PUT A WOMAN ON A PEDESTAL Announces Final Evening Of Plays

Celebrating the stories of statue-worthy women are seven new plays in monologue form that will be performed virtually on Friday, June 18 at 7 pm (EDT) as a part of Put A Woman On A Pedestal, a StatueFest of theatrical works.

Sarah Baskin will play women's rights lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsburg who has been depicted by Cindy Cooper. Carolyn Gage has composed a monologue about Henrietta Vinton Davis, the leading lady of her day who took a prominent role in the Pan African movement; Laura E. Johnston has been cast.

Egyptt LaBeija will portray LGBTQI and Stonewall-uprising activist Marsha P. Johnson who has been remembered in a piece by Nicole Ansari. Lynnette Freeman will play labor and civil rights organizer Pauli Murray in a monologue by Michael Angel Johnson.

Martha Patterson has created a monologue about prizewinning author Edith Wharton which will be performed by Jean Brookner. Emma Stebbins, the sculptor of Central Park's Bethesda Fountain angel, has been captured by Heather Jeanne Violanti; Cathy Haase will play the artist.

Antonia Pantoja, educator and founder of ASPIRA, an organization dedicated to empowering the Puerto Rican and Latino community through youth development and leadership, will be the subject of a play by Janis Astor del Valle, which she will also perform. The director for the evening is Allison Astor-Vargas.

The event is produced by four initiating artists: Janis Astor del Valle, Cindy Cooper, Cheryl Davis and Deborah Savadge. This will be the fourth in a quartet of online performances in response to the ongoing public dialogue about monuments. Put a Woman on a Pedestal concludes with StatueFest Four on Friday, June 18, a free livestreaming event.

In March, April and May, New Shokan Kitchen Island Project presented evenings of six monologues each month, featuring accomplished women. The May 21 subjects were Zora Neale Hurston (Cheryl L. Davis), Alice Austen (Fengar Gael), Frances Perkins (Deborah Savadge), Yuri Kochiyama (Christine Toy Johnson), Stella Adler (D. Lee Miller), and the women who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (Barbara Kahn). The evening was directed by Joanna Rhinehart.

Glenda Frank (Eva Le Gallienne), Magdalena Gomez (Luisa Capetillo), Lorca Perez (Maria Irene Fornes), Martine Sainvil (Mary Lou Williams), Elizabeth Giffin Speckman (Lillian Wald), and Bev Thompson (Dorothy Parker) were the writers featured in the April 16 performance, directed by Gwynn MacDonald.

The celebration of noteworthy women began on March 19 with short plays by Renee' Flemings (Augusta Savage), Laura Shamas (Maria Tallchief), Allison Fradkin (Bea Arthur), Lucy Wang (Mabel Ping Hua Lee), Judith Pratt (Barbara McClintock) and Pauline David-Sax (Clara Lemlich Shavelson). The director for the premiere was Dev Bondarin.

The company has begun to explore partnerships with theater companies that may wish to add Put a Woman On a Pedestal to upcoming seasons.

Attendance is free for this one-time live event. RSVP to receive the Zoom link to StatueFest2021@gmail.com

For updates on StatueFest, June 18 at 7pm EDT on Instagram or Twitter: @StatueFest2021

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