Women's Voices Theater Festival (Washington D.C.)

In the fall of 2015, the Washington, D.C. region's professional theaters combined to produce the Women's Voices Theater Festival. The festival consisted of over 50 companies each presenting a world premiere production of a work by one or more female playwrights. The festival claimed to be "the largest collaboration of theater companies working simultaneously to produce original works by female writers in history".[1] The Coordinating Producers of the Women's Voices Theater Festival were Nan Barnett of the National New Play Network (NNPN) and former NNPN General Manager Jojo Ruf.[2][3][4] The honorary committee supporting the festival was chaired by first lady Michelle Obama and included actors Allison Janney and Tea Leoni and playwrights Beth Henley, Quiara Alegría Hudes and Lynn Nottage.[5]

Women's Voices Theater Festival (Washington D.C.)
Festival Logo
LocationWashington D.C. Metropolitan Area United States
Founded2015
Founded bySeven Theatre Production Companies in Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area
Type of play(s)Premiers of Plays by Women Playwrights
Festival dateAugust – November 2015

Originating theatre companies

Plays
Author Title Producing Company Dates Description News & Reviews
Kathleen Akerley Bones In Whispers Longacre Lea August 12 – September 6 2016 A.D. 99% of the human population is gone, wiped out in a mysterious Death Week. The remaining 1% cling to their theories of survival. Two clans collide in an abandoned hospital that may itself be some mutant survivor of the plague, and use guns and hip-hop dancing to fend off death, ghosts, and the disease of being human.

[6][7][8]

Kathleen Akerley Night Falls on the Blue Planet Theater Alliance September 3 – September 27 Renee has had a rough couple of years. Screw that: Renee has had a rough life, shaped by alcoholism and estrangement. All that changes when she gets a massage and discovers that her body is a world unto itself. With help from her younger sister she starts to map and explore a lifetime of trauma: but is she healing, or is she vanishing into her own world? Will her exploration heal her relationship with her older sister, or widen their divide? [9][10]
Claudia Barnett Witches Vanish Venus Theatre Company August 20 – September 20 In a series of stylized, highly visual vignettes employing puppetry, poetry, and surrealism, the weird sisters from Macbeth explore the stories of women who disappear, whether by choice or force. Inspired by history, astronomy, and Shakespeare, Witches Vanish examines the nature of change and the value of human life. [11]
Bekah Brunstetter The Oregon Trail Flying V Theatre September 3 – September 20 A tale of two young women, both named Jane. One is an awkward middle scholer with burgeoning body odor, a crush on a jerk who likes her sister, and an epic aptitude at The Oregon Trail. The other is actually in the game, living through the hardships of trail life with her family, totally unaware of her capricious fate as a character in a classic video game. But this game has an agenda of its own, maneuvering both Janes on a painful path towards self recognition. [12]
Sheila Callaghan Women Laughing Alone With Salad Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company September 7 – October 4 What's on the menu for Meredith, Tori, and Sandy: the three women in Guy's life? Healthy lifestyles, upward mobility, meaningful sex? Or self-loathing and distorted priorities? This world premiere is served up on a bed of bawdy language in a gender-bending comedy vinaigrette, inviting everyone—men and women, mothers and sons—to savor this complex recipe of desire and shame. [13][14][15]
Marcia E. Cole A Matter of Worth September 16 – September 24 Live Garra Theatre A vo-collage play seen from the eyes of Hannah, a 73-year-old slave; her sharp mother-wit proves she's worth much more than what's being sold on auction day. The action takes place in Baltimore County in the summer of 1855. It is the day of the estate inventory for a deceased plantation owner held in the courtyard. It is midday on the estate of Caleb D. Goodwin. [16]
Karin Coonrod texts&beheadings/ElizabethR Folger Theatre, in association with Compagnia de' Colombari September 19 – October 4 Exploring the life and language of England's greatest queen. Drawing in part from the Folger collection of Elizabeth's letters, the play uses her own words to reveal Elizabeth's wit, courage, and extraordinary love of her people. Four actresses portray the resilient queen, through poems, prayers and private letters.
Jennie Berman Eng Whenever You're Near Me I Feel Sick Thelma Theatre September 17 – October 4 Twenty-somethings Wendy and Andre are in love with each other, but to admit that would mean taking chances, making a commitment and being adults. And so when Andre tells Wendy he does love her, has always loved her, she makes jokes, and he moves away and moves on. Except that neither ever really moves on, and neither really grows up. Apart from each other, Wendy and Andre stagnate professionally, and stumble through marriages to other people. When they run into each other eight years later, with children in tow, they are forced to confront what they have always felt. Can they finally be grown-ups? [17]

