Staged Readings at Ohio State

On to Pinter and Nigro

2009-03-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

The reading of Nancy Gall-Clayton's The Snowflake Theory in October went extremely well, with readings at the Yassenoff Jewish Community Center in the community and at the university as well; Nancy was able to attend. Veteran performers Lil Strouss, Jared Saltman, and Cheryl Jacobs played the leads, with OSU students Adam Peal and Jessi Biggert in support; more details at www.beyondborschtbelt.blogspot.com

The reading was the centerpiece of Beyond the Borscht Belt: the second Jewish theatre festival in Columbus, produced by the Ohio State University Hillel Foundation Wexner Jewish Student Center, the Ohio State University Department of Theatre, the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, with support from the Leventhal Fund and the Lenore Schottenstein Jewish Arts Endowment of the Columbus Jewish Foundation.

Two readings coming up:

In May, we'll celebrate Harold Pinter's life with readings of several of his works, directed by Pinter scholars Dr. Ann Hall and Dr. Katherine Burkman, with a couple of scenes directed by me. That'll be May 17th, in the Roy Bowen Theatre on the OSU campus.

Then later, at a date still to be determined, Don Nigro's new play, "Henry and Ellen," detailing the convoluted history of the artistic and personal interactions of Sir Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. Distinguished performers John Kuhn and Cate Blair-Wilhelm will perform the leads. Watch this space!

Next Up: The Snowflake Theory

2008-08-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

pause on various readings for the moment, although we still hope to get Sandra Dempsey's Rosa's Lament done in the next month or so,and Martha Boesing's Song of the Magpie in, we hope, the early fall. Nancy Gall-Clayton's The Snowflake Theory will be given a staged reading in October as part of the second Beyond the Borscht Belt Festival of Jewish Theatre, presented by the OSU Hillel Foundation, the OSU Department of Theatre, the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, with support from the Leventhal Fund and the Jewish Community Fund. Details at http://beyondborschtbelt.blogspot.com

Still-Life With Dog read

2008-04-20T14:27:00.001-07:00

An enthusiastic, if a bit small, audience heard Bonnie Rozanski's Still-Life With Dog read on April 19th. A miscalculation (and ignoring of the calendar!) had us doing the reading on both the first night of Passover and after the spring football game, in which the OSU team plays itself to about 90,000 fans. Our reading was late enough so that it wasn't affected, but it did take an hour to drive the playwright, Bonnie Rozanski, and her husband, Rider University President Mordechai Rozanski, three blocks from the freeway to the hotel on campus.

Next up: Sandra Dempsey's Rosa's Lament on the 24th, again in the New Works Lab at Ohio State's Drake Performance and Event Center.

Here's Bonnie Rozanski, on the left, with her cast: Jessi Biggert (Sarah), Dwayne Blackaller (Donald), Doreen Salkiewicz (in front, Fanny), Sarah Worthington (Rachel), Alex Coccia (behind Sarah, Mark), and Virginia Logan (Georgette). Since Raymond Caldwell was unable to be there, Alan Woods wound up reading Marvin, and was unable to take photos of the reading itself.

We learned from Bonnie afterwards that the idea for the play came from her own life experiences growing up. She spoke very positively of the insights the reading gave her, particularly into the character of Donald. She also praised Doreen escpecially, saying Doreen's reading of a long monologue for Fanny that ends Act I was as good as it possibly could be.

Still-Life With Dog up next

2008-04-15T07:21:00.000-07:00

Bonnie Rozanski's Still-Life With Dog, the first runner-up in the full length play category in the 2007 Eileen Heckart Drama for Seniors Competition, will be given a staged reading on Saturday, April 19th, at the New Works Lab in the Drake Performance and Event Center, 1849 Cannon Drive, on the OSU campus. The cast includes both Ohio State graduate and undergraduate actors and performers from the Central Ohio theatre community:

Georgette: Virginia Logan
Fanny: Doreen Salkiewicz
Donald: Dwayne Blackaller
Rachel: Sarah Worthington
Mark: Alex Coccia
Marvin: Raymond Caldwell
Sarah: Jessi Biggert

The reading will start at 7:30 p.m. Parking is free in the lot across Cannon Drive, between Lincoln and Morrill Towers. Bonnie Rozanski is flying in from New Jersey for the reading, and will welcome feedback--

Theodicy at Urban Arts Space, March 11

2008-04-15T07:07:00.000-07:00

the readers: left to right, Alan Woods, Lloyd Graham, Anita Davis, Patty Wallace-Winbush, Truman Winbush. All photos by Lesley Ferris.

