doesn't.
• For theater schools and studios. A platform for practice between sessions: sight-reading, work with an unknown partner, online supervision of sessions.
• For teachers and language schools. Reading by roles removes the language barrier faster than an ordinary dialogue — the text is in front of the eyes, no fear of making a mistake.
• For psychologists and therapists. Drama therapy, work with anxiety, development of empathy through living through "other" roles, strengthening partner relationships.
• For communication and speech coaches. A trainer of active listening, work with voice and intonation, emotional intelligence.
• For meeting services and HR. A format of a thoughtful first date or a non-standard evaluation of employees' communication skills.

More detail on each direction — in the "Cooperation" section on the homepage.

Frequently asked questions