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Bald Grace, Pirate Queen
by Marki Shalloe
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Produced at Majestic Midway Theater, Chicago. Directed by Jenniffer J. Thusing. Intelligent, witty, funny and inspiring,
Marki Shalloe's Bald Grace, Pirate Queen is the true story of Grace O'Malley, an amazing woman who fought for her own rights
as well as the rights of Ireland against Elizabethan England. A strong, feminine, no-nonsense woman, Grace disregarded stereotyped
gender roles for women and sought a career in the predominantly male world of piracy.
"Statuesque, gritty, solid, powerful, imposing and replete with a wild and delightfully unpredictable shock of red
hair, Govier is entirely credible as a swashbuckling buccaneer, a.k.a. "Bald Grace, Pirate Queen." (Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune)
"...both viscous and visceral, and, as played by Katie Carey Govier, it's suprisingly fun to watch....Jocelyn Fultz is poised
and appealing in [her] role...Director Jenniffer J. Thusing assembles a solid ensemble...As warm as a hearth and as stout
as a pint of Guinness, [Govier is] game for the material she's given...." (Christopher Piatt, Chicago Sun-Times)
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Duet for One by Tom Kempinski
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Produced at Victory Gardens First Floor Studio Theater, Chicago. Directed by Lynn Ann Bernatowitz.
This compelling story is inspired by the life of world-famous cellist Jacqueline
du Pre and tells the tale of a genius musician stricken by an incapacitating disease and the psychiatrist who fights to prevent
her from suicide. The Stockyards production used an all-female cast. Director Lynn Ann Bernatowicz reveals, "This beautiful
play examines what it means to be an artist. To highlight the fantasy world the musician imagines herself to be in, our expressionistic
design choices place the action within the walls of a fractured violin, that grow deeper in color to notate her emotional
progression through the play."
Jeff Recommended and Recommended by Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun-Times! "Exquisite...DiMaso is brilliant in a demanding,
highly physical role...There's not a false note in Lynn Ann Bernatowicz' superb direction and inspired
casting....nothing more is needed than the confrontation between two excellent actors--and that's
what we get in this fine Stockyards production." (Beverly Friend, Lerner News) "...it's Michele DiMaso's blazing, fearless
incarnation of Stephanie, who rages at the dying of her talent, that makes the show worth seeing."
(Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader) "...a blazing revival...[Michele DiMaso gives] a powerhouse performance...John Rodriguez's inspired
set, in which the central architectural element of the doctor's office suggests the neck of a cello..." (Hedy Weiss, Chicago
Sun-Times)
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Pro-Peace Series
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This series of staged readings focused on pro-peace writing. Representatives
from Not In Our Name facilitated a discussion at the end of each evening.
Plays by the following contemporary women playwrights fromthe U.S. and Canada were included: Jill Elaine Hughes, Robin
Rice Lichtig, Shirley King, Carolyn Gage, Mia McCollough, Kari Ann Owen, Monica Raymond, and Caitlin Hicks. Directors in the
series were: Jill Elaine Hughes, Mia McCollough, Gregory Gerhard, H. Hayes, and Staci Singer.
May-June, 2003
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The Lysistrata Project
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One of 24 Chicagoland readings in this "worldwide act of theatrical dissent", in which more than 600 readings in 75 countries
of LYSISTRATA were done simultaneously to protest the US-led war in Iraq. Directed by Jenniffer Thusing.
All readings in Chicago were sold out/standing room only.
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Lunacy by Patricia Weaver-Francisco
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Produced at the Athenaeum First Floor Studio, Chicago. Directed by Katie Carey Govier.
In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman astronaut to go into space. But twenty years earlier, thirteen American
women pilots successfully completed the preliminary physical and psychological testing given the Mercury astronauts. They
believed at least one of their number would eventually go into space, but their testing program was abruptly cancelled in
1962 and they faded from public view. Lunacy is a play about the other side of "The Right Stuff"—a fictional
look at what became of Ride’s predecessors.
"Lunacy, with inspired performances by the ensemble, is an imaginative artistic look into history and under the
skin of a group who tried to make a difference as scientists and pioneers. The tiny studio theatre of the Athenaeum has never
been so brilliantly illuminated."—Ruth Smerling, THEATREWORLD
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Histrionics: Four Plays by Women on Psychology, Sex and General Madness
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Produced at the Heartland Studio theatre, this production
boldly examined the world of therapy, HMO's, mental institutions and holistic healing.