[18]

Gabrielle Fulton Uprising MetroStage September 17 – October 25 The play is set in the aftermath of John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry. When Sal discovers Ossie, a hypnotic revolutionary hiding in the field, her life is turned upside down by her strong attraction to him and his revolutionary mission and its impact on her commitment to the well-being of her young son, Freddie. Inspired by the true story of Osborne Perry Anderson, the only African American participant in John Brown's Raid to survive, and the tales of the playwright's cotton-picking great-grandmother. [19]
Miranda Rose Hall How We Died of Disease-Related Illness Longacre Lea August 12 – September 6 An absurdist comedy about the epidemic of American paranoia amidst the threat of epidemic disease. The play takes place in an American isolation ward after a U.S. citizen returns with an unnamed illness from an unnamed foreign country. An all-too-real present day crisis gets imaginatively upended on a seriocomic playground.

[6][7][8]

Patricia Henley If I Hold My Tongue Compass Rose Theater September 17 – September 27 Set in Fells Point, Baltimore, it explores the lives of four women in prostitution living in a halfway house. An empathetic portrait of their struggles to leave street life, If I Hold My Tongue is a realistic look at emotionally and physically scarred women who wish to return to a normal life, a job, a family, and safety. [20][21]
Caleen Sinnette Jennings Queens Girl in the World Theater J September 16 – October 11 It's summer 1962 on Erickson Street, Queens, New York. The sounds of doo-wop music fill the night, the scent of cream soda lingers in the air and 12-year-old Jacqueline Marie Butler is on the verge of adulthood. At the end of that summer, Jacqueline's parents abruptly transfer her to a progressive, predominantly Jewish school in Greenwich Village. As one of only four black students, Jacqueline discovers a new city and a whole new world. [22]
Martyna Majok Ironbound Round House Theatre September 9 – October 4 In a world where even the ugly jobs are gone, hard-working Polish immigrant Darja is done dating cheaters and dreamers. It's time to look out for herself and the only thing that matters more – her son. Over the course of three relationships spanning 22 years, Darja must decide how hard she's willing to fight for what she loves most. [23]

[24][25][26]

Jaci Pulice The October Issue Washington Improv Theater September 17 – October 10 An improvised show inspired by the traditional format of a women's magazine. In each one-of-a-kind performance, the cast delivers an unvarnished look at life from a woman's perspective by way of articles, interviews, quizzes, photoshoots, horoscopes, advice columns, and a lot of unnecessary tips.
Esphyr Slobodkina (based on her book)

Ann Marie Mulhearn Sayer (Co-Playwright)

 Caps For Sale, The Musical Adventure Theatre MTC September 11 – September 27 "Caps! Caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap!" The cap peddler, Pezzo, wears a huge stack of caps, balanced carefully on top of his head. Brown caps, blue caps, gray caps, and red caps. When no one buys a cap, he takes a nap under a shady tree. But, when he wakes up, the caps are gone! Where could his caps have disappeared to? Was it bears, pirates, one thousand thieves or a band of merry mischievous monkeys? How will he ever get them back? [27]
Karen Zacarias Destiny of Desire Arena Stage September 11 – October 18 On a stormy night in Bellarica, Mexico, two baby girls are born — one into a life of privilege and one into a life of poverty. But when the newborns are swapped by a former beauty queen with an insatiable lust for power, the stage is set for two outrageous misfortunes to grow into one remarkable destiny.

