First Ever Revival of EVELYN BROWN (A DIARY) to be Presented at La MaMa in May

La MaMa will present the first-ever revival of Evelyn Brown (A Diary), a lost work by the celebrated playwright María Irene Fornés (1930-2018). This plotless play is an intimate meditation on women's domestic labor that celebrates the tenderness of care. Dramaturg Gwendolyn Alker has spent the last five years recovering the long-lost script. This production, directed by Alice Reagan, will feature Fornés's long-time scenic and costume designers, Donald Eastman and Gabriel Berry. Evelyn Brown (A Diary) is scheduled to run May 19-June 4, 2023, with an opening night set for Monday, May 22, at La MaMa's Downstairs Theater, located at 66 E 4th St in Manhattan. Tickets are currently on sale at www.lamama.org.

Evelyn Brown (A Diary) is the only play Fornés took entirely from a found object, the diary of a real woman, Evelyn Brown. It tells the story of a housekeeper who lived and labored in rural New Hampshire in the early 1900s. Using the short entries as inspiration, Fornés shaped the diary into a piece of dance-theater that explores the physical cost of women's domestic labor and the surprising possibilities for mental and spiritual escape.

Performers Ellen Lauren (Siti Company) and Violeta Picayo (Bedlam, Siti Company) bring the words of Evelyn Brown to life in a production that honors the original and seeks to reinsert this forgotten work back into the Fornés canon.

Director Alice Reagan remarked, "In these late pandemic times, when so much of our existence is mediated by screens, and our lives seem to move faster than the speed of thought, Evelyn Brown (A Diary) celebrates the tenderness of care, the beauty of doing things by hand, and the humor, sorrow, and deep feelings that can erupt from seemingly nowhere. I'm thrilled that two of Fornés's longtime designers Donald Eastman, who designed the 1980 premiere of Evelyn Brown (A Diary), and Gabriel Berry will join us on this first-ever revival."

Dramaturg Gwendolyn Alker commented, "Reconstructing the script for Evelyn Brown (A Diary) from various script fragments and interviews with cast and crew has been a highlight of my career. It's the only Fornés play taken completely from a found text and preceded a profound moment of creativity that included The Danube, Mud, and The Conduct of Life. An illustration of a life drawn with extreme care and respect, Evelyn Brown (A Diary) is concerned with the value of work, and the humanity of those workers who are often overlooked."

Evelyn Brown (A Diary) was inspired by the diary of a real woman, Evelyn Brown, who was born in Melvin Village, New Hampshire on May 20, 1854, and who died on November 18, 1934. The diary was written in 1909. Evelyn Brown (A Diary) premiered at Theater for the New City in April 1980 and featured performances by Margaret Harrington and Aileen Passloff.

Upon its 1980 premiere, Erika Munk in The Village Voice wrote, "The first powerful feeling that comes from this piece is tenderness, a tenderness completely without sentimentality, without deception, and not for interpretation."

Evelyn Brown (A Diary) was conceived and originally directed by María Irene Fornés. The creative team for this revival includes Alice Reagan (direction), Gwendolyn Alker (dramaturgy), Donald Eastman (scenic design), Gabriel Berry (costume design), Christina Watanabe (lighting design), Jordan Bernstein (sound design), Emani Simpson (stage management), and Shannon Sindelar (producer).

Twelve performances of Evelyn Brown (A Diary) will take place May 19-June 4, 2023, at La MaMa's Downstairs Theater, located at 66 E 4th Street. Critics are welcome as of Saturday, May 20 for an opening on Monday, May 22. The performance schedule is Thursday-Saturday at 8pm and Sundays at 4pm with an additional 8pm performance on Monday, May 22. General admission tickets are $30 and $25 for students or seniors. The first 10 tickets to every performance are $10 each. Tickets are available at www.lamama.org.

Evelyn Brown (A Diary) is supported by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.

About the artists

María Irene Fornés (1930-2018) was born in Havana, Cuba, and first came to New York City in 1945 at the age of 15. Though she never completed high school, Fornés worked tirelessly in the theater to become one of the most important artists of the past 50 years. As a seminal figure in the Off-Off Broadway movement of the 1960s, she helped to pioneer a downtown theater aesthetic which continues to thrive today. She won an unprecedented nine Obie Awards and her play, What Of The Night? (1990) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Other plays include Letters from Cuba (2000), The Summer in Gossensass (1998), The Conduct of Life (1985), Sarita (1984), Mud (1983), The Danube (1982), Fefu and Her Friends (1977), Molly's Dream (1973) and Tango Palace (1963). As director of the INTAR Hispanic Playwrights-in-Residence Laboratory in the 1980s, she nurtured a generation of Latinx playwrights, including Cherríe Moraga, Migdalia Cruz, Nilo Cruz, Caridad Svich, and Eduardo Machado. As playwright and director of more than forty plays over four decades, she created a unique body of work known for its lyricism, rigor, and crystalline composition.

