Member Spotlight: Eliza Wyatt
Eliza Wyatt by Eliza Wyatt

This is a stop-gap Spotlight because it’s sometimes difficult to reach playwrights in other regions.

I consider myself an American playwright, formed by the women’s movement and Boston and Brandeis Universities, but I’ve ‘lived’ in three different cultures. I was born in England but was part of the Boston theatre scene for twenty five years but the majority of my plays are influenced by my Iranian marriage and my feminist protest. I wrote Mirror Images at the request of my fellow playwright, Geralyn Horton, at our Playwrights’ Platform meetings in Boston. This play is about the imposition of the veil on a group of women whose culture is unspecified. It was staged in Bilekent University, Ankara and subsequently banned. It is the only play of mine to be censured.

My five Hitler based plays represent an obsession that was probably the result of growing up in post-war Britain. I remember bomb sites and sugar rationing and how people would cringe every time a plane few overhead. My childhood experiences are now the subject of my only novel, Back From The Edge.

My American play, The Competitive Spirit, takes a critical look at an overly competitive (Boston) society. A shorter version of that play called Chronic Competition was also directed by Geralyn Horton. Techno Frantic Love, which foreshadows Google Glasses, also takes place in a Boston high-rise and is a look at our passionate love affair with technology.

I’ve been lucky in that women have championed me, Helen Warren Meyer and Lucille Lortel among others and most of my plays have been produced. I’m a proud to be a long time member of ICWP and now a board member. I’ve uploaded plays on the New Play Exchange and urge others to do the same. I’m a member of the Dramatist Guild.

I also write for Words Across Time, which is a web-site e-zine for lovers of the written word. I invite ICWP members to write book reviews for this worthy site. The book can be written at any place and at any time in our global history.

www.elizawyattplays.com

Welcome New Members

Deloris Akins

Pernille Dahl Johnsen: Playwright / Director / ActorArtistic Director of Johnsen & Johnsen Produksjoner.

• A Remarkable Person is her 4th play, and the first ever to be granted its own appendix (11 pages) in the yearly magazine of The National Centre for New Playwriting.
• Recipient, Work Grant, Government Grants for Artists
  BA in Philosophy and Political Science.
• A method actor with a 3-year education from The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, Los Angeles.
• Has worked for numerous public and private theatres in Norway, in addition to her productions in Johnsen & Johnsen.
• Member of Norwegian Actors' Equity Association and Writers’ Guild of Norway

Jessica Atwooki Kaahwa is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Departments of Performing Arts and Film at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. Dr. Kaahwa has been the architect of a number of national initiatives that have sought to use theatre and media as a constructive force in conflict settings and for health improvement. She has and continues to experiment with theories that expand the discourse on theatre applications. A good example is her recent experimentation with “Theatre for Personal Meaning” and “Theatre for Conflict Analysis.” She continues to work on integrating “Processes Theory” into mainstream Applied Theatre practice. Dr. Kaahwa is also an accomplished director with a number of stage productions to her credit.

Rosa Soy

Theresa Yuschok

Cynthia Wands, USA

My play The Lost Years received it's world premiere production in April 2017, at the Contra Costa Civic Theater, directed by Marilyn Langbehn.

I am currently working on a new script, The Hoarding House and hope to have a workshop reading in August 2017.

I am looking to create language-based plays which explore the mystic and historic elements of our consciousness. I worked for many years as a stage actress in San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angeles, and had the opportunity to work with some extraordinary theatre artists. My work included plays produced at the Magic Theatre, San Francisco Rep, Celebration Theatre, and the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival. My exposure to the plays and playwrights gave me an appreciation for magical realism, and my writing explores the connection between the natural and unknown. I have studied playwright structure with Dakota Powell at UCLA, Murray Mednick at the Padua Playwrights Workshop, Leon Martell at UCLA, and with Jack Grapes in his Method Writing classes. I am currently a member of WORDS THAT SPEAK, a playwrights group in Los Angeles, California. I have developed scripts at the Ohio State University retreat for playwrights with the ICWP (International Center for Women’s Playwrights). The Dramatist Guild hosted a reading of my script The Lost Years in November 2007 for Footlight Series in Los Angeles. The Botanicum Seedlings project has also read my scripts at the Theatricum Botanicum Green Reads series. I am a member of The Dramatist Guild, ALAP (Alliance for Los Angeles Playwrights), LAFPI (Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative) and ICWP (International Centre for Women Playwrights). My theatre works include Day of The Dead, The Lost Years, Emily, and The American Woman.

