Before Waiting For Godot, Samuel Beckett wrote another play called Eleutheria. Taking their cue from the title, which means “freedom” in Greek, ’40s producers elected not to produce it, and after a few years of shopping the play around, a disappointed Beckett withdrew it as a failed experiment. Thereafter, he steadfastly refused to have it published, and after his death, his estate’s executor followed suit. Finally, in 1995, the rights to translate the play into English were granted. Scholars who have read the script describe it as neither a lost masterpiece nor a catastrophe, but rather as a fascinating formative work that might, at 191 pages and 17 characters, be termed a rare instance of Beckettian excess. Now, more than five decades after it was written, Scena Theatre will present the play’s second public American reading. The company’s chief diva, Kerry Waters, heads a cast of Scena regulars under Robert MacNamara’s direction. At 7:30 p.m. at the French Embassy’s La Maison Française, 4101 Reservoir Rd. NW. $35. (703) 684-7990. (Bob Mondello)