Rover's 365 Women a Year Festival Sets 2016 Lineup

For the second year, Rover Dramawerks is pleased to partner with the playwrights' group 365 Women a Year to present a festival of plays by women, about women, for everyone. This international playwriting coalition, founded by Jesslynn Eisenberg Chamblee, involves playwrights across the world who have signed on to write one or more plays about extraordinary women in both past and present history. The project's ambitious yet focused goal is to write women back into the social consciousness, as well as empower and promote female playwrights, and plant seeds of herstory around the country.

Twelve performances and three staged readings by playwrights from seven states will take place Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m., and Saturdays at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. May 5-14, at Rover Dramawerks, located in Ruisseau Village at 221 W. Parker Rd, Suite 580, at the northwest corner of Parker and 75.

Thursday, May 5, 8:00 pm

Fly Girl by Renee Lucas Wayne (Philadelphia, PA), directed by Buster Spiller, about aviator Bessie Coleman

First Day in Trade by Jennifer O'Grady (Pelham, NY), directed by Kayla Freeman, about former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Soraya's Eyes by Rhea McCallum (Downey, CA), directed by Lindsey Humphries, about Somalian filmmaker and female genital mutilation/human rights activist Soraya Mire

"Twas Mercy Brought Me..." * by Paula J. Sanders (Dallas, TX), directed by Buster Spiller, about African slave poetess Phillis Wheatley

Friday, May 6, 8:00 pm

Soraya's Eyes

She Was Never Lost by Allie Costa (Los Angeles, CA), directed by Kevin Westbrook, about Alice Liddell, upon whom Alice in Wonderland was based.

Recipe for Espionage (Before She Was Julia Child) by Carol M. Rice (Plano, TX), directed by Kevin Westbrook, about Julia McWilliams Child as a World War II spy

Homespun Webs by C.J. Ehrlich (Chappaqua, NY), directed by Shanna Threlkeld, about artist Louise Bourgeois

Fossil Lady by Claudia I. Haas (White Bear Lake, MN), directed by Libby Mitchell, about paleontologist Mary Anning

Fly Girl

The Dance Maker by Susan Shafer (New York, NY), directed by Glynda Welch, about choreographer Agnes deMille

Saturday, May 7, 2:00 pm

First Woman of Industry by Nancy Gall-Clayton (Jeffersonville, IN), directed by Matt Stepan, about German businesswoman Catherine Danenhold Melcher

Fly Girl

Don't Know No Jokes by Annie Wood (Burbank, CA), directed by Matt Stepan, about comedienne Moms Mabley

Future Girl Visits Barbie's Mom by Ellen Davis Sullivan (Andover, MA), directed by Glynda Welch, about Ruth Handler, developer of Barbie dolls and founder of Mattel Toys

"Twas Mercy Brought Me..." *

Saturday, May 7, 8:00 pm

First Day in Trade

Never Forget by Donna Hoke (Buffalo, NY), directed by Kayla Freeman, about author Shirley Jackson

Push Boldly Off * by Donna Latham (Houston, TX), directed by Libby Mitchell, about writer Louisa May Alcott as a child

Thursday, May 12, 8:00 pm

Recipe for Espionage (Before She Was Julia Child)

Homespun Webs

First Woman of Industry

Fossil Lady

Future Girl Visits Barbie's Mom

Soraya's Eyes

She Was Never Lost

Friday, May 13, 8:00 pm

Never Forget

Recipe for Espionage (Before She Was Julia Child)

Future Girl Visits Barbie's Mom

Don't Know No Jokes

(Mama) King Chronicles * by Rita Anderson (Austin, TX), directed by Brandi L. McDowell, about Alberta King, mother of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Dance Maker

Saturday, May 14, 2:00 pm

Homespun Webs

Fossil Lady

Push Boldly Off *

Saturday, May 14, 8:00 pm

The Dance Maker

Never Forget

She Was Never Lost by

Don't Know No Jokes

(Mama) King Chronicles *

First Woman of Industry

First Day in Trade

* Staged reading

Plays range from long monologues to large casts and cover the last 300 years to present day and everywhere in between. Likewise, they will range in length from less than 10 minutes to over an hour.

Tickets for the 365 Women a Year Festival are $14.00 for adults and $12.00 for students/seniors and members of the League of Professional Theatre Women and may be ordered online at www.roverdramawerks.com.

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