WEEK 1
Thursday, June 4th @ 8:00 PM:
Two
Nine One Letters by Jade O’Keeffe
(Toronto, ON)
The Flower by
Alyson Mead (Los Angeles, CA)
Friday, June 5th @ 8:00 PM:
A
Woman on Paper by Susan Shafer (New
York, NY)
Saturday, June 6th @ 8:00 PM:
Short Plays by Colorado Springs Playwrights
Georgia
on His Mind by Sue Bachman
Mary
and Georgia by Grant Swenson
The
Real Meaning of Things by Todd
Wallinger
The
Last Rabbit by Jessica Weaver
Sunday, June 7th @ 3:00 PM:
Early
Sunday Morning by Dara O’Brien (New York,
NY)
WEEK 2
Thursday, June 11th @ 8:00 PM:
Two
Nine One Letters by Jade O’Keeffe
(Toronto, ON)
The Flower by
Alyson Mead (Los Angeles, CA)
Friday, June 12th @ 8:00 PM:
A
Woman on Paper by Susan Shafer (New
York, NY)
Saturday, June 13th @ 8:00 PM:
Short Plays by Colorado Playwrights
Georgia
on His Mind by Sue Bachman
Mary
and Georgia by Grant Swenson
The
Real Meaning of Things by Todd
Wallinger
The
Last Rabbit by Jessica Weaver
Sunday, June 14th @ 3:00 PM:
Early
Sunday Morning by Dara O’Brien (New
York, NY)
Two Nine
One Letters by Jade
O’Keeffe (Toronto, ON)
Play
Description:
Two Nine One Letters explores two of the most
influential figures in early American modernist art: Georgia O’Keeffe and
Alfred Stieglitz. After meeting in 1916 they began a correspondence that would
last three decades. They exchanged more than 5,000 letters. Those letters
created and inspired this piece.
Playwright Bio:
Jade is a Toronto-based actress,
singer and playwright. Having just graduated with a BFA from Ryerson
University, Jade has had the pleasure of performing in Music of the Night: A
Tribute to Colm Wilkinson, where she shared the stage with the man himself.
Also, most recently Jade appeared onstage in her own play as Georgia O’Keeffe
in Two Nine One Letters, which was first showcased in the New Voices
Festival at Ryerson University this past spring. Before Ryerson, Jade worked as
an actor for four consecutive seasons at 4th Line Theatre, a leading Canadian
open-air theatre. Jade is very excited for Two Nine One Letters to have its
American debut as part of the Rough Writers 15’ Festival and is so thankful to
the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center for the unique opportunity!
The Flower by Alyson Mead (Los Angeles, CA)
Play Description:
As Annie tries to teach her art students how to see critically,
she’s undergoing second thoughts about her relationship, while Gilly’s not sure
how to express some new and confusing feelings. “The Flower” explores the
concept of otherness, from decades of misunderstanding that have accompanied
artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s flower paintings to two modern women finding it
difficult to fit into what’s expected of them.
Playwright Bio:
Alyson Mead studied at the Slade School of Art in London, NYU’s Tisch
School of the Arts and with iO West, UCB and Tectonic Theatre Project. Her
award-winning plays have been staged at Off-Off Broadway and regional theaters
around the country and in London, including La MaMa, St. Mark's Church, 8BC,
Pasadena Playhouse, Venus Theatre, the Women Playwrights International
Conference, Limelight, the Other Space Theater, the Hudson, Atwater Village
Theater and Sacred Fools, among others. She’s published by Original Works
Publishing, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Ensemble Studio
Theatre’s Playwriting Unit and the Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative.
A Woman on
Paper by Susan
Shafer (New York, NY)
Play
Description
Early in Georgia O'Keeffe's career,
someone saw her paintings and declared, "At last, a woman on paper!"
Who said that and how did their meeting prove a turning point in the artist's
life?
Bio
Susan Shafer, now a full-time
playwright, is a former teacher and children's book editor. Dr. Shafer is the
author of five plays and five non-fiction books for children, two books for
teachers, and nearly two dozen short plays for adults. She is a member of The
League of Professional Theater Women, the Dramatists Guild, and The American
Society of Journalists and Authors. Website: www.sshafer.com
Georgia on
His Mind by Sue
Bachman
Play
Description:
World
renowned photographer Alfie Stiglietz thinks he has found in painter Georgia
O'Keefe the "twin" for whom he has been searching his whole
life. In one fell swoop Alfie casts
aside both his long-suffering wife Emmy along and their mentally unstable
daughter Kitty. Georgia is stunned to find herself in the middle of an
elaborately staged scene of infidelity from which there is no turning back.
Alfie quickly learns that, despite their sexual passion, Georgia is no
pushover.
