2010 According to Charity Henson-Ballard's Twitter feed, her play The Quiver of Children will be published this summer in "Out of Time and Place: An Anthology of Women Playwrights." Congratulations to Charity. We look forward to hearing more. Follow Charity on Twitter at @cdhballard.
2009
Radha Blank has work all around New York and this summer she will be showcasing her play Seed at the Classical Theater of Harlem as well as the Hip Hop Theater Festival.
Alexis Clements, who was a part of the Women's Project at the Envision Retreat, will be performing an excerpt from her piece, Spitting Against the Wind, at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange in February.
Kara Manning, also a part of the Women's Project, had a reading of her work, Killing Swans, at the Rattlestick Theater in October 2009. Her newest play, Sleeping Rough, was read at the MCC Theater's Playlabs in November.
2008
Charity Henson-Ballard's The Quiver of Children is being read all around the country and she has new works making the festival rounds this year. Her work extends into film and she just completed a re-write of her screenplay The Great Inactor Fantastic: Memoirs of a Blactress.
Bess Welden's The Passion of the Hausfrau, premiered at the Portland Stage Company in March 2009 to great success and the show will be seen in other Maine cities this April. Her newest work revolves around the story of a female inventor, the first woman ever to win a patent suit.
Katie Pearl's Terrible Things, premiered at PS122 in December 2009 and returned the next month for the COIL Festival. Pearl hopes to have the show ready to tour by next Spring.
Kara Manning, also a part of the Women's Project, had a reading of her work, Killing Swans, at the Rattlestick Theater in October 2009. Her newest play, Sleeping Rough, was read at the MCC Theater's Playlabs in November.
2007
Sahar Javedani's In the Middle, Somewhat Aggravated participated in the Fresh Tracks Performance and Residency Program at the Dance Theatre Workshop. Her work at DTW has seen her in Paris and the Balkans, and this year she will be in Milan as part of a multimedia exhibition in response to the Iranian elections of 2009. Showings of her new work The Turquoise Lounge are scheduled for March 11 and 12 as part of the DTW Studio Series Creative Residency.
Seven, by Paula Cizmar, Carol Mack, Gail Kriegel, Ruth Margraff, Catherine Filloux, Susan Yankowitz and Anna Deavere Smith, is a truly international endeavor. The play as toured The United States and Europe using both American and international casts, and is available in English and Swedish with more translations on the way. Dramatists Play Service published Seven in the fall of 2009. In March 2010 it will be directed by Julie Taymor at the Hudson Theatre. Cizmar has several irons in her fire, including a short play, a book co-written with playwright Laura Shamas, and a new work "exploring the violence of the American West. Yankowitz is about to begin a residency in Bogliasco where she will be working on a multi-media piece and a new play about women oceanic explorers.
Elizabeth Hess brought Hole (then Broken Dolls) to the Envision retreat in 2007. Catherine Filloux, co-author of Seven and Retreat alumna, is coordinating a symposium for Hole alongside Dawn Saito. Hess will be teaching at NYU and the National Theater Institute this Spring.
2006
Lisa Dillman's The Walls has been the subject of enormous development and praise. Premiering at the Steppenwolf Garage, The Walls was nominated for the 2009 Jeff Award for Best New Work. The Pulitzer Committee recently requested that The Walls be submitted for consideration for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Dillman's newest play Ground will be featured in the Humana Festival this March.A Slight Headache by Alyson Pou was presented as a part of the LMCC Swing Space Project.2005Kara Lee Corthron received the 2007 Theodore Ward Prize for African-American Playwrights for her play Like a Cow or an Elephant (previously titled Downward Sparkle). That same year, the play received a co-production at the DePaul Theatre School & Columbia College in Chicago. Corthron's work is expected to appear in an anthology from the Northwestern University Press in 2010. She recently spent time in Iceland working on a play about its social issues and is anticipating a workshop for her play about Hurricane Katrina.
2005
Kara Lee Corthron received the 2007 Theodore Ward Prize for African-American Playwrights for her play Like a Cow or an Elephant (previously titled Downward Sparkle). That same year, the play received a co-production at the DePaul Theatre School & Columbia College in Chicago. Corthron's work is expected to appear in an anthology from the Northwestern University Press in 2010. She recently spent time in Iceland working on a play about its social issues and is anticipating a workshop for her play about Hurricane Katrina.
2003
Karen Hartman: Anatomy 1968
After her intensive workshop experience at the Envision Retreat 2003, Anatomy 1968 has also enjoyed several readings at the Vineyard, the Women’s Projects and Productions, and New Dramatists. Most worthy of note was its inclusion in Arielle Tepper’s 2004 Summer Play Festival under the direction of Lisa Rothe.
