GEORGIA AND THE BUTCH World Premiere to be Presented at The Tank

The Skeleton Rep(resents) will present the World Premiere of Georgia and the Butch: Adapted from Maria Chabot & Georgia O'Keeffe Correspondence, 1941-1949, a documentary play featuring the letters of the nine-year, intimate correspondence between Georgia O'Keeffe and Maria Chabot, adapted by Carolyn Gage and directed by Sam Given at The Tank, February 25-March 12.

Georgia and The Butch is a new play adapted from the letters between famous artist Georgia O'Keeffe and advocate for Native American arts and rancher Maria Chabot during their nine-year intimate relationship, from 1941 to 1949.

This production is intended to highlight an intense and controversial intimacy that has been minimized, mischaracterized, or written out of Georgia's history. It is a relationship between an older, gender-non-conforming, fiercely independent artist and a young lesbian butch who was experiencing profound confusion about her identity and about her place in the world. Whatever imbalances and dysfunction there may have been between these incredibly strong-willed and visionary women, one cannot dispute that the camping trips with Maria resulted in some of Georgia's most iconic landscapes, and that the house and garden at Abiquiu, designed and built by Maria, stand as a stunning testament to a young lesbian's all-consuming devotion to her muse.

The cast will feature Ria T. DiLullo as Maria Chabot, Gael Schaefer* as Georgia O'Keeffe, and Sheilagh Weymouth* as Mary Cabot Wheelwright. The creative team will include Sound Design by Robert Gonyo, Lighting Design by Jonathan Cottle, and Costume Design by Hope Salvan with Production Stage Manager Daniel Scarantino and Production Assistant Raina Lawrence. *Actor appears courtesy of the Actors' Equity Association.

Performances are scheduled on Tuesday, February 25 at 7pm (opening night), Wednesday, February 26 at 7pm, Saturday, March 1 at 3pm, Monday, March 3 at 7pm, Wednesday, March 5 at 7pm, Saturday, March 8 at 3pm, Sunday, March 9 at 7pm, and Wednesday, March 12 at 7pm. Tickets ($20-$30) are available for advance purchase at https://thetanknyc.org/calendar-1/2025/2/25/georgia-and-the-butch. The performance will run approximately 75 minutes, with no intermission.

Carolyn Gage

(Playwright) is a playwright, performer, director, and activist. The author of nine collections of lesbian and feminist themed plays and eighty-three plays, musicals, and one-woman shows, she specializes in non-traditional roles for women, especially those reclaiming famous lesbians whose stories have been distorted or erased from history. In 2024, Gage won the national Alice B Award, given annually to living writers who have careers distinguished by consistently well-written stories about lesbians. In 2022, her play In McClintock's Corn was National Runner-up for the Jane Chambers Award for Excellence in Feminist Playwriting, sponsored by the Women and Theatre Program of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. Her catalog is online at www.carolyngage.com

Sam Given

(Director) Director: Don't Make Me Over (Ivoryton Playhouse), Make Your Own Kind of Music (Ivoryton Playhouse), Get Happy (Don't Tell Mama), The Sound of Millie (Metropolitan Room), A Very Millie Christmas (Don't Tell Mama). Choreographer: Zorba! (Forest Theatre Guild), The King and I (Forest Theatre Guild), Assistant Director: WindyWoo: The Musical (Legacy Theater), Legs Diamond in Concert (New York Public Library), Orange Star (Bard College, Three-Legged Dog). Assistant Choreographer: Moses in Egypt (New York City Opera), Home Street Home (O'Neill Center, Center Theatre Group, Z Space), The Behavior of Broadus (Capital Stage).

The Skeleton Rep

(resents) is celebrating its tenth year as a new works development company with a mission to Explore Modern Myth. This can mean taking myths from the past into the present, or exploring what is mythical about our own age and putting that on stage. www.skeletonrep.org

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