Alan Woods introduces the reading

Judy Juanita's Theodicy was given a reading on March 11th in the new Urban Arts Space in downtown Columbus, which currently houses an exhibit called "Midnight Robbers: The Artists of the Notting Hill Carnival," curated by OSU Theatre Professor Lesley Ferris and Adela Ruth Tomasett of Middlesex University (more information at http://theatre.osu.edu/carnival/index.html). The reading was performed by Anita Davis, Patricia Wallace-Winbush, Truman Winbush, and Lloyd Graham; Alan Woods stepped in to read when a fifth actor had a traffic accident and couldn't get to the event.

the cast, joined by Ann Alaia Woods (at the extreme left), who videotaped the reading.

March 11th was chosen for the reading both because of availability of the space, and because it marked the anniversary of the 1959 opening of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun in New York, the first play by an African-American woman playwright to be produced on Broadway.

Heckart plays read

2008-02-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

Winning plays from the 2007 Eileen Heckart Drama for Seniors Competition were given readings on February 27th at Ohio State's Department of Theatre New Works Lab, with veteran area actors performing for an appreciative audience. First up was Harriet Weiss's Billie and Henry, winner of the ten minute play category. The play, a charming piece with a twist at the end, is about two aging veterans of the motion picture industry facing retirement and limited resources, and coming up with an ingenious -- if not entirely ethical -- way of coping. Ann Mirels read Billie, while Ira "Bill" Simons was Henry. Ann's been active for decades in local theatre, as has Bill; both have read for us before, on numerous occasions. In a twist that matches the play, neither is actually the appropriate age for their characters--Ann is several decades younger than the mid 80's Billie, while Bill, who celebrated his 83rd birthday just last week, is a decade older than Henry. Here they are together:

Ann as Billie

Billie considers Henry's proposal

Billie's initial reaction

Bill Simons as Henry

Henry reacts

Henry has a plan--

Dori Appel's Bon Voyage treats three sisters, retired teachers Dottie and Lottie, and their younger sister Scotty, as they prepare to go on a cruise. Veteran Columbus performers Sarah Worthington and Linda Dorff were Dottie and Lottie, while recent Ohio State MFA performer Robin Post, who now heads Ohio State's outreach performance group, was Scotty. Sarah has been active in Senior Theatre in Columbus for over twenty years, having founded her own troupe, Footsteps of the Elders. Linda, a member of Actors Equity, has played roles ranging from Madame Armfeld in A Little Night Music to Fonsia in The Gin Game, Ma Joad in Tobacco Road, and a zany singing detective in Something's Afoot, among many, many others. Robin played many leads on Ohio State stages; her troupe currently does role playing and presents performances that dramatize ethical and professional choices for students in the medical and engineering programs (among others) on the Ohio State campus.

Here are the three sisters: from left to right: Sarah Worthington as Dottie, Linda Dorff as Lottie, Robin Post as Scotty

Sarah Worthington as Dottie

Dottie is worried

Linda Dorff as Lottie

Lottie reacts

Robin Post as Scotty

Scotty smiles

all photos by Ann Alaia Woods

For Unto Us returns!

2007-12-26T19:19:00.001-08:00

Response was so positive to the reading of James McLindon's For Unto Us that a repeat reading has been scheduled for Sunday, January 20th, at 3:00 p.m., again in the New Works Lab at Ohio State University's Drake Performance and Event Center. The reading was requested by Dignity, the GLBTQ Catholic group, although all will be welcome. Most of the original actors will be repeating their roles, but since Tory Matsos is already committed that day, Doreen Salkiewicz will be the pregnant young woman disrupting the settled events of the household.

Join us on Sunday, January 20th, New Works Lab, Drake Performance and Event Center, 1840 Cannon Drive on the Ohio State University campus, just south of the Ohio Stadium. Free parking for this event in the lot across the street from the Drake Center, between the twin towers.

