THE TRAGIC ECSTASY OF GIRLHOOD Comes to Boston Playwrights' Theatre

Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) opens its 2018-19 season with The Tragic Ecstasy of Girlhood by Kira Rockwell. Running from October 11-21, this new drama is directed by Leila Ghaemi.

The Tragic Ecstasy of Girlhood is about five teenage girls in a Texas residential care facility, searching for ways to cope following the suicide of one of their housemates. The play was inspired by Rockwell's experiences as a recreation coordinator at just such a facility in the years before she moved to Boston.

"I am insatiably hungry to explore underrepresented protagonists and ensembles, the effects of trauma, and the discovery of a felt sense of agency," she says. "I wrote this play for the youth in America who are currently forced to raise themselves in the shadow of the system. These children are a part of our future. Their message is urgent, and it needs to be taken seriously. They can't be written off or ignored anymore."

A post-show conversation with The Tragic Ecstasy of Girlhood's playwright, director, and cast members will follow the Oct. 13 performance.

Rockwell is a member of the Boston University M.F.A. Playwriting Program class of 2019. Her play Nomad Americana was produced by Fresh Ink Theatre Company earlier this year, and her With My Eyes Shut was an award-winner at last summer's Hollywood Fringe Festival. Director Ghaemi received her B.F.A. in Theatre Arts from Boston University where she is now pursuing her M.F.A. in Theatre Education. She has worked with the Stratford Festival and area theatres including American Conservatory Theater and New Repertory Theatre.

All of this season's plays were written by the Boston University M. F. A. Playwriting Program class of 2019. These Actors' Equity Association productions will be co-produced with the Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre as part of our New Play Initiative.

BPT's season continues in December with Winter People by Laura Neill; Wynwood by Alexis Scheer (February/March); and Dead House (April) by Beirut Balutis.

ABOUT BOSTON PLAYWRIGHTS' THEATRE

Founded in 1981 at Boston University by Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) is an award-winning professional theatre dedicated to new works. At the heart of BPT's mission is the production of new plays by alumni of its M.F.A. Playwriting Program, the latter in collaboration with Boston University's renowned School of Theatre. The program's award-winning alumni have been produced in regional and New York houses, as well as in London's West End. BPT's productions have been honored with numerous regional and Boston awards, including numerous IRNE Awards for Best New Script and Boston Critics' Association Elliot Norton Awards.

ABOUT THE BOSTON UNIVERSITY NEW PLAY INITIATIVE

The BU New Play Initiative (NPI) expresses the Boston University College of Fine Arts' commitment to the School of Theatre's participation in the development of new work. This special initiative provides playwrights, directors, designers, and actors with a variety of developmental options to support the collaborative creation of new work for the theatre. Students, faculty, alumni, and guest artists are given the opportunity to utilize the creativity of the rehearsal room to develop their plays, which are then presented through workshop productions. The life of these new plays doesn't end on the BU stages. Many New Play Initiative productions are often later fully produced by member companies of our Professional Theatre Initiative, including the School of Theatre's professional extension-Boston Center for American Performance. www.bu.edu/cfa/npi

INSTITUTIONAL BIOGRAPHY

Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized private research university with more than 30,000 students participating in undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. BU consists of 17 colleges and schools along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes which are central to the school's research and teaching mission. Established in 1954, Boston University College of Fine Arts is a top-tier fine arts institution. Comprised of the School of Music, School of Theatre, and School of Visual Arts, CFA offers professional training in the arts in conservatory-style environments for undergraduate and graduate students, complemented by a liberal arts curriculum for undergraduate students.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

KIRA ROCKWELL is a Boston-based writer who was born and bred in the heart of Texas. Her character driven plays aim to foster empathy, cultivate hope, and challenge complacency. Her plays, Nomad Americana, With My Eyes Shut, and The Tragic Ecstasy of Girlhood, have been developed with Fresh Ink Theatre, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, Theatre@First, Goat Song Theatre Collective, Nouveau 47 Theater, Southwestern College, and Baylor University. Her work has been featured across the nation at the Hollywood Fringe Festival (2018), Last Frontier Theatre Conference (2016), Fresh Ink Theatre's Mad Dash (2018, 2017), One Minute Play Festival Boston (2017), Little Black Dress Ink's Onstage Fest (2017, 2016, 2015), and WaterTower Theatre's Detour: A Festival of New Work (formerly known as the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival-2015, 2016). After having its workshop premiere with Boston Playwrights' Theatre, her play The Tragic Ecstasy of Girlhood will have a Los Angeles premiere. Kira is a proud member of The Dramatists Guild. She holds a B.F.A. in Theatre Performance from Baylor University and is currently earning her M.F.A. in Playwriting from Boston University. Kira is wife to Mark Rockwell, owner of Lonesome Hero Design Studio. They are parents to the sweetest, fastest, lab/pit rescue named Koda. Find out more: www.kirarockwell.com

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

LEILA GHAEMI has served as a theatre maker in Montreal, New York, San Francisco, and the Greater Boston Area. She received her B.F.A. in Theatre Arts from Boston University where she is now pursuing her M.F.A. in Theatre Education. She has had the great pleasure of working at various theater companies including the Stratford Festival, American Conservatory Theater, New Repertory Theatre, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, and Boston University's New Play Initiative-all of which developed her passion for new play development. Recent new play development credits include The History of Sexuality by Dane Stewart (consultant), Birds by Rebecca Gibian (consultant), Daddy Issues by Tom L. Wark (director), Walking While Black by Kemiyondo Coutinho (actor), A Thousand Splendid Suns by Ursula Rani Sarma (actor), script-reading for ACT's Artistic Development department, and teaching devised theatre at Boston University's Summer Theatre Institute.

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