Playwright Bio:
Like
Georgia O'Keefe, Sue was born in Wisconsin. Though not exactly dairy farmers,
her family did own a couple of cows. A Colorado Springs character actress for
many years, Sue became inspired to write plays about five years ago after being
part of the Six Women Playwriting Festival. Since then she has been an active
member of Drama Lab which provides critical input to move her writing forward
as well as Craft Production Resources who has produced five of her original
short plays. Sue’s play, Disposing of
Grandma was selected as Best Short Play in the CSFAC’s Rough Writers New
Play Festival in 2013. She won the 2014 Pikes Peak Art's Council Award for Best
Performance by an Actress for her portrayal of Linda Loman in Theatrework's
"Death of a Salesman." Sue earned her undergraduate degree in Theatre
from Northwestern University and holds a Master’s in International Business
from Regis University. She thanks Sy, her husband of 34 years, and her adult
children Courtney and Aaron, for their love and support in all of her
theatrical endeavors.
Mary and
Georgia by Grant
Swenson
Play
Description:
Mary and Georgia explores the
relationship between a promising artist and her imaginary friend, Georgia
O'Keeffe. The play examines three phases in Mary's life and art career:
youthful joy, mid-life depression, and mature contentment.
Playwright Bio:
Grant Swenson is an engineer/writer
living in Black Forest, CO. He enjoys bringing plays to Drama Lab in Colorado
Springs to workshop with the local theatre community. In 2014, he performed in
the Our Shorts Are Showing 2 New Play Festival. He is honored to be a part of
the Rough Writers New Play Festival.
The Real
Meaning of Things by
Todd Wallinger
Play
Description:
Georgia
O'Keeffe had learned to drive at the age of 41, mostly so she could explore the
New Mexico desert by herself. According to reports she was a fearless driver,
though not a great one. This play expores what would have happened if her car
had broken down.
Playwright
Bio:
Todd
Wallinger is an award-winning playwright from Colorado Springs with over 150
productions in 43 states plus Canada, Australia, South Korea and the UK. Five
of his plays are published by Pioneer Drama Service. Rumpelstiltskin,
Private Eye won the 2014 Beverly Hills Theatre Guild Play Competition for
Youth Theatre. Kill the Critic! took 2nd place in the 2013 McLaren
Memorial Comedy Playwriting Competition. Todd teaches playwriting at the
Colorado High School Thespian Conference and serves with the Colorado Theatre
Guild as a judge for their annual Henry Awards.
The Last
Rabbit by Jessica
Weaver
Play
Description:
The play opens
up on Jim carrying into his trailer a very beat-up, unhealthy prostitute named
Alice. After days of torture and confusion, Alice learns that Jim has
kidnapped her to use her body as a vessel to give “Mama” the gift she’s always
wanted -- a baby girl. It is at this time when she starts receiving
visits from Ahiga, a creature whose reality is a struggle to accept. Ahiga
helps Alice plot their escape from this disturbing future that Jim has planned,
and in doing so, Alice discovers things about her own identity she had never
known. This platy was inspired by two Georgia O’Keefe paintings: Untitled (Dead Rabbit with Copper Pot) and
Ram’s Head with Hollyhock.
Playwright
Bio:
Jessica is
thrilled to be a part of the Rough Writers Festival! Thanks to her
education and the U.S. Army, she has been performing and creating theatre all
over the country. She received her BA from Washington State and her MFA
in performance from Arizona State. To diversify her artistic endeavors,
she began writing a couple years ago, and has not been able to stop
since. Story telling is a powerful tool that can impact society emotionally.
The theatre is perhaps the greatest story-telling art forms because of its
ability to be a full sensorial experience. New play development keeps
this vital art form alive. www.jessicaweaver.net
Early
Sunday Morning by
Dara O’Brien (New York, NY)
Play
Description:
After
twenty years of creative and professional struggle, the American painter Edward
Hopper reconnects with his old schoolmate, the artist Josephine Nivison. The
joining of their lives brings seismic change to both. What is the price of genius, and who pays?
Playwright
Bio:
Dara O’Brien is a playwright and
actress whose work has been presented at The Cherry Lane Theatre, the Abingdon
Theatre, and Naked Angels Tuesdays@9. She is a member of the Abingdon’s
Playwrights Group, Playwrights Gallery, The Ninth Floor, and The Geese. Dara is
the recipient of the 2015 Thomas Barbour Playwrights Award for her play “Early
Sunday Morning.” As part of the Writer/Actor Collective, she is a co-creator of
the upcoming podcast series, “The Armitage.” Member, Dramatists Guild of
America.
ABOUT ROUGH WRITERS:
The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center is proud to be producing our bi-annual Rough Writers New Play Festival in the spring of 2015. This two week-long festival will feature readings of new scripts submitted by playwrights worldwide. Playwrights whose work is included in the festival will have the opportunity to have readings of their scripts in front of an audience with a moderated talkback session immediately following. A panel of theatre professionals will adjudicate the submissions.
As part of the FAC’s “Year of Georgia O’Keeffe,” this year’s submissions should be related to the life and/or the work of O’Keeffe. The plays may utilize Georgia O’Keeffe as a character, use her art as a springboard for the story, or, in a larger sense, explore the lives and art of groundbreaking women.
ACTORS WANTED:
For these staged readings, we're looking for about 20 actors, ages 17 to 60s, both sexes. Rehearsal commitment is
limited. Rehearsals will start the week of the festival – so they are
only committed for those two weeks.
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