Rorschach Theatre proudly declares the three performs chosen for growth by way of its 2023 MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES New Play Lab: AMERICAN DREAM by Trish Cole; EVEN WHEN THE WORLD BURNS I AM STILL WITH YOU by Elizabeth Shannon; and HUMAN MUSEUM by Miyoko Conley.
Every play can have a public staged studying, together with a designer’s presentation of a theoretical design and a post-show dialogue with the playwright, director, and performers. The staged readings return to the Atlas Performing Arts Heart for the primary time since 2019, and happen on the set of Rorschach’s upcoming manufacturing, SOMETIMES THE RAIN, SOMETIMES THE SEA, which itself was workshopped in 2022’s MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES.
Launched in 2018, MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES develops new performs that make the most of magic realism or in any other case current “unimaginable” theater. Rorschach assembles a crew of trade professionals to learn over 100 performs collected from a nationwide name and choose three playwrights – one in every of whom is at all times from the DC space – for an intensive on-line and in-person workshop course of and staged studying.
AMERICAN DREAM
By Trish Cole
Directed by Rebecca Rovezzi
April 1, 2023 @ 2:30PM
In AMERICAN DREAM, 5 highschool cheerleaders try and navigate purity and over-sexualization as Adam and Eve revisit their origin story and Joan of Arc battles not solely the English, however the highschool principal, gender roles, and rape tradition. On the intersection of those tales is Bubbe, an intergalactic prophet and Jewish grandmother, traversing time and area to weave the narratives collectively, revealing the connections amongst generations and generations of girls, together with the ladies in her family who left Odessa for America in hopes of discovering their very own Backyard of Paradise…or, the American Dream.
Playwright Trish Cole says: “Playwriting is solitary, and I like it, residing in my head, listening to the voices, imagining metaphorical worlds. But I additionally love what comes after the script. The artistic collaboration. I wish to hear my voice and see my imaginative and prescient come to life by way of the collective artistic course of, by way of the theater experience Rorschach is providing …. Via this workshop, I hope to see how expansive, how massive and untethered, I can go along with my writing and my concepts.”
The AMERICAN DREAM crew consists of director Rebecca Rovezzi, who directed DRACULA: A FEMINIST REVENGE FANTASY for Rorschach final fall; dramaturg Liv Wilson; and a designer to be introduced, who will be part of the dialog and current a theoretical design for Cole’s expansive, time-bending epic. The forged consists of Gretchen Weigel Doughty, Jessica Ludd, Jen Rabbit Ring, Dylan Arrendondo, Mira Klein, Rachel Johns, Lisette Gabrielle, Julia Marks, Matt Clyne, Fatime Dyfan, Andrew Quilpa, and Maryanne Henderson.
Concerning the Playwright
TRISH COLE is a playwright whose work typically explores the intersections of social assemble, gender, identification, resistance, and resiliency. Her performs have been produced in New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Asheville, and regionally in Maryland. Trish is a Samuel French finalist, a Bakeless Literary Prize finalist, and is the recipient of three Maryland Group Theatre Competition Affiliation script awards, together with the 2023 Excellent Achievement in Playwriting. Trish earned her M.A. in Sociocultural Feminist Criticism from the College of Northern Colorado and a post-graduate certification in Library Media from the Notre Dame of Maryland College. Trish lives in Southern Maryland the place she works as a public high-school librarian.
EVEN WHEN THE WORLD BURNS, I AM STILL WITH YOU
By Elizabeth Shannon
Directed by Madeleine Regina
April 2, 2023 @ 2:30PM
A play with poetry intertwined, EVEN WHEN THE WORLD BURNS I AM STILL WITH YOU tells the tragic love story of Freja and Noor, two excessive schoolers from wildly completely different backgrounds and life outlooks who meet and fall in love. As they battle to beat obstacles of their relationship and psychological well being points, the local weather change and forest fires in Paradise, CA threaten to destroy their lives.
Playwright Elizabeth Shannon says: “I’m excited to proceed to work on a play coping with the difficulty of local weather change and local weather nervousness. The world has modified a lot since I first wrote this play and I’m excited to see the way it modifications in response to the world now. I can also’t wait to discover the combination of poetry and dialogue on this magical realist setting and see how the language interacts with the type of the piece.”
The crew consists of director Madeleine Regina, who directed in our artist growth program Klecksography in 2019; dramaturg Shana Laski; and a designer to be introduced, who will current a theoretical design that captures the darkness and romantic mild of Shannon’s play. The forged consists of Kate Kenworthy and Jolene Mafnas.
Concerning the Playwright
ELIZABETH SHANNON is an actor, playwright, and director. She is a sophomore at Marymount Manhattan School, working to acquire her BFA Performing and BA Writing for the Stage levels. Her play, WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?, which she co-wrote with Morgan Southwell, was a winner of Baltimore Centerstage’s Younger Playwright’s Competition, and a finalist in The Secret Theatre’s Act One: One Act Competition. Her play, NUCLEAR, was a winner of The Clean Theatre’s twenty eighth Annual Younger Playwrights Competition, acquired an honorable point out within the forty third Annual Marilyn Bianchi Children’ Playwriting Competition with Dobama Theatre, and was produced with The Trailblazers Collective. Her play, LOAD, was a winner of #Sufficient: Performs to Finish Gun Violence, a venture comprised of seven performs by younger girls addressing gun violence. Its world premiere was with South Coast Repertory and is revealed in an anthology with Playscripts. Her play, MAMA BUSHWICK IS DEAD, was a winner of The Clean Theatre’s twenty ninth Annual Younger Playwrights Competition, and had a year-long residency with Younger Playwrights Theatre in Washington, DC. Her play, HERE’S TO ALL THE BROKEN GIRLS was a winner of The Clean Theatre’s thirtieth Annual Younger Playwrights Competition.
