Sorry for the delay in posting this week – I had a cool excuse: I was in Vermont for a reading of my script Shelby’s Vacation. It’s is a movie script not a play, but it still falls under the heading of Wonderfulness For a Writer, so I thought I’d share a little of Nancy’s Vacation with you.

I’d entered the script in a Chicago contest called Pride Films & Plays (as in, yes, gay pride) and then had the good fortune to end up in the semi-finals of that wingding AND be picked for a new “pride” script reading event at the Chandler Music Hall in Randolph, Vermont. Both of the events were set up and run by the fabulous David Zak. I can say he’s fabulous not just because he picked my script but because I’ve now met him in person. He had the inspiration to create these shindigs, the left-brain skills to organize them and as an added bonus, he had the directorial skills to pull off a movie experience on stage – no small feat considering there were with multiple locations and a fairly large cast.

It’s pretty easy for me to enjoy hiking in lush woodlands (cue up Rogers & Hart: “In our mountain greenery where God paints the scenery…”), sample maple syrup and homemade cheese, and get into the rhythm of small-town life (even Burlington and Montpelier seemed small town),but hallelujah, I took away some insights from the reading.

It had been two years since I heard Shelby’s Vacation, so I’d forgotten some of the scenes, certainly the order of them, and most importantly, the impact of them. I had fresh ears, fresh eyes, and I was like a real audience member – hey, what’s coming next and do I care about what’s happening?

My current writers’ group does not allow us to bring in movie scripts, only plays, hence, I hadn’t brought this script in for the actors to read during the past two years. Who knew this would be to my benefit by giving me distance and perspective??

One scene I’d added to the most recent draft actually showed in flashback the motivation of the main character – why she was taking this much-needed vacation. She’d been fantasizing about her boss too much – and in the crucial flashback we see her boss Marion showing off an engagement ring – she was going to get married, crushing our heroine’s fantasy life (in my movie world, lesbians are actually allowed to marry in California).

Due to some logistics issues, the director chose not to have this flashback staged or read. Without consulting me.

Did this matter? Was the writer upset? Did the director apologize?

Stay tuned for part II!

I took a break from my Fringe watching to peak in on Panel discussion at the Lost Studio last Sunday.

Sponsored by Gunfighter Nation, Padua Playwrights, and The Lost Studio, the panel was titled The Uninvited: Crashing the Party, A Counter-Conference to the 2011 TCG National Conference Convening in Los Angeles.

Chaired by John Steppling and moderated by Wes Walker, the panelists included Murray Mednick, Guy Zimmerman, Denise Devin, Charles A. Duncombe, Zombie Joe, Tina Kronis, Jay McAdams, Matt McDray, Frederique Michel, and Travis Preston.

As someone who is camped outside the TCG castle (I’m the woman tending the fire and brewing the tea), I was excited to see a dialogue and an effort at organizing a theatre community in a place as large and diverse as Los Angeles.

Because this was a meeting of theatre artists and producers (who in this difficult climate are high wire artists), the questions of art and commerce were raised. How do you stay true to a theatrical vision while facing the economic demands? How do you find audiences who are adventurous and want more than television or the Ahmanson? How do you make art in a conscious way that is transcendent?

The panel raised more questions than it answered, but to me, that signaled that there was wisdom in the room.

 For further discussion, I will send you to LA Weekly blog about the panel. Check out the comments:

 http://blogs.laweekly.com/stylecouncil/2011/06/off_the_radar_and_under-funded.php

 By the way, I don’t know how good the food was at the TCG conference, but the food at the Uninvited panel was excellent. I especially liked the oatmeal cookies and the strong spirit of hospitality at the event.

 I heard about the panel through the Lost Studio Facebook page. Now, I’m blogging about the panel here. Maybe we’re more connected than we thought in the LA Theatreland.

 And on that happy note, it was an absolute delight (as always) blogging this week. I’m off to Arizona in August for the Dirty Laundry New Play Festival conceived by fellow lafpi blogger, Tiffany Antone. For more info, you can go to the website: www.littleblackdressink.org/

The West Coast Premiere of Kate Fodor’s play, 100 Saints You Should Know, is being produced at the Elephant Theatre and is part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Even though West Coast Premiere is one of my least favorite phrases, I was intrigued by the Saints in the title. Plays about saints are my second favorite kind of play (right after plays about sinners). Will there be a parade of 100 saints with brass instruments? Would St. Anthony get a monologue?

