WMMW Supports local Women’s Play Festival

 

Women’s Work 2016 is the 10th annual showcase of works created by women

Please support our local theatre, dance and film, writer’s, choreographers and performers.

Saturday May 21, 7:30 pm – Theater: Staged reading of After The Fall, by Marilynn Barner Anselmi

The drive from Rocky Mount, NC to Nashville, TN takes about nine hours, depending on traffic, weather and the number of bathroom breaks.  This weekend marks the fifth consecutive year playwright Marilynn Barner Anselmi will make that trek to participate in the Tennessee Women’s Theatre Project Women’s Work 2016 Festival.  Barner Anselmi’s play After the Fall, will be presented on May 21st at 7:30 p.m. at The Looby Theatre.  When Barner Ansemli’s first play was accepted in 2012, though excited, she admits she didn’t realize she had to line up the director and cast for the staged reading.  Fortunately, TWPT director, Maryanna Clarke, hooked her up with Nashville  theater maven, Jeff Ellis—who steered her to Vickie Bailey—former Lakewood Theater board member and director.  That first play, You Wouldn’t Expect, recounts the history of the North Carolina Eugenics Program and featured Nashville theatre standouts Kaul Bluestone, Latoya Gardner, Pam Howard, Patrick Godicke, and Landria Burkley.  Since then, You Wouldn’t Expect has gone on to productions in nine states, most recently at Wellesley College and received its professional debut with Damascus theater collective at The August Wilson Center in Pittsburgh, PA.  This play was a semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neil Conference and a finalist for the National Arts Club, Playwrights First Award.  A short film version of the play was filmed in 2015 (staring LaToya Gardner) which has been selected for six national and international film festivals (most recently The 2016 Black International Film Festival Berlin, Germany).

According to Barner Anselmi, one of the best things about the Women’s Work Festival is the opportunity to hear early drafts of her work being performed by such incredible Nashville actors as Bluestone, Gardner, Lucy Turner, Paige Glasser, Mark Thomas, James Rudolph, Deanna Glasser, And Phil Brady.

Marilynn’s other plays featured at Women’s Work Festivals have gone on to several productions, honors  and awards, including:  Semi-finalist, Eugene O’Neil Conference (Found Objects, 2013); The Mark Gilbert Award (The Osanbi Deal, 2014); and Mama’s Girls (2015) which received its professional premiere at SNAP Productions (Omaha, Nebraska).  Found Objects will receive its professional premiere with the Tennessee Stage Company (Knoxville, TN)  in January, 2017.

After the Fall examines explosive family finger-pointing following the suicide of the youngest daughter and features the talents of Kaul Bluestone, Latoya Gardner, Katharine Poole, and Phil Brady.

For more information go to http://www.twtp.org

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.