For the second year, Rover Dramawerks is pleased to partner with the playwrights’ group 365 Women a Year to present a festival of plays by women, about women, for everyone.
This international playwriting coalition, founded by Jesslynn Eisenberg Chamblee, involves playwrights across the world who have signed on to write one or more plays about extraordinary women in both past and present history. The project’s ambitious yet focused goal is to write women back into the social consciousness, as well as empower and promote female playwrights, and plant seeds of herstory around the country.
Twelve performances and three staged readings by playwrights from seven states will take place Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m., and Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m. May 5–14, at Rover Dramawerks, located in Ruisseau Village at 221 W. Parker Rd, Suite 580, at the northwest corner of Parker and 75.
Plays range from long monologues to large casts and cover the last 300 years to present day and everywhere in between. Likewise, they will range in length from less than 10 minutes to over an hour.
Tickets for the 365 Women a Year Festival are $14 for adults and $12 for students/seniors and members of the League of Professional Theatre Women and may be ordered online at roverdramawerks.com.
Thursday, May 5, 8 p.m.
- Fly Girl by Renee Lucas Wayne (Philadelphia, PA), directed by Buster Spiller, about aviator Bessie Coleman
- First Day in Trade by Jennifer O’Grady (Pelham, NY), directed by Kayla Freeman, about former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
- Soraya’s Eyes by Rhea McCallum (Downey, CA), directed by Lindsey Humphries, about Somalian filmmaker and female genital mutilation/human rights activist Soraya Mire
- “Twas Mercy Brought Me…” * by Paula J. Sanders (Dallas, TX), directed by Buster Spiller, about African slave poetess Phillis Wheatley
Friday, May 6, 8 p.m.
- Soraya’s Eyes
- She Was Never Lost by Allie Costa (Los Angeles, CA), directed by Kevin Westbrook, about Alice Liddell, upon whom Alice in Wonderland was based.
- Recipe for Espionage (Before She Was Julia Child) by Carol M. Rice (Plano, TX), directed by Kevin Westbrook, about Julia McWilliams Child as a World War II spy
- Homespun Webs by C.J. Ehrlich (Chappaqua, NY), directed by Shanna Threlkeld, about artist Louise Bourgeois
- Fossil Lady by Claudia I. Haas (White Bear Lake, MN), directed by Libby Mitchell, about paleontologist Mary
- Anning
- Fly Girl
- The Dance Maker by Susan Shafer (New York, NY), directed by Glynda Welch, about choreographer Agnes deMille
Saturday, May 7, 2 p.m.
- First Woman of Industry by Nancy Gall-Clayton (Jeffersonville, IN), directed by Matt Stepan, about German businesswoman Catherine Danenhold Melcher
- Fly Girl
- Don’t Know No Jokes by Annie Wood (Burbank, CA), directed by Matt Stepan, about comedienne Moms Mabley
- Future Girl Visits Barbie’s Mom by Ellen Davis Sullivan (Andover, MA), directed by Glynda Welch, about Ruth Handler, developer of Barbie dolls and founder of Mattel Toys
- “Twas Mercy Brought Me…” *
Saturday, May 7, 8 p.m.
- First Day in Trade
- Never Forget by Donna Hoke (Buffalo, NY), directed by Kayla Freeman, about author Shirley Jackson
- Push Boldly Off * by Donna Latham (Houston, TX), directed by Libby Mitchell, about writer Louisa May Alcott as a child
Thursday, May 12, 8 p.m.
- Recipe for Espionage (Before She Was Julia Child)
- Homespun Webs
- First Woman of Industry
- Fossil Lady
- Future Girl Visits Barbie’s Mom
- Soraya’s Eyes
- She Was Never Lost
Friday, May 13, 8 p.m.
- Never Forget
- Recipe for Espionage (Before She Was Julia Child)
- Future Girl Visits Barbie’s Mom
- Don’t Know No Jokes
- (Mama) King Chronicles * by Rita Anderson (Austin, TX), directed by Brandi L. McDowell, about Alberta King, mother of Martin Luther King, Jr.
- The Dance Maker
Saturday, May 14, 2 p.m.
- Homespun Webs
- Fossil Lady
- Push Boldly Off *
Saturday, May 14, 8 p.m.
- The Dance Maker
- Never Forget
- She Was Never Lost by
- Don’t Know No Jokes
- (Mama) King Chronicles *
- First Woman of Industry
- First Day in Trade
* Staged reading
For more information about Rover Dramawerks, please visit them online or call 972.849.0358. For more information about 365 Women a Year and to get involved, check out the archive at http://365womenayear.wordpress.com/ and follow them on Twitter @365WomenAYear.