More readings coming in January and the rest of the winter and early spring, from the Limbo Project, and more from the Heckart Competition. For the Limbo Project schedule, go to http://limboplays.blogspot.com; more about the Heckart plays here--

James McLindon's FOR UNTO US

2007-10-30T20:36:00.001-07:00

For Unto Us by Massachusetts playwright James McLindon, is the winner of this year's Eileen Heckart Drama for Seniors Competition (full length category). It will be given a staged reading on Thursday, November 29th, at Ohio State University's Drake Performance and Event Center, 1849 Cannon Drive, Columbus, Ohio, at 7:30 p.m. in the New Works Lab.

Veteran Columbus actors Ira "Bill" Simons and Robert Monaghan will read two elderly friends, one a blind retired priest, while Joy Reilly, part of the Howling at the Moon ensemble, founder of Grandparents Living Theatre, and my colleague in Ohio State's Theatre and Aging program, reads the non-priest's daughter, a rigidly conservative Catholic. Tory Matsos, who appeared in our reading last year of Emily Mann's Meshuggah!, will read the pregnant daughter/granddaughter, joined by OSU Theatre undergraduate Kyle Jepson as her lesbian partner in this comedy-drama about changes roiling the Catholic Church as the faithful wrestle with parish closings, priestly indiscretions costing millions of dollars in damages, and parishioners defecting from increasingly conservative rulings on social matters from the new, deeply conservative, pope in Rome clearly at odds with many American Catholics' views.

James McLindon will have six plays in production in the coming year; he recently resigned from a law practice in order to devote full time to playwriting.

The winners and finalists from the 2007 Heckart Competition will all be read during the next few months. Following the reading of McLindon's winner play, the schedule is:

1/12/08 winners Gallery 2002, 38 N State St, Westerville, OH 43081
Billie and Henry, by Harriett Weiss, Palm Springs, CA ten minute winner
Song of the Magpie, by Martha Boesing, Oakland, CA one act winner

2/7/08 First runner up New Works Lab, Drake Performance and Event Center
Theodicy, by Judy Juanita, Oakland, CA, full-length

2/27/08 First runners up New Works Lab, Drake Performance and Event Center
Lunch Boat, by Justin Warner, Jackson Heights, NY ten minute
Pitching the Good Game, by Jay D. Hanagan, Geneva, NY one act

4/19/08 Second runner up: Gallery 2002, 38 N State St, Westerville, OH 43081
Still-Life With Dog, by Bonnie Rozanksi, Lawrenceville, NJ

4/24/08 Second runners up: New Works Lab, Drake Performance and Event Center
Rosa’s Lament, by Sandra Dempsey, Toronto, ON ten minute
Bon Voyage, by Dori Appel, Ashland, OR one act

Vicki Cheatwood's play read at retreat

2007-08-26T23:39:00.001-07:00

John Kuhn as Cooper, Cate Blair-Wilhelm as Midge, and Tatyana Yassenov as The Fish, listen to comments after reading Vicki Cheatwood's The Last Time Cooper Took Midge Fishing at the International Centre for Women Playwrights' Annual Retreat at Ohio State's Drake Center in July, 2007.

Enthusiastic audience for readings!

2007-05-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

An enthusiastic audience of about 25 people crowded the New Works Lab at Ohio State's Drake Performance and Event Center for the readings of four plays at the end of April. The space worked well, as the audience responded with laughter and applause to Shirley Barrie's Audience, Elaine Jarvik's Dead Right, Gerry Sanseviero's Matinee Lunch, and Katherine Burkman's Geraldine and Jacob. The OSU reading of Vicki Cheatwood's The Last Time Cooper Took Midge Fishing will take place this summer, and we'll be scheduling readings of the winning plays from the Eileen Heckart Drama for Seniors Competition for this summer as well--with any luck, sometime in July!

Four Plays to be read 4/29

2007-04-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

It turns out that two of the three actors in Vicki Cheatwood's play, The Last Time Cooper Took Midge Fishing, are not available on the 29th. Therefore, we'll only read the four other plays--and do a staged reading of Vicki's play later in the summer.

Date set for readings!

2007-03-20T19:01:00.000-07:00

The readings of the five plays by women playwrights to celebrate International Women's Day will be repeated on Sunday, April 29th, in the New Works Lab at Ohio State's Drake Performance and Event Center, at 7:00 p.m. The readings will be free.