Theodora Skipitares: Odyssey: The Homecoming
Theodora originally attended last years Retreat with her project entitled Iphigenia, but since then it’s title has changed to Odyssey: The Homecoming. This multi-media show brings the art of puppetry into the spotlight. Known for her provacative miniaturist work,Theodora’s creativity in Odyssey: The Homecoming enchanted audiences at La Mama throughout the month of February 2004.
Yeardley Smith: MORE
Known for her quirky voice as Lisa Simpson, Yeardley Smith brought her autobiographical one-woman show to the 2003 Envision retreat. MORE traces her own journey as an actress on the turbulent track to fame. After the retreat Yeardley took her show to the Off-Broadway downtown venue, Union Square Theatre where it was produced in March of 2004. New York Times theatre critic Margo Jefferson remarked of Yeardley, “It’s fun to watch a skilled actress use her craft to the full…she really does link her needs to ours” (The New York Times, 3/26/04).
Rachel Dickstein: Innocents
This dance theater adaptation of Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth was produced by Dickstein’s company Ripe Time, Inc. at the Ohio Theater in New York City in 2005. It ran for a month and was critically acclaimed.
Kristin Marting and Stephanie Fleischmann: Orpheus
This modern slant on the Greek tragedy will saw its full production at the HERE Arts Center Club in the fall of 2004.
2002
Maureen Brennan: Alma
Inspired by Tennessee William’s humorous short story "The Yellow Bird", Alma raises themes of independence and freedom as it follows a young girl into womanhood. From the 2002 Envision Retreat, Maureen took Alma to the Brooklyn Arts Exchange where it was performed for full houses throughout January of 2003. What’s next for Alma? Maureen has further developed the script to include three women to represent stages of Alma’s life and hopes to see it produced within the new few years in New Orleans, where the play is set.
Clove Galilee and Jenny Rogers: Trick Saddle
Trick Saddle, directed/designed by Jenny Rogers and choreographed by Clove Galilee, was a part of our 2002 Envision Retreat. This wild west ballet takes a posse of feminist cowgirls and tosses the traditional cowboy myth out the window. Through the whirlwind of video, music, song, dance, and dialogue, Trick Saddle thrilled audiences at PS122 in January of 2003.
Tish Benson: Hairstory
While the performance end of Hairstory is still in process, Tish adapted the work into a short story. Fly By Night Press published Hairstory, among a collection of other short stories by Tish, in a book entitledWild Like Good Stuff Smellin’ Strong. This can be purchased at www.tribbees.org or at the St. Marks Street Bookstore.
Shelly Wyant: Romeo/Juliet
Romeo/Juliet, adapted by Nina Shengold and directed by Shelley Wyant, retells Shakespeare’s classic story of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo/Juliet was workshopped at the 2002 Retreat (then entitled R &J), and since then Romeo/Juliet has enjoyed phenomenal success. It was produced at both Redhook High School (with Bard College students) and Rondout High School (with a company of professional actors). Most impressively, Broadway Play Publishing Inc. has recently published Romeo/Juliet!
2001
Caridad Svich: The Booth Variations
The Booth Variations follows the career of American actor Edwin Booth, brother to the infamous presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth. Caridad and her co-writer Todd Cerveris took a slice of the nineteenth century and added a surreal flare of theatricality in order to examine our present day cult of celebrity. After the 2001 Envision retreat, Svich continued to workshop The Booth Variations at Denison University in Ohio. This multi-media collaboration saw its first full stage production on August 5-22, 2004 at 59 East 59th Street Theatre, New York City.
2000
Alva Rogers: Belly: Three Shorts
Belly: Three Shorts takes three vignettes and charts the inner lives of women, examining intersections of family, birth, violence, motherhood, and more “belly” oriented themes. Presented by New Georges at Here Arts Center, Alva saw her play Belly: Three Shorts produced in September of 2003.
Deborah Saivetz and Maria Morett: Women in Confinement
Deborah translated Mexican playwright Maria Morett’s Mujeres en el Encierro and developed the play at our 2000 Retreat. In May of 2002 Six Figures Theatre Company produced Women in Confinement in a series entitled “Artists of Tomorrow” at New York’s West End Theatre. Also in her acclaim, the journal TheatreForum published the translation in their June 2003 issue.
Kristin Page Stuart: Songs for Citizens and Soldiers The constructive work she poured into Songs for Citizens and Soldiers at the 2000 Retreat paid off but not in the form of a musical production. Kristin has re-arranged many of these songs for the band “Sleepwalker’s Parade” which has had a busy year performing at top New York clubs such as The Cutting Room and Makor. Even more exciting, one of her songs entitled “Sleepwalker” made it onto Australia’s top ten Ison Live Radio charts for nine weeks, eventually reaching #3! We look forward to its appearance on a compellation disc produced by Gothem Records in the UK later this year.
