On Her Shoulders to Host Staged Reading of THE GROUP

On Her Shoulders is pleased to present a FREE staged reading of THE GROUP: A Farce by Mercy Otis Warren, directed by Kristin Heckler, on Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Doors open at 6:30pm. The Play in Context, which situates the script in its historical time and place, kicks off the evening at 6:45pm with an Introduction by dramaturg Melody Brooks. Running time, including a post-performance Q&A is approximately 90 minutes. The performance is at The New School, Wollman Hall, 65 West 11th Street. R.S.V.P. to OnHerShouldersReservations@gmail.com.

MERCY OTIS WARREN (1728-1814) was a Massachusetts native, daughter of an outspoken critic of British rule and the wife of a prominent American politician and revolutionary. Warren was personally acquainted with most of the leaders of the Revolution and was continually at or near the centre of events for more than two decades, from the Stamp Act crisis of 1765 to the establishment of the federal republic in 1789.Combining her unique vantage point and fervent beliefs with a talent for writing, she then became both a poet and a historian of the Revolutionary era, beginning with a trio of scathingly polemical plays in verse that were published serially (and anonymously) in a Boston newspaper. The Group was the third of these, written in 1775 and sent in pieces to her husband on the battlefield. Apparently never performed, it was widely shared among her husband's friends and colleagues before being published. In 1790 she published a collection of poems and plays under her own name, and in 1805, published her masterwork, History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, one of the earliest accounts of the struggle, and the first authored by a woman.

KRISTIN HECKLER (Director) grew up in Sellersville, PA and graduated from Duke University with BA's in Women's Studies and Spanish. In 2014, Kristin started her theatre company, Recognize Theatre in order to create work which challenges society's persisting discrimination with regard to gender and sexuality. Kristin recently adapted the story of the Duke Porn Star into a theatrical piece, #Pornstar University. It is currently being workshopped in a devised fashion with Kristin as director and lead writer. Other favorite directing projects include Paraphilia: Everyone Has A Sexual Disorder (FringeNYC/Recognize), How I Learned to Drive (Recognize Theatre), Stop Kiss (Philadelphia Fringe Festival), and Godspell (Duke University). Her directing roots stem from Montgomery Theater in Souderton, PA where she assistant directed Becky Shaw, The Prisoner of Second Avenue and Any Wednesday. Thank you to her parents for endless support, friends for always coming, and Ash for always believing.

MELODY BROOKS (Dramaturg) is the Artistic Director of New Perspectives Theatre Company and director of it's Women's Work LAB, which develops original short and full-length plays by 8-12 female playwrights a year. She has been producing and directing new works and the classics for more than 30 years in NYC. As one of the co-founders of 50/50 in 2020: Parity for Women Theatre Artists, she is involved in a number of programs that are working to reclaim and restore the true history of women as theatre practitioners through the centuries. Melody currently serves on the Board of the League of Professional Theatre Women.

ON HER SHOULDERS was founded in 2012 to present rehearsed, staged readings of plays by women from across the spectrum of time, with contemporary dramaturgs contextualizing--and in some cases adapting--them for modern audiences. The program seeks to make it impossible to deny or ignore the 1,000-year great tradition and value of women's contribution to the theatrical canon. OHS became a program of NPTC in August 2013 and is currently produced by Melissa Attebery and Melody Brooks.

NEW PERSPECTIVES THEATRE COMPANY (NPTC) is an award-winning, multi-racial company now in its 25th season. The Company's mission is to develop and produce new plays and playwrights, especially women and people of color; to present classic plays in a style that addresses contemporary issues; and to extend the benefits of theatre to young people and communities in need. Our aim is not to exclude, but to cast a wider net. www.nptnyc.org

THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DRAMA: The creative home for the future of performing arts. Agile. Engaged. Innovative. Multi-disciplinary. The New School for Drama is home to a dynamic group of young directors, writers, actors, creative technologists, and award-winning faculty. With a core belief in rigorous creativity and collaborative learning, our programs embrace civic awareness across performance disciplines to create work imbued with professionalism, imagination and social context. For more information, please visit www.newschool.edu/drama

The Play in Context, the dramaturgical and scholarly presentation component to the program, is sponsored in part by the League of Professional Theatre Women, a non-profit organization promoting visibility and increasing opportunities for women in theatre since 1982. www.theatrewomen.org