Connecticut Women Attend the Second Women's Voices Theater Festival Held in D.C.

A total of 24 plays by 22 female playwrights were presented as part of the second Women's Voices Theater Festival held in January and February in Washington, DC.

Mary Miko, Marie Reynolds and Lauren Yarger, co-founders of the CT Chapter of the League of Professional Women, attended shows, a panel discussion led by Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith and several networking and industry meetings including a sit-down with Greg Reiner, director of theater and musical theater for the National Endowment for the Arts.

The co-founders have been talking with Voices Festival Coordinating Producer Nana Barnett about producing a women's theater festival here in Connecticut.

The first DC festival in 2015 featured 52 world-premiere plays by female playwrights at more than 50 theaters in the DC area. More than 40 productions of these plays have had subsequent productions.

This year's festival urged theaters across the nation to participate in International Women's Voices Day (marking the anniversary of the women's marches) which generated more than 270 readings of unproduced works by women. More than 550 performances will take place this year under the Women's Voices Theater banner.

More Women in Theater News:

Second Women Playwrights Initiative and Readings at Ivoryton Playhouse

HENRY, LOUISE, and HENRI
By Kathleen Cahill
Directed by Linda MacCluggage

The transformative and unfathomable effect of art is hilariously depicted when a long-married couple go for lunch in a Paris restaurant after a morning spent viewing Matisse paintings.

TO FALL IN LOVE WITH ANYONE, DO THIS
By Jennifer Lane
Directed by Hannah Simms

Scientists claim that there are 36 questions you can ask to fall in love with anyone. But can this seemingly simple exercise save even Wyatt and Merryn's marriage?

Staged Reading: Saturday, March 3 at 7 pm (following the panel and reception)

BLOOD
By Yael Haskal
Directed by Kathryn Markey

When a young woman elects to donate blood to a sick pastor and pillar of the community, hellish truths are exposed forcing a devastating decision for both her and the nurse.

THE GENTLEMAN'S PACT
By Karen Howes
Directed by Addie Gorlin

A witty, acerbic look at marriage, fidelity, and self-determination when Bill, a college professor, tells his colleague, Arthur, that he wants to marry Arthur's wife, Evelyn. Can their pact survive Evelyn's unexpected response?

Ticket prices: $20 adult; $15 senior and LPTW members; $10 student
Both nights package price: $30 adult, $25 senior and LPTHW members; $10 student (buy ticket for Friday get ticket for Saturday free)

Both nights package price: $30 adult, $25 senior and LPTHW members; $10 student (buy ticket for Friday get ticket for Saturday free)

To purchase tickets for the readings on line follow this link.

To RSVP for the panel/reception, visit this link.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS:

Kathleen Cahill's awards include the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, two Connecticut Commission on the Arts Playwriting Awards, a Massachusetts Artists Foundation Award, a Rockefeller Grant, a National Endowment for the Arts New American Works Grant, three Edgerton Foundation Awards, and a Drama League Award. Her play Charm was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize; her play The Persian Quarter was nominated for a Steinberg Award. (Both published by Dramatic Publishing.) She writes for Alan Cumming when he introduces Mystery! on PBS. She is Playwright-in-Residence at the Salt Lake Acting Company.

Yael Haskal is a playwright and performer studying at Vassar College. She is currently working as the Literary Intern for the Manhattan Theatre Club, where she enjoys expanding her knowledge of and passion for dramatic literature. Yael's next project is a full-length play about the effects of a capital punishment case on a small town in Utah.

Karen Howes is a recipient of several arts grants, is published in a Best-of Anthology by Smith and Kraus, and a winner of the Maxum Mazumdor New Play Prize and The New Science Driven Play Award. Her plays have won several festivals and productions, including at The Alley Theatre, The Academy Theatre, The Bickford, Playwright's Theatre of NJ, Playwright's Roundtable, and The Blank. She is a resident playwright at SkyLight Theater in Los Angeles.

Jennifer Lane received her MFA in playwriting from Columbia University and is represented by Amy Wagner of Abrams Artists Agency in New York. For more information about Jennifer and her work, please visit jennifer-lane.net.

Westport Country Playhouse Hosts Letters to Our Daughters, a Free Event Celebrating International Women's Day on March 8

Joanna Gleason, Judith Ivey, Susan Kelechi Watson, and More Will Share Essays and Poems by Female Writers

Westport Country Playhouse will host the second annual "Letters to Our Daughters," a free-of-charge event to celebrate International Women's Day 7 pm Thursday, March 8.

A diverse group of 13 women, including Tony Award winners Joanna Gleason and Judith Ivey, and "This Is Us" series regular Susan Kelechi Watson, will read essays and poems written by female authors on global women's issues.

The program is curated by Samantha Goober and Anne Keefe.

Readers of works by female writers will include Farah Bala, actor in ABC's "Quantico, HBO's "High Maintenance," Comedy Central's "Broad City," and social justice advocate/organizer; Danielle Davenport, actor and writer currently appearing in the second season of Amazon's "Sneaky Pete"; Joanna Gleason, Tony Award-winning actor for INTO THE WOODS and Tony nominee for JOE EGG; Wilhelmina Hartong, writer, award-winning standup comedienne, and theater teacher at Regional High School for the Arts in Trumbull, CT; and Alicia Hernandez Strong, a senior at Wesleyan University and a political activist from New Britain, CT.

Also, Judith Ivey, Tony Award-winning actor for HURLYBURLY and STEAMING,"television's "Designing Women"; Susan Kelechi Watson, WCP's A RAISIN IN THE SUN, NAACP Image Award nomination and SAG Award win for NBC's "This Is Us"; Elise Kibler, actor in Broadway's THE HEIDI CHRONICLES, THIS IS OUR YOUTH, Pamela Lewis, founder of Connect-Us, connecting suburban and urban neighbors in Fairfield County, CT, and beyond; Aleta Mitchell, actress in original cast of Broadway's MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM, and WCP's INTIMATE APPAREL, THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING. Patricia Russo, executive director of Women's Campaign School at Yale and public speaker; Najla Said, actress, playwright, and author of "Looking for Palestine: Growing Up Confused in an Arab-American Family"; and Pearl Sun, actor in Broadway's IF/THEN, Netflick's "Orange Is the New Black," WCP's TICK-TICK BOOM!

The event's title "Letters to Our Daughters" is taken from a collection of essays by Maya Angelou called "Letters to My Daughter." Keefe said that in the spirit of her words, the title was adopted and changed to reflect this event.

To post a comment, you must register and login.