HUMAN MUSEUM
By Miyoko Conley
Directed by Randy Baker
April 2, 2023 @ 7:30PM
HUMAN MUSEUM begins on the centenary of human extinction and follows three robots who run the Human Museum on Earth: the Director, who based the museum; 65, the curmudgeonly head of digital information; and 237, a delicate robotic who works with bodily artifacts. At first of the play, the robots are placing the ending touches on their largest exhibition but, about humanity’s ultimate days on Earth. Supply Bot, a curious robotic trying to find one thing extra in life, delivers a package deal to the museum and decides to remain till the exhibition’s opening. The group of robots then obtain a startling radio name that upends all the pieces they thought they knew in regards to the final days of humanity.
Playwright Miyoko Conley says: “I’m excited to proceed to refine the sci-fi world in my play, together with creating extra particular speech patterns for the robotic characters. In previous revisions, I’ve centered on tightening the flashback construction within the play, so this time round I’d prefer to give attention to clarifying sure conflicts. [Since] this would be the first in-person growth alternative this play has had, I’m wanting ahead to seeing how having the actors in the identical area will have an effect on my revisions.”
The crew consists of director Randy Baker, who together with Jenny McConnell Frederick is the co-Creative Director of Rorschach Theatre; dramaturg Divinia Shorter; and a designer to be introduced, who will be part of the dialog and current a theoretical design for Conley’s robot-run museum area. The forged consists of Karen Lange, Jordanna Hernandez, Ben Topa, Jennifer Knight, Sydney Dionne, and Christina Day.
Concerning the Playwright
MIYOKO CONLEY is an Asian American playwright, video games author, and scholar. Her performs have been introduced within the Bay Space and New York Metropolis, together with at UC Berkeley; UCLA; Second Era (2g); The Tank; The Wild Mission; and New York College. Works embrace HUMAN MUSEUM (developed on the 2021 Bay Space Playwrights Competition); STARSHIP DANCE PARTY (developed with the New Play Studying collection at UC Berkeley); END OF THE WORLD PLACE (2015 semi-finalist Bay Space Playwrights Competition); UNTITLED FANTASY (a part of 2g’s Jumpstart Commissions); and INTERCHANGEABLE PARTS (a part of 2g’s Free Vary Commissions). She has additionally acquired screenwriting commissions from the Oklahoma Metropolis College MFA Display screen Performing Program in Los Angeles. Miyoko holds a BFA in Theatre from New York College’s Tisch Faculty of the Arts, an MA from NYU’s Gallatin Faculty of Individualized Research in Playwriting and Japanese In style Tradition, and a PhD in Efficiency Research and New Media from the College of California, Berkeley. www.miyokoconley.com
About Rorschach Theatre
Via unusual makes use of of surroundings and intimate, passionate performances, Rorschach Theatre seeks to lure its audiences past the boundaries of extraordinary theatrical expertise in order that they could uncover new components of their very own humanity.
Rorschach Theatre tells tales that enable for modern design and visceral performances. The corporate treats productions as “installations” that encompass the viewers with the world of a play. Our work facilities on the intersection of magic or unimaginable moments and each day human expertise. With out proselytizing, it gives a fancy, mental catalyst for self-exploration of difficult topics.
Rorschach is an important launching pad for rising artists. By trusting early-career actors, administrators, playwrights and designers with substantive inventive obligations, and surrounding them with established professionals and ample sources, the corporate has turn into a necessary showcase for brand spanking new expertise. Along with its common season, Rorschach produces “Magic in Tough Areas,” an annual new play growth collection; “Klecksography,” an annual new artist growth occasion (for actors, native playwrights, and administrators); and “Combat Camp,” a stage fight coaching program held each summer time. The corporate additionally organizes “Different Individuals’s Ink,” a month-to-month providing of non-theatre social occasions that talk to the corporate’s aesthetic.
Starting through the Covid-19 pandemic, Rorschach started producing its “Psychogeographies Mission” – season-long immersive narratives that take members to lesser-known spots round their metropolis as a narrative unfolds by way of letters, artifacts, and objects mailed in month-to-month chapters and culminates with an in-person play in the summertime.
The Helen Hayes award-winning Rorschach Theatre has produced greater than fifty performs seen by tens of hundreds of individuals within the Washington space. The corporate has been acknowledged greater than a dozen instances by the Helen Hayes Awards; gained a Mary Goldwater Award; been a finalist for the Mayor’s Arts Award; and has been the recipient of a number of grants and awards from the D.C. Fee on the Arts and Humanities. The corporate’s work has garnered the eye of The New York Instances, The Washington Put up, American Theatre journal and Nationwide Public Radio, in addition to numerous native publications.
All MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES readings will happen in Lab II on the Atlas Arts Heart, 1333 H Avenue NE, Washington, DC. Tickets are FREE. Reserve your seats right here:
AMERICAN DREAM: https://www.atlasarts.org/occasions/american-dream/
EVEN WHEN THE WORLD BURNS: https://www.atlasarts.org/occasions/even-when-the-world-burns/
HUMAN MUSEUM: https://www.atlasarts.org/occasions/human-museum/