I continued to be optimistic about this play because I like seeing plays at the Elephant Theatre. They have comfortable seats. I also was able to slide into an awesome parking spot one block away.

The set of 100 Saints You Should Know is beautiful. Tree branches weave through wooden squares holding stacks of books. There are large white  screens, and the furniture is efficiently shifted on and off by guys in black. There is a tranquility to the set as if the play is more a meditation than a character driven story.

100 Saints You Should Know is about Catholicism, the relationship between celibacy and the body, and a study of prayer. Matty is a young priest who has been suspended after nude photos of men were found in his study. He goes home to his mother, but one night, the cleaner at the rectory shows up with a book he left behind. The cleaner, Theresa, is a single mom with a sixteen year old daughter, Abby. While Theresa is asking the big God and prayer questions of the priest, Abby, left outside in the car, gets drunk with a neighborhood boy, and horrible Act One ending events occur.

On one hand 100 Saints is a typical Playwrights Horizons (it was produced by Playwrights Horizons in New York) linear well-made play in which the characters are not super extreme and the settings have a realistic feel to them.

However, I found parts of 100 Saints quite moving because Fodor is smart enough to not let her play get in the way of her quest for ideas. She gives her characters time to just exist reading Victoria’s Secret catalogs and playing Scrabble. These little moments take on a prayer-like quality and give the lives of the characters a simple sacredness. After all, this is America. We can all be saints here—even the sinners.

 100 Saints You Should Know runs with Fringe Festival with performances on Fri, June 24^th at 8pm, Saturday June 25^th at 8pm, and Sunday June 26^th at 7pm. Then the play’s run continues until July 16th with Fri and Sat performances at 8pm and Sunday performances at 7pm. All performances are at the Elephant Space at 6322 Santa Monica Blvd (at Lillian Way). You can get tickets from the Fringe website or the Elephant Theatre Company website (www.elephantthearecompany.com) or by calling 213-644-0556

Voices from Chornobyl Jr. is a children’s version of Cindy Marie Jenkins’s Voices from Chornobyl. Since Cindy is a fellow blogger here on lafpi, I was very excited to see her work off the computer screen.

Voices from Chornobyl Jr. is about the Chornobyl Nuclear Meltdown as seen by a nine year old girl named Katya. The disaster happened twenty-five years ago, but recent events at Fukushima have brought nuclear power and its dangers back into public consciousness.

As Katya (beautifully played by Kappa Victoria Wood, an adult actress) both experiences and tells her story, we come to understand that radiation, though invisible, retains a power to hurt even decades after the meltdown.

The short play ends with a question and answer session with the audience as information about nuclear energy is passed between actors and spectators. Yes, a children’s play about nuclear radiation might seem odd, but that’s what makes its presence in the Fringe Festival so darn cool .

Another play with history told from a female point of view is Hog Riot! set during the hog riots of 1826 in lower Manhattan. I didn’t know about this historical happening, so I was intrigued. Hogs? Really?

 Nearly two hundred years ago, hogs were allowed to roam the streets of Manhattan freely until the Common Council issued an ordinance requiring pigs be penned or rounded up by a hog catcher. But! Does government have the right to issue such an ordinance? What of the poor pig girls who can’t afford to build pens for their hogs?

Hog Riot! focuses on the young pig girls. It is not about men and their power plays. Instead we see history unfold from the point of view of the girls on the street. The five leads (Olivia Kamalski, Milan Learned, Sullivan Long, Melissa Lozano, Mizuki Sako) are between the ages of 13 and 15 with two adult actors (Olivia Briggs and Maarten Cornelis) and a butcher violinist (Max Bogrov) rounding out the cast. The young actresses bring a lot of energy and fun to the proceedings.

Hog Riot! was written and directed by Laurel Long for her company, Dollface Ensemble. Laurel started Dollface Ensemble to create artistic opportunities for young female theatre artists and to empower them to eventually create their own opportunities. The Dollface Ensemble plays focus on a historical event told from a young female point of view.

