LORENA: A Tabloid Epic Announced At Boston Playwrights' Theatre

Boston Playwrights' Theatre opens its 2021-22 season with LORENA: a Tabloid Epic by Eliana Pipes. Running from October 14-24, the play is directed by Erica Terpening-Romeo.

LORENA: a Tabloid Epic is a fantastical examination of the media hailstorm surrounding Lorena Bobbitt, who became a sensation after she used a kitchen knife against her abusive husband in 1993. The play's origin can be traced to a memorable phone conversation in which a friend recounted the infamous events to playwright Pipes, who is too young to remember the incident and its aftermath.

"I thought my friend was pitching an original idea, and it blew me away," Pipes says. "I said 'Oh my god, that's the most incredible story I've ever heard-you have got to write that,' and she had to stop me and say, 'No, no, this really happened.' Then I dove into researching to learn more about Lorena myself, and I immediately understood why her story had captured the nation."

Pipes, a member of Boston University's M.F.A. Playwriting Program class of 2021, used that research for an adaptation class, and LORENA: a Tabloid Epic was born. That project became Pipe's thesis and after a year's postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic, she says, "I couldn't be more excited to finally see the play on its feet and share it with an audience."

A post-show conversation with LORENA: a Tabloid Epic's playwright, director and other members of the play's creative team will follow the Oct. 16 performance.

Pipes was the 2021 recipient of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival's (KCACTF) Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award for her play DREAM HOU$E, which will receive a three-theatre (Atlanta's Alliance Theatre, New Haven's Long Wharf Theatre and Baltimore Center Stage) rolling world premiere this season as the winner of the 2021/22 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition. Director Terpening-Romeo received her M.F.A. in Directing from Boston University. She is the co-founder of the Shakespeare company Anon It Moves and former Literary Manager of Portland Actors Ensemble, both in Portland, Oregon.

All the plays in BPT's 2021-22 season were written by the Boston University M.F.A. Playwriting Program class of 2021. Originally slated for the 2020-2021 season, the productions were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. BPT will resume in-person performances with this production. The plays will be co-produced with the Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre as part of its New Play Initiative.

BPT's season continues in November with Gone Nowhere by Daniel C. Blanda; Incels and Other Myths by Ally Sass (December); Rx Machina by Caity-Shea Violette (February); and Beasts (April) by Cayenne Douglass.

Audiences will be required to wear masks and show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to attend performances. Up-to-the-minute information regarding performance schedules, COVID-19 protocols and ticketing can be found on the BPT website (www.BostonPlaywrights.org) under Visit Us > COVID-19 Safety.

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