Pride Films and Plays Kicks Off WOMEN'S WORK WEEKEND

PFP's Women's Work endeavors to enhance the visibility of excellent sreenplays and stage plays written by women with lesbian characters or themes.

The program is open to all women, regardless of sexual orientation, whose writing is pertinent to the lesbian community and relevant to the world. Only with concerted and continuing dedication can we help raise the quality and quantity of superlative Sapphic scripts across the country.

The Women's Work Weekend is today, September 13 to 15 in the Center on Halsted's Hoover-Leppen Theatre, at 3656 North Halsted on the third floor. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased HERE.

Here is the schedule for the weekend:

Let All Mortal Flesh by Pat Montley: Friday, September 13 at 7:00 PM
Sweetwater by Christina Hulen: Saturday, September 14 at 2:30 PM
180 Degree Rule by M.E.H. Lewis and Barbara Lhota:Saturday, September 14 at 7:00 PM
The Green Door by Gail Hackston: Sunday, September 15 at 1:00 PM
Semi-Circle by Eileen Tull: Sunday, September 15 at 3:30 PM
Moon Dancers by Mary Steelsmith: Sunday, September 15 at 3:30 PM

Your support of our Women's Work Weekend provides performance fees for artists, marketing for the festival, and enables writers from around the country to work with our Artistic Ensemble Members on these scripts, which are so full of potential. Please visit our donor pageand make sure you indicate your tax-deductible donation is to support Women's Work!

Find the schedule and information on the readings here. Below is casting information on three of the programs:

Sweetwater by Christina Hulen: Saturday, September 14 at 2:30 PM

This high-flying WWII romantic adventure follows a farm girl leaving the only life she's ever known to pursue her dream of joining the elite Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), only to discover that dream threatened when she falls for a fellow recruit.

Christina Hulen is a writer, producer, and designer. She has written and directed two short films that have screened internationally.

Since graduating from his MFA, director Jude Hansen* has performed in Emperor of the Moon with Halcyon and is also devising a project with The New Colony. Currently, he is directing for AdLIB festival with Ex-pats and assistant directing Clybourne Park at Red Twist and is really excited to start shooting independent film Saguatuck Cures this October. This is his fifth reading with PFP, his first as director. Previously he was seen as Pig in Pig, Scudder in Maurice, Teddy in Mr. Teddy and as Barry in Forbidden Glass.

The cast includes Rachel Van Marter, Mara Stern, Victoria Alvarez Chacon, Kenzie Seibert, Nikkia Tyler, Paige Reilly Valerie Heckman, MerEdith Barry, Julia Daubert, Joan McGrath*, Michelle McKenzie- Voigt*, Justin Harner, Derek Herman, and Tom Chiola*.

*Member of PFP's Artistic Ensemble.

The shorts program on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 features Moon Dancers and Semi Circle.

Moon Dancers by Mary Steelsmith.

Bette and Ronnie's plan to ditch church camp to meet secretly is in jeopardy after they are forced into separate cabins for the first time. Ronnie's fear of losing her precious love blossoms into hostility toward Bette. Should they still dance to the moon tonight?

Mary Steelsmith is an internationally-produced wordsmith and the only woman awarded the Helford Prize, which she received for her play Isaac, I Am. (marysteelsmith.com)

Semi-Circle by Eileen Tull

Two young women meet at The Edge of Lake Michigan and it's all like a dream. They're falling in love and things are falling into place right before it all falls apart and everything breaks again.

Eileen Tull is a solo performer, writer, and former Chicagoan currently based in Cincinnati. Her plays have also been produced in New York City, San Francisco, Boca Raton, and Philadelphia. (eileentull.com)

Director Allison Bodnar Jaros is an activist and interdisciplinary artist based in Chicago, IL. Her work examines social issues surrounding gender, culture, history, and liberation movements. She has worked in the areas of storytelling, theatre, and education and is currently focused on international activism and American politics. She is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago's Fiction Writing Program.

The cast for both shows is Jenna Anas and Teresa Kuruvilla.

Let All Mortal Flesh, by Pat Montley

It's 1955. Christina Gallagher's parochial school education, stern confessor, and runaway adulterous mother make her distrust her body and pursue spiritual perfection. But her moral code is challenged when she realizes the next door neighbors-her adored teacher and the family doctor-are lesbians. Meanwhile, the couple battles their own demons of fear and guilt.

Pat Montley, Dramatist Guild member, has had 14 plays published (Samuel French, Playscripts, Inc., Meriwether, Heinemann, Applause, Dramatic Publishing, Prentice-Hall, ICWP Dramatics Magazine) and over 200 productions.

Director Alexander St. John* directs, acts, and sound designs around Chicago. He is an Artistic Associate of Pride Films & Plays and an Artist-in-Residence with Halcyon Theatre. Most recently, he sound designed the Jeff-nominated Under A Rainbow Flag. He hails from the east coast where he studied theatre at Bennington College.

The cast features Jill Harman, Kelly Opalko, Gail Gallagher, Emily Forberg Wesley Whitaker, Kristofer Hyland* and Matthew Webb.

*Member of PFP's Artistic Ensemble.

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