Member Productions

Catherine Frid's play about youth anxiety for grades 7 - 10 is receiving a school tour by Mixed Company Theatre in Toronto.

Half Full

Joshua is a joker. He messes with his friend's social media postings, teases Saffy, the girl he likes, and keeps a reality check on his anxiety. But when his mother gets a disturbing phone call about work, things start to change. Now Josh's anxiety (Anx) twists events to keep him off-kilter. As Anx spins out of control, Josh knows he can't talk to his 'helicopter' mother. How can he regain control of his life?

Shirley King's plays have been performed in the US, the UK, Korea and Canada. Seventeen of her plays and monologues were selected for productions/readings in 2016. Fourteen of her plays/monologues have been selected in 2017. Shirley is a member of The International Centre for Women Playwrights and The Dramatists Guild.

Oxnard College Performing Arts Center; 4000 S. Rose Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. For info: 805-6785800 x 1951; FREE and open to the Public. Silent Witnesses is an award-winning solo play, based on interviews with child survivors of the Holocaust, written and performed by Stephanie Satie and directed by Anita Khanzadian.

My monologue, Common as a Loaf of Bread, which is one of thirteen pieces that make up my full-length play The Missouri Cycle, will be read as part of Diversionary Theatre's WordPlay Tuesday series. 4545 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 8 pm, admission is free.

My ten-minute piece A Grave Situation, one of the thirteen pieces that make up The Missouri Cycle, will be performed as part of SWAN Day, Athena Cats New Works Festival, in Santa Monica, California at City Garage, Bergamot Station Arts Center, Building T1, 2525 Michigan Ave. Performances at 1 and 3 PM. Admission is Free.

THE ELEPHANT GIRLS

written & performed by 

Margo MacDonald

From sold-out runs in Canada and a successful month-long run at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, this multi-award winning show will premiere in London, England this April.

Draper Hall
Newington Butts (entrance corner of Hampton Street) 
London 
SE1 6TL United Kingdom

April 6-8, 13-15, 20-22 at 19:30

Tickets £9-13 -- https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-elephant-girls-london-premiere-tickets-31896138208

“Without doubt, they were the most notorious girl gang Britain’s ever seen.”

(Brian McDonald, The Gangs of London)

Clever, organized, devious & daring; The Elephant Girls stole from the rich and gave to themselves. This is the gripping story of the all-female gang that terrorized London for over 100 years. A fascinating piece of lost women's history, only recently brought to light, the play focuses on the 1920s when the gang was at the height of its power—and when the events took place which would come to mean its downfall.

“Right here, right now, for one night only, I’ll tell you something special I ain’t never 

told no one before; I’ll tell you the truth.” – Maggie Hale, The Elephant Girls

Maggie Hale — the gang's suit-wearing, bloody-knuckled, girl-chasing “enforcer”— will tell you all. Who they were, what they did, how they got away with it, and how it all came crashing down. But should you trust the words of someone who’s made deception her stock-in-trade? Just how much are you sure you want to hear?

Wrapping issues of power, class, gender, and the nature of violence around the story of Maggie Hale, the show uses history to grapple with issues our society still struggles with today.

A gripping, psychological insight into gang life…The Elephant Girls evolves into a deeply psychological struggle between truth and fiction, as Maggie wrestles with the dangerous passion that bubbles beneath her carefully constructed bravado. Complex, subtle, and often deeply uncomfortable, this battle is fascinating to watch. —Jordan Shaw, The List

The production has won multiple awards in Canada (Outstanding Overall, Critics’ Pick for Best Shows, Ottawa Fringe Festival; Outstanding New Work, Outstanding Direction, and Outstanding Performance, Les Prix Rideau Awards; Best Actress, Capital Critics’ Circle), sold out shows (100% Sold Out, Ottawa Fringe; 100% Sold Out Winnipeg Fringe), and rave reviews. Picked up from last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the moves on from it's London run to the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival (May 8-13). After the run in Dublin, the show will play for a week at the Brighton Fringe Festival (May 20-26).