There will also be a reading of Alan Woods's new short Shakespearean sequel, Twentieth Night, which takes place eighteen years after the events recorded in Twelfth Night, as a benefit for Stonewall Columbus on Saturday, May 19th. Stonewall Columbus Executive Director Karla Rothan (also OSU alum) and her partner Linda Schuler will read Viola and Olivia. Alan's short Shakespearean prequel, Downstairs at Elsinore, will be produced in June by the Pointed Remarques Classical Theatre Company in Colorado as part of their Fields of Honor Festival; it was chosen after a national competition. More details at http://www.pointedremarques.org/POINTEDREMARQUESNews.htm

We're Going to Do Them Again!

2007-03-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

Response to the readings of five short pieces for International Women's Day has been so positive that we're going to do them again, this time at Ohio State University's Department of Theatre so that people on the campus can have a chance to see them. Watch this space for details!

International Women's Day Readings in Central Ohio

2007-03-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

photo by Renee Kropat
Gallery 202, Westerville, Ohio, attracts about 50 people for readings on March 8 of five short plays by women playwrights

Photo by Ann Alaia Woods

Cate Blair-Wilhelm and John Kuhn as the title characters in Vicki Caroline Cheatwood's The Last Time Cooper Took Midge Fishing

Tatyana Yassenov, as The Fish, joins Cooper and Midge Photo by Ann Alaia Woods

Ellen Nickles and Alan Woods in Dead Right, by Elaine Jarvik--a couple discover a friend's obituary, and it's not satisfactory

Photo by Renee Kropat

Photo by Ann Alaia Woods

Photosby Ann Alaia Woods

In Gerry Sanseviero's Matinee Lunch, Irene Braverman and Sarah Worthington are two sisters lunching before a Broadway show, with Mary Vade Bon Coeur as the waitress.

Cornelius Hubbard and Doreen Salkiewicz are a young married couple in Shirley Barrie's Audience, arguing over his fondness of avant-garde performance

Photo by Ann Alaia Woods

Katherine Burkman's Geraldine and Jacob, a tale of attraction between a gambler and slot machine, closed the evening, with David Fawcett as Jacob and Rhea Kavari as Geraldine

Photo by Ann Alaia Woods

Plays announced for International Women's Day reading March 8th!

2007-01-08T15:41:00.000-08:00

Five short plays by women writers will be featured to mark International Women’s Day, March 8, at Gallery 202 in Westerville . Organized by the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute of The Ohio State University, all the playwrights are represented in the Institute’s archives. Dr. Alan Woods, the Institute’s Director, Dr. Katherine Burkman, Emerita Professor of English at Ohio State, and Dr. Beth Kattelman, the Institute's Associate Curator, will co-direct the readings.

All four plays look at women and their relationships. Toronto playwright Shirley Barrie’s Audience explores the appeal of experimental theatre through a married couple’s relationship, while
photo copyright Dallas Morning News

Vicki Cheatwood from Garland , Texas , examines the end of a long-term relationship in her The Last Time Cooper Took Midge Fishing.

Salt Lake City writer Elaine Jarvik’s couple, in Dead Right, re-examine their marriage as the wife contemplates how she might be presented in her obituary. And Gerry Sanseviero,

a playwright from New York City , presents sisters coping with age while trying to get served before a Broadway matinee in Matinee Lunch.

Geraldine and Jacob, by Columbus' own Katherine Burkman,

is a tale of love in a
gambling hall on a cruise--passion, illicit love, and devotion between a slot machine and a gambler.

The free staged reading starts at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 8th, at Gallery 202, 38 N. State Street in Westerville . Marking International Women’s Day, the Columbus area reading is one of many staged readings taking place internationally and recognized by the International Center for Women Playwrights. International Women’s Day dates back to 1909, and has been celebrated on March 8th since 1919. It has been recognized by the United Nations as a key support for the UN Charter’s 1945 call for gender equality as a fundamental right.

For more information on the readings, contact the Lawrence and Lee Institute at 1/614/292-6614 or at http://library.osu.edu/sites/tri/. For additional information on Gallery 202 and its programs, see www.gallery202online.com or call 1/614-890-8202

To learn about the International Centre for Women Playwrights, visit http://www.netspace.org/~icwp/index.html

More information on Shirley Barrie at http://www3.sympatico.ca/sbarrie.kchubb/plays/index.htm
Check out http://home.earthlink.net/~vcc2112/data/index.htm for more on Vicki Cheatwood
Gerry Sanseviero's webpage is http://gerrysanseviero.com/

And it's a delight to announce that Sherry Kramer's When Something Wonderful Ends, read at Ohio State last June (see the first entry in this blog below) will be one of the major productions at the 2007 Humana Festival at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, perhaps the premiere festival for new plays in the United States! Congratulations to Sherry on this major recognition of her work!

