Jeanne Dorsey's THE KIT: MADE BY MARTHA Will Have Premiere Reading as Part Of The Alfred P. Sloan 2023 First Light Festival

Bechdel Project and Ensemble Studio Theatre will present the world premiere reading of Jeanne Dorsey's play, The Kit: Made by Martha, directed by Jackson Gay, on May 7th (3pm) and 8th (7pm) in New York City at Alchemical Studios (50 W 17th St.) Reserve tickets here.

Commissioned by the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project, and developed with support from Bechdel Project's year-long ROO Residency, The Kit: Made by Martha explores the life and work of Martha Goddard, inventor of the first standardized rape kit.

While working a crisis hotline for runaway teenage girls in 1972 Chicago, Goddard ponders how rape could be investigated as an actual crime rather than a made-up story. At a time when sexual violence in America is rarely prosecuted, her innovative thinking sets her on a path to create a powerful scientific procedure that could transform criminal forensics and bring justice to countless victims of sexual assault.

Dorsey's play deftly weaves Goddard's obsession with crafting miniatures (like those Goddard saw at the Chicago Art Institute) and her journey through the gritty world of sex crimes, the Chicago PD, a surprising alliance with Hugh Hefner's Playboy Foundation, and her own rape later in life which she ironically never reported.

The Kit: Made by Martha is a powerful reminder that even when we are flawed and seemingly unremarkable, we can still change the world.

This reading is presented as part of the 2023 First Light Festival, the EST/Sloan Project's annual presentation of new readings, workshops, and productions.

Jeanne Dorsey is a New York based writer of plays, screenplays, teleplays, and essays. Her plays have been produced at Ensemble Studio Theatre, SoHo Playhouse, Apartment A Theatre, The Play Group, Gilgamesh Theatre Group, and New Georges. Her essay "Motherhood, Adoption, Ambivalence" is included in No Kidding: Women Writers on Bypassing Parenthood published in April 2013 by Seal Press. Smith and Krauss, Heinemann Press and Applause Books have published her monologuess. She has received fellowships to Fundación Valparaiso in Spain, Monson Arts, Ragdale, the Santa Fe Art Institute, Ucross, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Dramatists Guild, Honor Role, and is a New Georges Affiliated Artist.

Jackson Gay has directed at regional theatres from coast to coast and is the co-producing artistic director of New Neighborhood, which recently joined forces with Rattlestick and The Commissary to produce Why Would I Dare: The Trial of Crystal Mason. New Neighborhood also produced Filibustered and Unfiltered: America Reads the Mueller Report, which was featured everywhere, from the Los Angeles Times ("a live-theater summer sensation!") to Breitbart News ("the single most boring and pointless way to waste your time!"). Jackson holds an MFA in Directing from Yale School of Drama.

BECHDEL PROJECT (Maria Aparo, Lucy Flournoy, & Jens Rasmussen, Co-Creative Directors) is a non-profit feminist arts incubator based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Founded in 2015 to tell stories that pass the Bechdel test, the programming has expanded to include script Development through their ROO Residency and FIFE Fellowships, Education offerings of their "life-changing" workshops and residencies for universities across the country, and Advocacy that supports the anti-sexism work of other organizations through various partnerships and Bechdel Project's free community space program.

The Ensemble Studio Theatre (Estefanía Fadul & Graeme Gillis, Co-Artistic Directors) is a not-for-profit theatre focused on developing and producing original, provocative, and authentic new plays to engage and challenge our audiences. Founded in 1968 by Curt Dempster, EST has grown to a dynamic community of over 650 artists and has a prolific and energetic history of discovering and nurturing new voices and supporting artists throughout their creative lives. EST is committed to collaborative processes and is dedicated to inclusion across all aspects of identity and perspective by acknowledging and working to end systemic marginalization and oppression at all levels of the organization.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director) is a New York-based philanthropic organization that makes grants for research and education in science, technology, and economics. Sloan's program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology, directed by Doron Weber, aims to integrate the two cultures of science and the humanities by supporting an array of original works such as books, radio, television, film, theater, and new media. In addition to EST's flagship initiative, Sloan's theater program supports the Manhattan Theatre Club, The National Theatre in England, and L.A. Theatre Works' Relativity, an ongoing series of the best science-themed radio plays. For more information visit sloan.org or follow @SloanPublic on Twitter or Facebook.

The EST/Sloan Project (Graeme Gillis, Program Director; Linsay Firman, Associate Director), a pioneering collaboration between the Ensemble Studio Theatre and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is designed to stimulate artists to create credible and compelling new theatrical works that explore the worlds of science, technology, and economics and to challenge existing stereotypes of scientists and engineers in popular culture. Since its inception in 1998, the EST/Sloan Project has commissioned, developed, and produced over 350 staged plays involving over 1,000 playwrights, actors, choreographers, composers, and theatre companies nationwide.

 

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