Alice Reagan's recent directing credits include Measure for Measure at Shakespeare & Company, Cherry Orchard with Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (Portland Monthly Best Theater of 2022), On Loop by Charly Evon Simpson with New Plays at Barnard; No Good Things Dwell in the Flesh by Christina Masciotti at Yocum Institute; Hir by Taylor Mac at Shakespeare & Company (2 Berkie nominations, including win for Best Supporting Actor); Jeune Terre by Gab Reisman with New Plays at Barnard; Grounded by George Brant at Dobama Theatre (Cleveland Critics Circle: Superior Production, Superior Direction, Best Actress); Jackie by Elfriede Jelinek at Boom Arts; Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue by Quiara Alegría Hudes at Profile Theatre; the musical Promenade by María Irene Fornés and Al Carmines at Barnard; Or, by Liz Duffy Adams at Shakespeare & Company (7 Berkie nominations including Best Director, win for Best Supporting Actor); PHAETON (a diggle of a fragment) by Mac Wellman at Classic Stage Company; Enter THE NIGHT by María Irene Fornés with Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble; Nomads by Julia Jarcho at Incubator Arts Project; Women of Trachis by Kate Ryan with Heidi Schreck at Target Margin Theater. Reagan founded and directs a new play development program for women-identifying playwrights at Barnard College. She is an alum of Mabou Mines/SUITE Resident Artist Program, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Women's Project Directors Lab, and the Drama League. She is a member of Wingspace Theatrical Design. Princess Grace Award. MA, Performance Studies: Tisch/NYU. MFA, Directing: Columbia. www.alicereagan.com

Gwendolyn Alker is an Associate Arts Professor in the Department of Drama, Tisch/NYU. She is the former Editor of Theatre Topics and the former Managing Editor of Women & Performance. As a scholar and dramaturg, she has taught and advocated for the work of María Irene Fornés over the last two decades. Dramaturgical credits include the New York Fornés Festival (2010), which she curated and organized, the award-winning documentary The Rest I Make Up by Michelle Memran (2018), and JoAnne Akalaitis' María Irene Fornés Marathon at The Public Theatre (2018). She has also published widely on Fornés including articles and book chapters in Theatre Topics, the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism (2020), and chapter entries in Playwrights of the 1980s, Fifty Key Figures in Queer US Theatre and the forthcoming Fornés in Context. She is also a core member of The Fornés Institute, an initiative of Howlround that advocates and amplifies the work of this important Latina playwright. She is currently working on a biography of María Irene Fornés.

About La MaMa

La MaMa is dedicated to the artist and all aspects of the theatre. La MaMa's 61st "Remake A World" Season believes in the power of art to bring sustainable change over time and transform our cultural narrative. At La MaMa, new work is created from a multiplicity of perspectives, experiences, and disciplines, influencing how we think about and experience art. The flexibility of our spaces, specifically the newly reimagined building at 74 East 4th Street (La MaMa's original permanent home), gives our local and remote communities access to expanded daytime programming. The digital tools embedded in the space allow artists to collaborate remotely, and audiences worldwide to participate in La MaMa's programming.

A recipient of the 2018 Regional Theater Tony Award, more than 30 Obie Awards and dozens of Drama Desk, Bessie, and Villager Awards, La MaMa has been a creative home for thousands of artists, and resident companies, many of whom have made lasting contributions to the arts, including Blue Man Group, Bette Midler, Ed Bullins, Ping Chong, Jackie Curtis, André De Shields, Adrienne Kennedy, Harvey Fierstein, Diane Lane, Playhouse of the Ridiculous, Tom Eyen, Pan Asian Rep, Spiderwoman Theater, Tadeusz Kantor, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Mabou Mines, Meredith Monk, Peter Brook, David and Amy Sedaris, Julie Taymor, Kazuo Ohno, Tom O'Horgan, and Andy Warhol. La MaMa's vision of nurturing new artists and new work from all nations, cultures, races and identities remains as strong today as it was when Ellen Stewart first opened the doors in 1961.