Fall of Freedom Staged Reading: The Last Library by Lazlo Pearlman

“The Last Library:...” is an absurdist, darkly comic play and very Queer play in the tradition of Ionesco and Genet, set in the very last library left standing amidst waves of censorship and state control. A military compliance officer arrives to conduct an “inspection,” armed with bureaucratic jargon and moral certainty, only to find himself disarmed by Madeline—a defiant, pangender queer elder—and Choob, a rule-following but increasingly radical nonbinary librarian. What begins as a simple enforcement exercise devolves into a surreal contest over meaning, obedience, and the ownership of truth. As the inspector’s rigid worldview begins to crack, books become weapons, language becomes rebellion, and the library itself transforms into both battlefield and sanctuary—a final stand for imagination against the machinery of control. The reading will last approximately 45 minutes. Stay and chat afterwards!