International Women's Day date for next reading!

2006-12-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

Our next reading is set for March 8, 2007, which is International Women's Day. Katherine Burkman, Beth Kattelman, and Alan Woods will collaborate on readings from the International Center for Women Playwrights Archives at the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute. Watch this site for breaking news!

Exciting readings!

2006-12-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

Gallery 202 in Westerville provided a warm and inviting setting for our readings--and Renee Kropat, who runs the non-profit gallery, even provided wine, hot cider, and snacks!

Gallery 202 during the readings; photos by Nancy Gall-Clayton

Both Nancy Gall-Clayton's Levels of Living and Alan Woods's Who's Herbert? were received with rapt attention, laughter, and delighted applause.

Nancy Gall-Clayton and Alan Woods stand behind the cast if Nancy's Levels of Living: Ira "Bill" Simons as Bruno, a cranky attendant in Hades; Sarah Worthington as Gabriella, the angel; Beverly Brewton as Dako, who decides Hades is a better deal than Heaven. Photo by Ann Alaia Woods.

And below, the cast of Who's Herbert? with the author: Bill Simons, who insists he's Herbert; Sarah Worthington, as Wife #4--perhaps, who insists that he's Frank; Tatyana Yassenov, sure she's wife #2, and that Frank was her prom date in Massachusetts. Photo by Ann Alaia Woods

Much thanks to the performers, to Renee and the Gallery 202 folks, and to Nancy Gall-Clayton for making the four-hour drive from Louisville!

Levels of Living 12/6/06

2006-11-08T08:56:00.000-08:00

Levels of Living

by Nancy Gall-Clayton

Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006
7:00 p.m.
Gallery 202
38. N. State Street
Westerville, Ohio

Louisville playwright Nancy Gall-Clayton explores what happens when identity theft interferes with a woman's assignment for eternity--and the relative merits of spending eternity in Heaven, singing praises all the time, or having some peace and quiet in a cozy room (with a convenient hot spot) on the top level of The Other Place. Columbus performers Bev Brewton, Sarah Worthington, and Ira Simons will read Nancy's short play, a runner-up in the 2005 Eileen Heckart Drama for Seniors competition.

There's a short piece about the new series at Gallery 202 that our reading will help kick off--see

http://www.westervillemagazine.com/index.php?p=1&s=57&PHPSESSID=9b7c0295b3ba

Nancy Gall-Clayton at work during the 2005 International Center for Women Playwrights Retreat at Ohio State.

As always, call the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute at 614/292-6614 for additional information.

And much more about Nancy and her work at http://www.nancygallclayton.net/

The evening will also include a reading of Alan Woods's new short play, Who's Herbert?, first performed at the Senior Theatre League of America conference in St. Louis in October. Reading will be Sarah Worthington, Tatyana Yassenov, and Ira Simons.

Meshugah by Emily Mann November 5th

2006-09-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

The reading, and Emily Mann's talk, all went extremely well--enormously positive response from the 100 or so folks in attendance at the reading, powerful performances (several audience members in tears by the end). A quite wonderful evening. Our thanks to the performers, to Alive newspaper's theatre critic Jay Weitz for moderating the post-reading discussion (which ended far too soon), and, especially, to Emily Mann for her whole-hearted and thoroughly involved participation.

Meshugah, Emily Mann's adaptation of the novel

by Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer

will be presented in a staged reading on Sunday, November 5th, as part of the first step towards establishing "Beyond the Borscht Belt, A Jewish Theatre Festival" in Columbus, as a cooperative presentation of the Ohio State University Hillel Foundation, The Ohio State University Department of Theatre and the Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, with support from the Leventhal Fund and the Jewish Arts Endowment of the Columbus Jewish Foundation.
Emily Mann, Artistic Director of the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, will be in attendance.

THE STORY: Set in the 1950s on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, MESHUGAH is a tragicomic portrait of a community of recent Jewish émigrés living in the wake of the Holocaust. When Aaron Greidinger, a struggling novelist and advice columnist, falls in love with the beautiful mistress of a friend from his Warsaw past, dark secrets and bizarre twists threaten to break up the unusual romance. Emily Mann brings to swirling theatrical life Singer’s poignant love story of lost souls in a world gone meshugah.

