Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre to Reveal 2024 Expand the Canon List

Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre will announce the 2024 Expand the Canon list of short and one-act plays by historic women and gender expansive playwrights on Monday, October 21 at Kingston Hall (149 2nd Ave, NYC). Mingling and drinks will begin at 5:30pm, followed by an announcement of the 16 plays featured on this year's list at 6:20pm. Afterwards, readings of Expand the Canon titles will be performed at both The Acting Company and Classic Stage Company in two separate events at 7pm. This is the fifth Expand the Canon list, highlighting a total of 50 writers through history, which will now include the existential poetry of Sylvia Plath, the wild worlds of Maria Irene Fornés, and the wry social commentary of empress Catherine the Great.

Expand the Canon features plays written between 1600 to 1990, by writers who can no longer advocate for themselves. These transcendent plays vary in form, content, and style, and come from 17 countries and 11 languages. Hedgepig advocates for the 2024 list and previous years' lists to be read, taught, and produced by theatre companies and universities.

With now 50 historic playwrights highlighted in Expand the Canon, those who subscribe to expandthecanon.com can discover these titles, short bios on each writer, producing information, and many of the scripts themselves. Making these plays easy to produce and teach is a key aim of the program, giving students and audiences opportunities to see more of themselves and their histories in the works lauded as "classics." In the coming year, Hedgepig will continue artistic partnerships with producing organizations, with readings planned from coast to coast in 2025.

RSVP to the List Launch Event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2024-expand-the-canon-list-drop-party-registration-1020613240677.

Tickets to The Acting Company's reading of Ntozake Shange's Spell #7 (2023 Expand the Canon List) at The Public Theater: https://theactingcompany.org/reading-series

Tickets to Classic Stage Company's Rediscovery Readings that feature three Expand the Canon writers, and two of the plays on the 2024 Expand the Canon list: https://www.classicstage.org/the-rediscovery-readings/

ABOUT EXPAND THE CANON

Expand the Canon (expandthecanon.com) was established in 2021 to address the over emphasis in academia and the theatre world on classic plays written by men. "There are so many plays written by women that SHOULD be considered classics dating back to the tenth century." (Similar quote from ensemble or reader). With over 75 theatre artists and professionals as readers and curators to date, the Expand the Canon team has researched over 8,000 plays and read over 1,300. The 2024 list of sixteen short plays will bring the total of ETC plays to 52 classics by women and gender expansive writers. Expand the Canon has inspired full productions of these titles across the country, and partnered with theatres nationwide including Classic Stage Company, American Players Theater, Ma-Yi Theatre, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Irish Repertory Theater, Fiasco Theater, Island Shakespeare Festival, and more. Artists and supporters can learn more about these plays by signing up at expandthecanon.com, or subscribing to their podcast, This Is A Classic!: The Expand the Canon Theatre Podcast.

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