Post-festival

Caps For Sale The Musical, in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of the publication of the book, had a national tour ending with an Off-Broadway run at the New Victory Theater from February 27 to March 6, 2016.[27]

References
  1. Marks, Peter (23 January 2014). "For 44 D.C. area theater companies, new plays by women will take center stage in fall of 2015". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  2. "About the Festival". Women's Voices Theater Festival. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  3. "National New Play Network – Staff". National New Play Network. 28 November 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  4. Lawton, Jacqueline. "NNPN General Manager: Jojo Ruf". Jacqueline Lawton Blog. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  5. Pressley, Nelson (27 August 2015). "Putting women in the spotlight: New festival showcases female playwrights at 45 D.C.-area theaters". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  6. Wren, Celia (18 August 2015). "One play's weirdness has meaning; the other just seems to be fooling around". Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  7. Pearson, Jessica (17 August 2015). "How We Died … and Bones in Whispers kick off Women's Voices Theater Festival". DC Theatre Scene. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  8. Paarlberg, Mike (21 August 2015). "Arts & Entertainment : Theater Review How We Died of Disease-Related Illness and Bones in Whispers". Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  9. Stoltenberg, John (6 September 2015). "Women's Voices Theater Festival: 'Night Falls on the Blue Planet' at Theater Alliance". DC Metro Theater Arts. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  10. Wren, Celia (8 September 2015). "In 'Night Falls,' a woman's body becomes a temple of the otherworldly". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  11. Gunther, Amanda N. (24 August 2015). "Review: Witches Vanish at Venus Theatre". Theatre Bloom.com. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  12. Pressley, Nelson (13 September 2015). "The game of life, learned on 'The Oregon Trail'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  13. Burns, Ellen (7 September 2015). "BWW Review: Woolly Mammoth's WOMEN LAUGHING ALONE WITH SALAD". Broadway World. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  14. Kyle-Keith, Jill (14 September 2015). "Women Laughing Alone With Salad at Woolly Mammoth (review)". dctheatrescene. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  15. Marks, Peter (14 September 2015). "Woolly Mammoth takes on body image and humor found in a salad bowl". The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  16. Oliver, Britt (21 September 2015). "A Matter of Worth, Live Garra Theatre". DC Theatre Scene. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  17. "Women's Voices Theater Festival: Jennie Berman Eng's 'Whenever You're Near Me I Feel Sick' Opens September 17, 2015". DC Metro Theater Arts. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  18. Taylor, Ryan (21 September 2015). "Whenever You're Near me (I Feel Sick) from Thelma Theatre (review)". DC Theatre Scene. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  19. Moeller, Kim (21 September 2015). "'Uprising' at MetroStage". DC Metro Theater Arts. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  20. Kyle-Keith, Jill (22 September 2015). "If I Hold My Tongue at Compass Rose Theater (review)". Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  21. Winters, Wendi (18 September 2015). "The Women's Voices Theater Festival: 'If I Hold My Tongue' at Compass Rose Theater". DC Metro Theater Arts. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  22. Pressley, Nelson (23 September 2015). "Honest nostalgia in a Queens girl's tale". The Washington Post.
  23. Ritzel, Rebecca (15 September 2015). "A late night of pizza leads pair to team up on 'Ironbound,' an immigrant's tale". The Washington Post.
  24. Pressley, Nelson (16 September 2015). "A Polish immigrant fights American hard times in absorbing 'Ironbound'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  25. Perry, Jennifer (16 September 2015). "BWW Review: Round House Theatre's IRONBOUND Simmers Quietly". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  26. Blanchard, Jayne (17 September 2015). "Ironbound at Round House Theatre (review)". DCTheatreScene. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  27. BWW News Desk (24 August 2015). "CAPS FOR SALE, THE MUSICAL to Premiere in D.C. This Fall Before National Tour, Off-Broadway Debut". Broadway World. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
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