Schedule:

4:30 p.m.: Schmooze with Emily Mann

Roy Bowen Theatre, Drake Performance and Event Center, 1849 Cannon Drive, Ohio State University Campus

7:30 p.m.: Meshugah reading

OSU Hillel Foundation, 46 E. 16th Ave.

Cast:

Aaron Greidinger: Jimmy Bohr
Max: Joe Cofer
Miriam: Victoria Patten
Priva: Ann Mirels
Stanley: Kal Poole
Woman Who Tells: Irene Braverman
Waiter: Bruno Lovric

In addition to the staged reading of Meshugah, there will also be screenings of films by and about Emily Mann's work:

Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years --a filmed version of Mann's play about the Delany Sisters of New York Thursday, October 26th at 7:30 p.m., Hillel Foundation

Greensboro: A Public Dialogue Documentary about Mann’s play, Greensboro: A Requiem, produced by New Jersey Public Television. Tuesday, October 31st: 7:30 p.m. Hillel Foundation

for additional information, beyondborscht@yahoo.com

and coming in December at Gallery 202 in Westerville: Nancy Gall-Clayton's Levels of Living --ever think that Heaven might be a bit boring? That's the subject of Louisville playwright Nancy Gall-Clayton's new one act. Details forthcoming--

'Til the Fat Lady Sings by Carolyn Gage and Andrea Jill Higgins 8/19

2006-06-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

'Til the Fat Lady Sings, a one act operetta with book by Carolyn Gage, music by Richard Wagner, Giacomo Puccini, Christoph Willibald von Gluck, and Andrea Jill Higgins and lyrics by Richard Wagner, Carolyn Gage, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica, and Raniere Calzabigi, will be given a reading on Saturday, August 19, 2006, in the Roy Bowen Theatre at the Drake Performance and Event Center. Curtain is at 8:00 p.m. Public welcome to this free reading.

The operetta, which is part of the International Center for Women Playwrights Archives at the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, will be directed by Christopher Purdy, music director of WOSU-FM, Central Ohio's classical music station, and performed by Tamara Regensburger as Sara and Crystal Stabenow as Gillian. Patricia Ake will read the nurse.

We're delighted that both Carolyn Gage and Andrea Jill Higgins will be present for the reading, attending the Third Annual International Center for Women Playwrights Retreat. More information about the retreat is at http://icwpohioretreat.blogspot.com/. A plot synopsis, provided by Carolyn Gage (who lives in Maine), follows:

Sara, a young woman in her early 30’s, lies in a hospital bed, waiting to be taken down to surgery for a gastric bypass operation. Sara is convinced that, without the surgery, she will never be able to realize her ambition to become a professional opera singer. Her years of training and graduate school will have been wasted.

Tamara Regensburger will read Sara

Sara’s partner, Gillian, is opposed to the surgery, and when she shows up in the hospital room, an argument ensues. Realizing that their conflict is causing Sara distress, Gillian apologizes and asks Sara to sing “Vissi d’arte,” a favorite aria by Puccini. When a nurse arrives to administer a sedative, however, Gillian renews her opposition and exits.

Under sedation, Sara experiences a series of dreams which incorporate elements of well-known operas with concerns about the impending surgery and her experiences with fat oppression. The dream sequences include a comic interlude as a Rheinemaiden, an encounter with the “Ghost of Callas Past,” a confusion between Madame Butterfly’s hari-kari and gastric bypass surgery, and a scene from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice in which Gillian plays the tormented troubadour on a mission to retrieve his love from the Underworld ― a mission which must be achieved without turning and looking back at her.

At this point, Sara wakes up, but she is still confused by the drugs. Mistaking Gillian for Orfeo, she insists that Gillian not look at her, because that is the only way to lead her out of hell. Gillian expresses a concern that perhaps Sara’s immersion in operas that reflect morbid male fantasies might be coloring Sara’s perceptions. She points out that what is making life hell for Sara is not the way she sees Sara, but the way other people see her. She challenges Sara to give a voice to her body, instead of trying to give a body to her voice.

Crystal Stabenow will read Gillian

Sara considers the suggestion and the play ends with her singing the aria, “This Body Is My Song,” a radical love song between a diva and her body.

