Clutch Productions Commissions New Play From Collaborative Team

Clutch Productions has announced their third new play commission that engages a collaborative, interdisciplinary framework for development. Helmed by Mêlisa Annis (playwright/director/producer), Christianne Greiert (actor/dramaturg/producer), and Vanessa Morosco (director/dramaturg/ethicist), the generated play - Working Title ME - will explore a spectrum of women and their narratives through the lens of Time.

Thematically the play will examine and imagine:

When women are powerful and in power...
When dreams are realized...
When the generational impact of societal structures accumulate...
And how women experience Time and paradigm realignment.

When asked why the collaborators chose to generate a new play about women and their experience of Time right now, Ms. Greiert said, "As individuals, communities, and the world at large are moving through and understanding what the arts mean to us in a pandemic - potentially endemic - existence, it is vital to create supportive spaces and the opportunity to examine society through multiple lenses." Ms. Morosco adds, "The theater industry in the United States can (and should) be an active contributor to closing the gender gap by creating content that activates conversation and represents a multiplicity of women-identifying voices that reflects the diversity of our audiences. With this commission, Clutch is creating a model that provides a workplace where women-identifying theater professionals have support and opportunities for omni-directional mentorship."

The team has been collaborating on the project since December 2021 and is in the process of bringing other women-identifying artists into the creative mix ahead of a workshop next month. The world premiere of ME is slated for Spring 2023.