EVERY WAITING HEART, the full-length play by Lauren Ferebee that was planned pre-COVID for a fully staged production in June 2020, will be produced as an audio drama streaming for an open-ended run and premiering on Tuesday, November 10. All of the actors who had been cast for the play's full production will be heard in the new audio production, which will be available free on the company's website and will also be featured in the bi-weekly ARTEMISIA FEMINIST PODCAST series. Artemisia Founding Artistic Director Julie Proudfoot, who is directing the production, made the announcement today.
The winner of Artemisia's 2018 Fall Festival of new feminist plays, EVERY WAITING HEART centers on the relationship between an overworked single mother and her rebellious teenaged daughter. Sherri and Annette have been an unbreakable mother-daughter duo since childhood, but suddenly Annette's rebelling and Sherri's terrified. Desperate for help, Sherri goes to a speed-dating event at a Pentecostal church that unexpectedly changes the course of both of their lives and fractures the bond that has held them together for so long. A deep and intimate dive into what it means to be a strong woman, EVERY WAITING HEART is an unflinching examination of faith and the many variations of love. Director Proudfoot says, "We are living in a time when cultural gaps are becoming dangerously wide, blurring our common humanity with religious imperatives. Lauren's fearless play mirrors our collective crisis of faith and empowers us to follow the truth we discover in our own hearts."
In the leading roles of mother and daughter Sherri and Annette are Sarah Beth Tanner as Sherri and Patty Malaney as Annette. Sarah Beth Tanner has been seen recently in A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE (Pride Films & Plays), SOUTHERN GOTHIC (Windy City Playhouse), TWO DAYS IN COURT (City Lit Theatre), and HAYMARKET: A NEW FOLK MUSICAL (Underscore Theatre Company). Patty Malaney's previous credits include THE WOLVES (Flint Repertory Theatre), CHEWING ON BECKETT (Artemisia Theatre), BELFAST GIRLS (Artemisia Theatre), THE CHANGELING (The Shakespeare Project of Chicago) and THE MERRY WIDOW (
Michigan Opera Theatre). Also in the cast are Anita Kavuu Ng'ang'a (Miriam), Harmony Zhang (Ruth), Myesha-Tiara (Hannah),
John Ham (Leon) and
Tamarus Harvell (Charlie). Willow James is sound designer.
EVERY WAITING HEART will be available to hear and download at www.artemisiatheatre.org and will also be delivered to subscribers of the bi-weekly ARTEMISIA FEMINIST PODCAST. This podcast series that began in May 2020 is now focused on audio productions of rarely produced classics and all-new feminist plays, such as EVERY WAITING HEART, and to discussions of the plays with the creative teams. Julie Proudfoot is teaming with Charlique C. Rolle, Executive Director of Congo Square Theatre, as Co-Curator and Co-Director of the readings, and with Sound Designer Willow James. The first audio drama in the podcast series was THEY THAT SIT IN DARKNESS, by the pioneering African American playwright Mary P. Burrill, directed by Rolle and sound designed by James.
Each reading will be followed by a full-length podcast, released two weeks later, that will deliver a discussion of the plays and the impact of their messages and social justice themes. The podcasts will be released biweekly on Tuesdays and listeners can visit
artemisiatheatre.org to subscribe to the podcasts and Artemisia's newsletter. The discussion of EVERY WAITING HEART will be released on November 24, 2020. Proudfoot says, "We hope to recreate the passion for women-focused plays generated by Artemisia's past Fall Festivals by presenting virtual performances and exciting discussions about rarely produced classic and all-new plays by BIPOC & white feminist writers." The series will continue on December 8 (discussion on December 22) and with an additional eight audio dramas streaming in 2021. Titles and casts to be announced.
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