50/50 Update

The 50/50 Applause Award has been extended to July 10, allowing forv acations and questions about new criteria This year, we have changed some of the criteria to reflect not only equality in women's and men's productions and number of performances, but also to ensure multiple female playwrights in theatre productions. We have expanded our reach to other countries--by searching theatre lists throughout the world.  We are evaluating how many repeat award recipients have not met the criteria and why. This year, so far, more theatres are nominating themselves, and are interested in maintaining the 50/50 criteria. Many have heard about the awards through our members, social media,and the press releases. France is running at a 25% women, 75% men ratio right now.

We'll have a fuller report after we conclude the awards and analyze our research results.

Still time to nominate!

Now Playing & Coming Soon

If you have a play or a reading between August 1 – August 31, please email Amy  (amydrake1018@aol.com) before July 15 and it will be featured in the NOW PLAYING column of the August newsletter.  Any play or reading  in September will appear in the COMING SOON column.

Listen! The River by Robin Rice s a (true) story about love, loss and hope. It will be produced for two nights only by Articulate Theatre Company. July 6 and 8. New York, New York, USA
http://www.articulatetheatre.com/listen-the-river.html

God Bless Phyllis Schlafly by Amy Grant is a 10-minute play examining the women’s movement in America. July 15 & 16, 2017, MITF Short Play Lab, The Workshop Jewel Box Theater.  312 W 36^th St., New York, New York, USA
http://www.midtownfestival.org

I’m wearing my own clothes! by Nancy Gall-Clayton will be performed July 15, 16, 20, and 23, by Looking for Lilith Theatre Company, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
http://lookingforlilith.org/unheardoutloud/

The Mess by Catherine Frid is a 10-minute play for two female actors that explores memory and forgetting, and the importance of reaching out across generations to transcend barriers and secrets. It will be presented as part of the NewMarket National Play Festival, July 22 - 23, 2017, NewMarket, Ontario, CANADA
https://www.nationalplayfestival.ca/

Plays by Carolyn Gage

     Harriet Tubman Visits a Therapist, First Congregational Church, Soul Rebel Performance Troupe, July 14-16, Albany, New York, USA

     Lace Curtain Irish, Buxton Fringe Festival,featuring Joanne Lavelle. Dates and venues TBA. Buxton, Derbyshire, UK
     http://www.buxtonfringe.org.uk

     At Sea, Fresh Fruit Festival, directed by Kathe Mull, July (TBA) New York,  New York, USA
    http://www.freshfruitfestival.com/

     Babe! An Olympian Musical, A concert/reading, National Women’s Music Festival, the NWMF Chorus and a pit orchestra! July 6-9, Madison, Wisconsin,USA
     http://www.wiaonline.org/

     The Obligatory Scene, Fresh Fruit Festival, directed by Kathe Mull, New York, New York, USA
     http://www.freshfruitfestival.com/

Maxine, And. by Lynne S. Brandon, part of the Athena Reads monthly play reading series. Athena Theatre Company, June 29, New York, New York, USA
http://www.athenatheatre.com/athena-reads

In the Restroom at Rosenblooms by Ludmilla Bollow will be presented on Fridays this July at Mosely Arts Center, Lake City Colorado, USA

Women without Walls by Robin Rice, Small but Mighty Productions, August 2-6, Toronto, CANADA

Articles of Interest

The Articles of Interest column is now housed right here in the News Area of the website.

The section will be curated by Karin Williams assisted by volunteers

Lillian Caldwell
Lori Marra
Eleanor Oberio (Sept 1 - Nov 1)
Debbie Tan
Naijeria Toweett

Thank you for all your hard work.

Yours for innovative, engaging and equitable theater,

Mona Curtis
Newsletter Editor