FIRST 100 YEARS:
The Professional
Female Playwright
THE FIRST 100 YEARS PROJECT
CO-DIRECTORS: Mallory Catlett & Gwynn MacDonald
ASSOCIATE DRAMATURGS: Andrea Canning-Watson, Branden Kornell, Alice Moore
WEBMISTRESS: Emily King, www.kingmichiesyndicate.com
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Branwen MacDonald, Bad Tea Party Prods. (Badteaparty@hotmail.com)
Organized by The Juggernaut Theatre Company
For more information, www.juggernaut-theatre.org
- Introduction
- The Symposium: Saturday, October 26, 2002
- The Readings: November 2002 – October 2003
- Featured Playwrights
- General Bibliography
In 1660 the English civil war came to an end. With the monarchy restored, in the person of the continentally cultured Charles II, the twenty-year ban on English theaters was lifted. So were the prohibitions that had historically barred women from producing, acting or writing for the English stage. This period, a fresh start for the newly re-opened theaters, became a heyday for women playwrights. Even so, the works and the women who created them have not come down to us. This imbalance in theater history has not only deprived the contemporary stage of great material, it has also likely contributed to the minority status of women working in theater today.
The First 100 Years will explore the work and dramatic lives of professional women playwrights who began writing for the English stage in the 17th & 18th Century. The project has three parts:
I. The Symposium ("THE FIRST 100 YEARS: THE PROFESSIONAL FEMALE PLAYWRIGHT") was part of New York State October Humanities Month, and took place on Saturday October 26, 2002, 3 p.m. at the American Airlines Theater (Times Square, Penthouse Lobby). Free and open to the public, this event featured scholars from all over who have done groundbreaking work on these women and their plays, interspersed with a some scenes presented by actors to illustrate and further the conversation.
Panelists include Susan Bennett, Catherine Burroughs, Thomas C. Crochunis, Laura J. Rosenthal & Elizabeth Swain
II. The Reading & Discussion Series will look more closely at the work of 5 English Women Playwrights of the 17th & 18th Century: Aphra Behn (1640-89), Susanna Centlivre (1669-1723), Hannah Cowley (1743-1809), Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821) and Joanna Baillie (1762-1851).) Four of these five playwrights were guaranteed productions every time they wrote a new play. But, the group as a whole was selected because they represent a variety of distinct voices and styles that show the development of the female playwright over a century. They are just a handful of the dozens of female playwrights writing professionally during the period.
The readings are scheduled over a nine-month period and will be held at sponsoring theaters around New York City in an open and informal atmosphere where discussion, inspiration, and future collaborations can be sparked.
Find out what else you don't know
III. Wrap-up panel. [To be announced]
The goal of the project as a whole is to expose audiences and theater artists – from designers and playwrights, to dramaturgs, directors and actors — to the playwrights and their works, and to make some of the exciting scholarship being done in this field more accessible and useful to the theater artist community. In the Symposium, readings, and discussions, key questions will be raised that will help in future study of these women, future productions of their plays, and new works inspired by each.
The Symposium is Funded in part by New York Council for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the New York State Council on the Arts Theatre Program Technical Assistance Fund
PLUS: SPECIAL EVENT!
Juggernaut Theatre Company and The Queen's Company Present
A Special Event READING & DISCUSSION of
THE DISCOVERY
by Mrs. Frances Sheridan (1724-1766)
~ best-selling novelist and mother of Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Considered by David Garrick to be the best comedy of the age, The Discovery with its star-studded cast was an immediate success at Drury Lane in 1763, and at various revivals years later. Taking on the topic of what marriage can be, might be, ought to be, and too often is The Discovery was both an influence on Richard Brinsley Sheridan's plays, and sometimes their rival at competing theaters.
If you have lately been wondering what really undermines the sanctity of marriage, PLEASE JOIN US
Saturday, May 1st, 2004 @ 1 pm
(Please arrive early, we start on time)
at The Connelly Theatre
220 East Fourth Street, NYC
(between Avenues A & B -- accessible from the F train at 2nd Avenue).
Directed by Gwynn MacDonald, The Juggernaut Theatre Co.
Guest Dramaturg: Melinda C. Finberg
FREE but reservations required, email RSVP: duchessofnewcastle@yahoo.com