Carolyn Gage, the playwright

Carolyn Gage is a lesbian-feminist playwright, performer, director, and activist. The author of four books on lesbian theatre and forty-seven plays, musicals, and one-woman shows, she specializes in non-traditional roles for women, especially those reclaiming famous lesbians whose stories have been distorted or erased from history. More about Carolyn and her work at http://www.carolyngage.com/

Andrea Jill Higgins, the composer

Andrea Jill Higgins received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Composition from Mills College, Oakland, California, earned a Master of Music degree in Music Theatre Direction from Arizona State University, and has been involved as composer, conductor, music director or accompanist in more than 120 stage productions. Andrea presently is the Music Director and Composer-in-Residence of Temple Solel Synagogue in Paradise Valley, AZ.

The reading is free and open to the public. Free parking is available in the lot across Cannon Drive from the Drake Center (the lot between the towers) on weekends, and in the lot on the west side of the Ohio Stadium, a short walk to the Drake. The reading is the culmination of the third annual retreat for members of the International Center for Women Playwrights (see http://www.netspace.org/~icwp/ for more information about the ICWP). For additional information about the reading, contact the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute at 614/292-6614, or the Institute's director, Alan Woods, at woods.1@osu.edu.

When Something Wonderful Ends--June 18, 2006

2006-06-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

News of Sherry Kramer's When Something Wonderful Ends, which was read on Sunday, June 18th, will start this blog--which serves to publicize free readings of new plays at Ohio State, usually by playwrights whose work is archived in the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute.

It's appropriate to hold such readings at the Lawrence and Lee Institute, since both playwriting partners--authors of Inherit the Wind, Auntie Mame and its musical adaptation Mame, and The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, among many other plays, supported young playwrights throughout their long careers. Much more about these distinguished playwrights at the Institute's website, http://library.osu.edu/sites/tri/

Sherry Kramer's When Something Wonderful Ends, a play for one woman and one Barbie, masterfully combines the history and impact of American consumerism and American oil policies in the Middle East through the life of a woman, packing up her Barbie dolls and their outfits, for sale on ebay as she's closing out her parents' house four years after her mother's death; her father is now moving to assisted living. It was performed by veteran central Ohio community theatre performer Barbara Butler; bios of both playwright and performer are below.

Our next reading will be Carolyn Gage's operatic one act play, 'Til the Fat Lady Sings, which will be read on Saturday, August 19th by Tamara Regensburger and Cyrstal Stabenow of OSU Opera, directed by WOSU-FM's Christopher C. Purdy. More about that later. Here's information on Sherry Kramer and Barbara Butler.

Sherry Kramer

Sherry Kramer's work has been seen at theatres across America, including The Yale Repertory Theatre, Soho Rep, Ensemble Studio Theater, New York's Second Stage, Woolly Mammoth, The Theatre of the First Amendment, Seattle's Annex Theatre, Frontera at Hyde Park, Mixed Blood, and The Signature Theater in Arlington, VA. She is a recipient of N E A, New York Foundation for the Arts and McKnight Fellowships, the Weissberger Playwriting Award; a New York Drama League Award, and the Marvin Taylor Award (for WHAT A MAN WEIGHS), the L A Women in Theater New Play Award (for THE WALL OF WATER), and the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award (for DAVID'S REDHAIRED DEATH, which was produced by Ohio State’s Department of Theatre in the 2004-2005 season). Her other plays include THE RULING PASSION, PARTIAL OBJECTS, THE WORLD AT ABSOLUTE ZERO, ABOUT SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION, NANO AND NICKI IN BOCA RATON, THE RELEASE OF A LIVE PERFORMANCE, THE LAW MAKES EVENING FALL, and a music/theater adaptation of Bulgakov's THE MASTER AND MARGARITA with composer Margaret Pine. WHEN SOMETHING WONDERFUL ENDS will be produced in April, 2007, by the Playwrights Theatre in Madison, New Jersey.

Barbara Butler

Barbara Butler has appeared in numerous roles with the Dublin Senior Players over the past several years, including Kitty in DINNER AT EIGHT and Mrs. Melcher in WELCOME TO ACCEPTANCE. She has enjoyed a lengthy career as a choreographer, and studied with a pupil of famed modern dance giant Martha Graham. Barbara is an active volunteer at the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute, and serves on Ohio State’s Program 60 Board of Trustees.