George Gregory writes [in part]:

>> .....................How do you know that Plato's
>> works were performed outside the Academy for a wider
>> public? (One example would not be sufficient, I would
>> think.) Is there any external evidence of this sort?
>> May be, but I can't imagine how you could provide such
>> documentation and I can't imagine what sort of evidence
>> it might be based on.

Themistios writes of a Korinthian farmer who, upon reading
the *Gorgias*, abandoned his fields to become a follower
of Platon as well as of a Axiothea who, upon reading
the *Republic*, came from Arkadia to become a follower
of Platon (Or. Xxii 295c-d; cf. D.L. iii 46, iv 2).

Cicero records that Hermodoros carried Platon's writings
to Sicily whereas the Suda adds that he made money by
selling them (Att. Xiii 21; s.v. LO/GOISIN).

Now, as to whether or not reading = performing I leave
as another discussion altogether (we do have, nonetheless
those two anecdotes of Platon reading the *Lysis* to
Sokrates, who retorted about all the lies Platon told
as well as the one where Platon read the *Phaedo* and only
Aristoteles remained until the bitter end).

csp