The plays included: Raven by Kimberley Orton (directed
by Anna Bahow); The Narcissistic Personality Disorder Show by Silvia Gonzalez S. (directed by Jill Elaine Hughes);
Running From The Red Girl by Linda Eisenstein (directed by Gillian Gibson); and Stranger at my Gate by Margaret
G. Waterstreet (directed by Tina Paraventi).
"...an urgent and rarely explored injustice against women: abuses within
the field of psychology dating back to Sigmund Freud." -- Lucia Mauro, UR Chicago
"This production. . .is well-crafted and enjoyable."—Kim Wilson, Chicago Reader
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Annual Women's Performance Art Festival
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Begun in 2000, the WPAF features a full schedule of
Chicago artisans performing unique and original works via improv, stand-up comedy, dance, performance art and much more.
Each year, the Festival is filled with moving, innovative work that focuses on women.
"the festival is the purist woman’s performance
event in Chicago." (Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times)
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| click on the photo for last year's program |
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Produced in association with the Women's Theatre Alliance of Chicago, the Salon Series promotes women's leadership in
the Chicago theatre community and provides a unique network for theatre artists to share in their artistic diversity. Click
on the logo or picture for the current program.
past salons
2nd Tuesdays of selected months
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Shame the Devil! An Audience with Fanny Kemble by Anne Ludlum
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Produced at Majestic Midway Theater, Chicago. Directed by Janet Wilson.
Fanny Kemble was a nineteenth-century British actress, author, abolitionist, wife and mother. Anne Ludlum's engaging script,
based on Kemble's prolific autobiographical writings, follows Fanny's life from her glorious acting debut in London and subsequent
tour of America to her exit from the stage to marry an American slaveholder, Mr. Pierce Butler.
"RECOMMENDED...a smart, vivid and often suprising one-woman show....performed with skill, fervor and intelligence by Lori
Adams...a work of impressive sweep, as was the life of its subject...on the evidence of the excerpts laced throughout Ludlam's
script--and brought to life with impressive clarity by Adams--you may very well want to head out
and find a copy of the complete work...." (Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times) "... Adams with a fine command of island dialects
and an eye to distinct and individualized personalities...the superlative craftsmanship rendered manifest in this Stockyards
[Theatre] Project production." (Mary Shen Barnidge, Windy City Times) "Adams brings intelligence and class to the piece...Lauren
M. Lowell's period-perfect dress..." (Kelly Kleiman, Chicago Reader)
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New Play Development Workshop
& New Play Festival
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The New Play Development Workshop, produced in association with the Women's Theatre Alliance of Chicago, brings Playwrights
and Directors together to form a team to develop new work; hosts auditions for teams bringing actors on board to lend their
voice and opinions; hosts peer group sessions where teams read a scene for critiquing and feed back; brings in speakers who
are working with news plays to lend their expertise; creates a deadline for draft completion; gives dramaturgical reading
and written feed back to the Playwright; and offers the opportunity to have a reading.
Each evening of the New Play Festival (produced at Theatre Building Chicago) featured a new
work and was followed by an audience feedback session.
The Girls Together Again by Francesca Peppiatt, directed by Rachel Rozycki; Untitled by Kendra Stevens, directed
by Aimee Perkins; Letting Go by Carolyn Wright, directed by Aimee Perkins; Suicide Queens by Eliza Wyatt, directed
by Rachel Rozycki; Major Issues by Shirley King, directed by Gregory Gerhard; Chop by Dena Mendes, directed
by Francesca Peppiatt; and Becoming Ingrid by Liza Lentini, directed by Gregory Gerhard.
January-June, 2004
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Anarkali at Jallozai by Alex Court
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Staged reading of British playwright Alex Court's work-in-progress on the plight of women under the Afghan Taliban. Reading
took place at Katerina's, a coffeehouse in Chicago.
May 6, 2001
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Don't Promise by Silvia Gonzalez S.
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This world premiere play by award-winning Latina playwright
Silvia Gonzalez S. was directed by Jill Elaine Hughes. Don't Promise addressed a number of women's issues--most notably
the position of women and religion in patriarchal society. Mounted at the Breadline Theatre, Chicago.
"Stockyards Theatre Project [sic] newest show, Don't Promise is a glowing
example of Stockyards commitment to bringing more interesting productions to the city of Chicago." --ChicagoActors.com
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