The Elephant Girls
by Parry Riposte Productions

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Margo MacDonald
parryriposteproductions@gmail.com        www.parryriposte.ca

**** “MacDonald captivates” —Broadway Baby

**** “…brilliantly written and exceptionally performed”—Fringe Guru

***** “Stampede—do not walk—to The Elephant Girls… a ferocious, charismatically intense performance.”—CBC Manitoba

***** “…violence, depravation and intensely steamy sexual experience…utterly entrancing…”—Winnipeg Free Press

Launch of a humorous two minute film protesting the environment

starring Andy Boughtflower, written by me, directed by Michele D'Acosta.

Honorable Award from The Experimental Forum in Los Angeles and featured in the Culver City Film Festival December 2016

Performance will be held at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church; 1643 Churchville Rd.; Bel Air, MD 21015

For info: 410-734-4370 or www.mzprays.org/events  or Eventbrite

Silent Witnesses is an award-winning solo play, based on interviews with child survivors of the Holocaust, written and performed by Stephanie Satie and directed by Anita Khanzadian.

The School of Humanities at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana will present a Staged Reading of Nawal El Saadawi's novel, WOMAN AT POINT ZERO adapted for the stage by Carolyn Nur Wistrand, for Women's History Month on Friday, March 31, 2017 at 2:00 P.M. in Cook Theatre on the Dillard University Campus. This event is free and open to the public. 

HOUSTON – Mildred’s Umbrella Theatre Company continues its 2016-2017 season with the world premiere of A HEROINE FREE SUMMER by local poet, playwright and University of St. Thomas English professor Dr. Janet Lowery. Directed by Chesley Krohn, the play centers on four sisters as they relive memories, address past traumas and learn to heal.

Set amidst a family vacation at an idyllic lake house in upstate New York, A HEROINE FREE SUMMER examines what happens when a family becomes divided – the result of two teenage sons confessing to drug use. As the adult sisters struggle to determine where their allegiances lie, one must decide whether to save the clan or let it fracture, a decision with epic consequences in this explosive new drama.

“After hosting a reading of the play’s initial draft in 2015, we embarked on a journey with Dr. Lowery and Chesley to bring the full production to our stage,” said Artistic Director Jennifer Decker. “We’re excited to premiere this powerful work about family, addiction, and healing and so happy to be working with Dr. Lowery, who taught many of our company members – including myself and our board chair – while we attended the University of St. Thomas. It’s like bringing a family back together.”

Chesley Krohn, who has been selected to direct the production, had this to say, “Janet Lowery has written an engaging and thought provoking play about four sisters at their annual lakehouse retreat. We are moved to both laughter and tears as the characters wrestle over sweeping space, spoons (yes, spoons), and who gets to steer. But, as with all families, this one also has its secrets and denials, specifically a history of addiction. Lowery's characters battle over two teenage nephews, who, like far too many youth, have fallen victim to drug abuse. It is a battle that will require honesty, forgiveness, and compassion from all concerned.”

A faculty member at the University of St. Thomas for more than 20 years, Dr. Lowery’s poetry has been published in numerous anthologies and literary reviews such as Endless Mountains Review, Poetry East, Greensboro Review, Concho River Review, Fideles, Pennsylvania English, 13th Moon, and elsewhere. Her collection of poetry based on women from Greek mythology called Traffic in Women was published in 2008 by Odonata House; the trilogy of plays TRAFFIC IN WOMEN I, II, III—Educating Athena, A Grief Group in the Underworld; and A Retrial of the Danaids, respectively, was produced 2006-2008 on the University of St. Thomas campus. She recently completed a manuscript of translations from the Spanish of Miguel de Unamuno.

A HEROINE FREE SUMMER runs March 30 through April 15, 2017, at Studio 101 at Spring Street Studios, in the heart of the Washington Avenue Arts District. Tickets are on sale now at www.mildredsumbrella.com. For more information, call 832-463-0409 or e-mail info@mildredsumbrella.com.

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A HEROINE FREE SUMMER BY JANET LOWERY (MARCH 30 – APRIL 15, 2017)

Directed by: Chesley Krohn

Where: STUDIO 101 – 1824 Spring Street, Houston, TX 77007

When: March 30-April 1, April 6-8, and April 13-15 at 8 pm
Matinee on April 9 at 3 p.m.

Pay-What-You-Can night on April 10 at 8 p.m.

Cost: Regular admission: $25; Students, Seniors & Arts Industry: $15; Group rate: $15/ticket