Free Theatre Week Kickoff Fest Takes Place This Weekend

Avant Bard has collaborated with A Simple Herstory to bring an award-winning theatrical podcast series to the stage during the FREE Theatre Week Kickoff Fest at Arena Stage on Saturday, September 23rd (festivities to commence at 1pm, with this presentation set to begin at 1:55 pm). Avant Bard's Sara Barker will join podcast creator Jocelyn Kuritsky onstage as they embody characters from the award-winning series and play clips. Adding live music to the 30-minute event will be local composer-songwriter Sarah Fridrich, who has collaborated with Avant Bard in the past. The trio brings this performance straight from this summer's Arlington County Fair, one of the largest free events on the East Coast.

And Next Up, the A Simple Herstory team will be presenting an early preview of work for its second season at The Tank in New York City at 4pm on October 27th. The second season is written by the award-winning playwright Jonathan A. Goldberg and Peabody Award winner Jenny Turner Hall. The presentation will also be followed by a panel discussion with Turner Hall and Webby Award winner, Pia Wilson. The event is by invitation only, but inquiries for interested parties regarding attendance may be sent to themuseprojectnyc@gmail.com.

More about A Simple Herstory

A Simple Herstory is a groundbreaking, award-winning, deviant, multi-platform audio fiction exploration of the 100+ women who have run for President of the United States. The initial season revolves around Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run in 1872 - before women had the right to vote. Season 1 is presented by The Muse Project and the Obie winning theater company, The Tank.

The first season features some of the nation's finest stage performers - including Tony nominee Kara Young, ALMA nominee Florencia Lozano, Tony nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega, Tony & Emmy nominee Kate Burton, Tony & Emmy nominee Veanne Cox, Emmy winner Erin Cherry, Tony nominee Maria Dizzia, Tony winner Tonya Pinkins, television legend Louise Lasser, among many more. Noted theater critic, David Cote, describes A Simple Herstory's first season as an "exhilarating ride." The series is also Executive Produced by the Peabody Award winning creator, Jenny Turner Hall.

In 2022, the team for the podcast was crowned The Tank's Artists of the Year, and the series was featured in Forbes. A Simple Herstory partnered with the Tony winning company, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), for their Quills Fest to produce an installation of the podcast with the Merchant's House Museum in New York City. For the festival, the team also collaborated with Welcome to Night Vale's Cecil Baldwin, and engaged in a panel discussion with The Horror of Dolores Roach's Aaron Mark. Quills won a coveted 2023 Telly Award (Bronze Telly Award - People's Telly - Immersive & Mixed Reality).

Recently, the podcast was featured at the Arlington County Fair; and subsequently podcast creator, Jocelyn Kuritsky, and Season 1 director, Donya K. Washington, joined Janet Kopenhaver (Embracing Arlington Arts Talks) and Kathleen Akerley (Longacre Lea) for a panel discussion hosted by Arlington's Avant Bard, featuring the endeavor to make the podcast and the very topic of women in leadership, including leadership in the arts.

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