WOMEN+ ON THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY to be Presented at Shakespeare & Company

Shakespeare & Company will present select plays from Women+ On The Edge of Democracy on Sunday, November 1 at 5 p.m., in Studio 3 of the Elayne P. Bernstein Performing Arts Center. There is no charge to attend.

A groundbreaking initiative encouraging conversation about American democracy created by the Flynn Center in Vermont (Jay Wahl, Executive Director) and The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (Leslie Swackhamer, Executive Director), Women+ On The Edge Of Democracy sets out to form a collective portrait of a nation in doubt and transformation–seen through the eyes of women+ playwrights from around the world who have long chronicled America's contradictions and dreams.

Shakespeare & Company will present nine readings of 10-minute plays, selected from Women+ On The Edge Of Democracy anthology of 34 woman-identifying playwrights. The titles were chosen by a committee of Company Artists, and will be presented in two acts with talkbacks at the end of each act:

Plays

Things I Worry About by Bridget Carpenter
Churn by Justice Hehir
Pecking Order by Elizabeth Diggs
Attestation by Lynn Nottage
An Uplifting High School Graduation Speech by Sarah Ruhl
Reasonable Suspicion by Lisa Loomer
The Betsy Ross Book of the Dead by Paula Cizmar
Searching for Elsie Parrish by Heidi Schreck
Common Ground by Lauren M. Gunderson

Production Manager Erika Johnson said that in reading the plays, she returned often to the notion that what is happening in our democracy affects all of us in many different ways.

“Not everyone can see the perspective of others in their day-to-day reading of the news and social media,” she said. “In fact, sometimes these outlets actually further isolate us from knowing what others are going through, or try to invalidate those experiences.”

To that end, patrons will be invited to share their thoughts by completing the sentence “As a ________________, America makes me feel ______________________,” and posting their answers on a wall display.