PAST READINGS
On Her Shoulders - The Years Between
November 18th, 2013Daphne Du Maurier's The Years Between
Directed by: Mary McGinley Dramaturgy by: Susan Jonas Although best known as a novelist (notably Rebecca and The Birds.) Daphne Du Maurier's second stage play, The Years Between opened in January 1945, five months before VE Day, and ran for 617 performances. The protagonist, Diana Wentworth, has always stayed in the shadows, supporting her husband, an admired colonel and MP. But when his plane crashes at sea in 1942 and he is presumed dead, life changes for Diana. She stands unopposed for her husband's seat in parliament, just as her relationship with a neighbor, Richard, heats up.
Inspired by her own experience of the gulf that opened between herself and her war-hero husband on his return from duty, Du Maurier's 1943 drama reflects the changing times for women during and after the war. Diana becomes a popular and charismatic politician, advocating for women to march alongside men towards a new Britain, one in which people are guided by selflessness and duty towards their country. But when the choice becomes personal, will she choose patriotism or love, duty or happiness? In this new world formed by a long and costly war, will peace also have devastating casualties? This sophisticated and complex play anticipates many concerns that remain controversial and timely today. |
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October 21st, 2013Lorraine Hansberry's Les Blancs
Directed by: Pat Golden Dramaturgy by: Andrea Lepcio Guest Speaker: Michael Dinwiddie LORRAINE HANSBERRY'S last play takes us to an Africa she never visited. Produced posthumously by her husband, Les Blancs was proclaimed by the New York Times as "Incredibly moving... towering, magnificent" and was named Best American play of 1970. In, a fictional East African country on the verge of revolution, the legacy of white colonialism comes head to head with the growing movement for black liberation and independence. Tshembe Matoseh, the English educated son of a chief, has come home to bury his father. He finds his teenage brother a near alcoholic and his older brother a priest and traitor to his people. At the same time Charlie, an American journalist, arrives to report on the local missionary hospital and its workers. Forswearing politics and wanting only to return to his wife and child in England, Tshembe is drawn into the conflict symbolized by a woman dancer, the powerful Spirit of Africa who pursues him. When peaceful negotiations break down, and violence erupts, each brother is forced to choose where his loyalties lie.
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On Her Shoulders - Les Blancs
Photo Credit: Mary McGinley
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September 16th, 2013Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey
Directed by: Ludovica Villar-Hauser Dramaturgy by: Elizabeth Whitney Shelagh Delaney was one of the most innovative playwrights of the Twentieth Century. Her most celebrated play, A Taste of Honey, featured realistic characters who were working class, gay, black, northern & feminist in1950s Britain, whose mainstream remained publicly repressed, hideously white and middle class. What is all the more remarkable is that she wrote this play when she was just 18. The play was picked up by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in London's Stratford and was first performed on May 27, 1958. It went on to a West End run and was produced with Joan Plowright and Angela Lansbury on Broadway. Delaney co-wrote the 1961 screenplay of the same name with Tony Richardson, which won the BAFTA that year. She continued writing until her death in 2011, with numerous recordings for BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play slots and the acclaimed 1985 film, Dance With a Stranger. She was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature that same year.
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On Her Shoulders - A Taste of Honey
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August 12th, 2013Susan Glaspell's The Verge
Directed by: Melissa Attebery Dramaturgy by: Andrea Lepcio Susan Glaspell was a turn of the century playwright, actress, director, novelist, biographer, poet, and journalist. She also founded the Provincetown Players with her husband George Cook and discovered Eugene O'Neill. Most famous for Trifles, Glaspell wrote 14 plays including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Allison's House.
Her last play, The Verge, is set in 1921 just after World War I. In this expressionist exploration of a woman's struggle against societal and familial expectations, Claire Archer desires to create new plant life forms in her greenhouse. Her husband, daughter, sister and friends try to divert her from her quest, but Claire is determined to break free. Form mirrors content as realism fractures and strange things are made new. |
July 15th, 2013Cicely Hamilton's Diana of Dobsons
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On Her Shoulders - Diana of Dobsons
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June 17th 2013Anna Cora Mowatt's FASHION
Directed by: Joanne Zipay Dramaturgy by: Celia Braxton in a new adaptation by Bonnie Milne Gardner, "Opening in 1845 to immediate critical and financial success, Mowatt's play is a satire of America's obsession with highbrow taste and cultural distinction. Fashion was a big hit for actress-turned-playwright Anna Cora Mowatt and has since been cited as the best American comedy of the 19th century."
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On Her Shoulders - FASHION | ||
May 20th 2013
Rachel Crothers' A MAN'S WORLD
Directed by: Melissa Crespo Dramaturgy by: Jane Ann Crum Set in early 20th century Greenwich Village, in a tenement populated by Bohemian artists and immigrants, the play features Frank, a worldly but idealistic woman writer who is determined to bring attention to the plight of women, especially the poor. What happens when she must choose between her principles and her heart? The play considers the gendered double-standard and the meaning of family-- by birth or by choice. Over a century after the 1915 play premiered, it remains funny and moving, and, above all, it still speaks to us.
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On Her Shoulders - A Man's World |
The May - December readings were curated by Susan Jonas
Susan Jonas held leadership positions as a dramaturg, curator and producer at Classical Theatre of Harlem, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Classic Stage Company and The Acting Company. A Theatre Arts Analyst at the New York State Council on the Arts for a decade, she has also taught at Princeton, Brooklyn College, S.U.N.Y.-Stonybrook, and New York University. Jonas co-authored the 2002 “Report of the Status of Women in Theater,” and co-founded “50/50 in 2020,” a grassroots organization committed to achieving parity for women in theatre.
Susan Jonas held leadership positions as a dramaturg, curator and producer at Classical Theatre of Harlem, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Classic Stage Company and The Acting Company. A Theatre Arts Analyst at the New York State Council on the Arts for a decade, she has also taught at Princeton, Brooklyn College, S.U.N.Y.-Stonybrook, and New York University. Jonas co-authored the 2002 “Report of the Status of Women in Theater,” and co-founded “50/50 in 2020,” a grassroots organization committed to achieving parity for women in theatre.