Voices from Chornobyl Jr. will be playing at the Annex Space at the Fringe Central on Saturday, June 25^th at 1pm and Sunday, June 26^th at 1pm at at 6569 Santa Monica Blvd. Tickets are $10. You can get tickets from the Fringe website, www.hollywoodfringe.org.  You can also visit the show’s website at: www.voicesfromchornobyl.com

The last performance of Hog Riot! will be on Saturday, June 25th at 2pm at the Arena Stage Theatre at 1625 N. Las Palmas (just south of Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood). Tickets are $10, and you can get tickets from the Fringe website (www.hollywoodfringe.org).

This week on lafpi, I’m writing about plays written by women at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Feeling Feeling was the first play I found when I was searching for women writers on the Hollywood Fringe website, so naturally, I had to see it.

At the bar in the big white tent at Fringe Central, there is a Feeling Feeling cocktail with vodka (lots of vodka), strawberry puree, sprite, and a very important lemon wedge, so I was very happy when I sat down to watch Feeling Feeling.

As we came into the theatre, we crossed the stage where a blonde lady is couch dancing to Beyonce and Cher power ballads. We were definitely in a modern happy space.

The play itself is a dark romantic comedy that traces a couple (Darla and Dave) from Oregon to Los Angeles over four Olympic games. Darla feels too much, so she gets a chip implanted in the back of her neck to make her less dependent on her emotions. Dave goes into therapy to feel more or perhaps feel better. They break up, they get back together, they can’t communicate.

The dilemma of the play is summed up early on by a supporting character who says, dudes need to stop treating chicks like dudes, and chicks need to stop treating dudes like chicks. Yes, there is wisdom in that.

However, this play is not a case study of emotionalism and coupledom polemics. It has fantastic dialogue that sizzles with wit and some great characters that get under your skin.

Feeling Feeling  will be playing at the Annex Space at the Fringe Central on Thursday, June 23rd at 8pm and Friday, June 24^th at 11:59pm (aka midnight) at 6569 Santa Monica Blvd. You can get tickets from the Fringe website, www.hollywoodfringe.org. 

 Sarah Doyle has a website at www.sarahjeandoyle.com. She also recently did a podcast here at Los Angeles Female Playwrights, and you can find it at https://lafpi.com/events/podcast-archives/

…Eve Ensler who received the Isabelle Stevenson award for founding the global movement, V-Day, to end violence against women and girls.

The movement began with The Vagina Monologues, which opened in 1996. The Monologues were considered shocking at the time. “If you had told me then,” says Ensler, “that small towns in Alabama and in Pakistan and Mongolia would have productions of this piece, I’d have told you that you were crazy.”

Two years later, there was a Valentine’s Day performance with celebrity actresses, including Whoopi Goldberg, Susan Sarandon and Glenn Close. Called V-Day, it became an annual event and has become a global movement that raises funds through benefit productions. So far, V-day has raised over $80 million. Ensler estimates that there were 5,000 performances of the play last year alone.

She and her colleagues interview women in different places around the world, asking them what kind of help they need from the money raised. “Our experience is that the women we work with are visionaries,” Ensler says. “They don’t need direction. They just need support.”

Several years ago, the question was put to women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. V-Day was particularly interested in the Congo, where women and children have been suffering for years from hundreds of thousands of rape by Rwanadan and Congolese rebels. What the women of the Congo wanted was a community for women survivors, which they would run, operate, and direct themselves.

The community is now a reality. The City of Joy opened in February, 2011 in the city of Bukavu. Its mission is to be “a place where women turn their pain into power, where they get healed, where they are trained in civics and self-defense, where they receive economic tools and resources.”

When they go back to their communities, they will be capable of teaching what they learned.

Lynn Nottage, who is Eve Ensler’s friend, is also a supporter of City of Joy and funds from her widely produced play, Ruined, support the Bukavu Panzi Hospital.

Here is Eve Enler’s speech at the Tony’s:

“This all began when I said the word vagina in a little tiny theater way, way downtown in this very city. I said it again. I said it endlessly. I said it so many times over, women began to say it. I saw what happens when millions say vagina and when millions hear it. What I learned is that when you say what you’re not supposed to say, when you share your secrets, when you tell the truth, the world changes – people get free, they come into their power.”

“I accept this award on behalf all those who found their voices, their vaginas, their courage in the theater. And I call on all of us to remember why we were drawn to the theater, and to be braver, bolder, and more outrageous. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Eve Ensler

photo by Paula Allen

Just a short one today. Here’s what the Guerilla Girls thought of the Tony Awards.