ON HER SHOULDERS Offers Staged Reading of Three Shorts from The Suffragists Tonight

On Her Shoulders will present a FREE staged reading of three shorts from the Suffragists, directed by Melissa Attebery tonight, February 18, 2015. Doors open at 6:30pm;The Play in Context, which situates the script in its historical time and place, kicks off the evening at 6:45pm with an Introduction by dramaturg Barbara Cohen-Stratyner. Kristin Heckler is Assistant Director. Running time, including a post-performance Q&A is 2 hours. The performance is at New Perspectives Studio, 458 West 37th Street, at 10th Avenue. R.S.V.P to OnHerShouldersReservations@gmail.com.

In The Mother's Meeting (1913) by Mrs. Harlow Phibbs, Mrs. Puckle finds herself having an unexpected reaction to what she hears while attending what she believes to be a Mothers Meeting. In Lady Geraldine's Speech (1909) by Beatrice Harraden, Geraldine visits an old school friend to help her write a favorable speech to give to the National Anti-Suffrage League, but while there, meets some charismatic, successful and intelligent women who soon enlighten and encourage her onto the right path. In How The Vote Was Won (1909) by Cicely Hamilton and Christopher St. John, after the government declares that women do not need votes, as they are all looked after by men, a general women's strike calls for all women who previously supported themselves to leave their jobs and homes and insist on support from their nearest male relatives.

Mrs. Harlow Phibbs (nee Frances Clarke) was the wife of the Church of England Curate in Hastings and appears to have been very active in the Suffrage movement there, including leading the local Women's Suffrage Choir. She wrote The Rack (1912) and is very probably the author of Jim's Leg (1911), another suffrage comic monologue featuring a working class character. Beatrice Harraden was born in London in 1864 and graduated from London University with a BA in Arts, having studied Greek, Latin and English Literature. She was a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), the Women Writers' Suffrage League (WWSL) and the London Graduates' Suffrage Society. She was best known for writing novels and articles, including Ships that Pass in the Night (1894). Plays include The Outcast (1909) written with Bessie Hatton and The Traveler and the Temple of Knowledge (1911). Cicely Hamilton, probably the best known of the Suffrage writers today, was born in London in 1872 and worked as an actress before becoming a writer. Her first big success was Diana of Dobsons (1908). Hamilton was a founding member of the WWSL. Between 1914 and 1917, she worked at the Scottish Women's Hospital in France and formed a repertory theatre company at the Somme. After the First World War, Hamilton worked as a freelance journalist and was a contributor to Time and Tide. Other works include William, an Englishman (1918), The Child in Flanders (1922), The Old Vic (1926) with Lilian Baylis and her autobiography Life Errant (1935). Christopher St. John was born Christabel Marshall in Exeter in 1871 and changed her name after converting to Catholicism. After studying at Somerville College, Oxford, she worked as a secretary to Lady Randolph Churchill and met Edith Craig, the daughter of Ellen Terry, in 1899. A member of both the WWSL and the Actresses' Franchise League (AFL), St. John founded the Pioneer Players with Craig in 1911. Her published works include Hungerheart (1915), The Plays of Roswitha (1923), Ellen Terry and Bernard Shaw: A correspondence (1931) and Ethel Smyth, a biography (1959).

MELISSA ATTEBERY (Director) began in LA in series television at Paramount, Viacom and Granada Entertainment before moving to the NY stage. She assistant-directed for Tina Howe at the 24 Hour Plays on Broadway and directed the award-winning comedy Larry Gets the Call by Matt Casarino, which was then featured at DaDaFest International (Liverpool). She produced A Celebration of Women in Theatre: Miss Representation at The Players. BA, Dramatic Art and Film Studies, UC Santa Barbara; MFA, Directing, Actors Studio Drama School. Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director, Emerging Artists Theatre; Producer, On Her Shoulders; Member, The Actors Studio Playwright/Director Workshop and League of Professional Theatre Women; Associate Member, SDC. www.melissaattebery.com

BARBARA COHEN-STRATYNER, PH. D (Dramaturg) serves as Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg Curator of Exhibitions at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. She has developed over 80 exhibitions on dance, theater, music, popular entertainments, photography, and design for The Library's galleries at Lincoln Center. Some have traveled across the country and to Berlin, China and Taiwan. She holds a BA from Barnard, an MFA in Theater Design and Ph. D. in Performance Studies from NYU, and an MS in the Leadership in Museum Education program at the Bank Street College of Education and has taught at CCNY and Parsons School of Design.

ON HER SHOULDERS was founded in 2012 to present staged readings of plays by women from across the spectrum of time, with contemporary dramaturgs contextualizing-and in some cases adapting--them for modern audiences. The program aims to make it impossible to deny or ignore the great tradition and value of women's contribution to the theatrical canon. OHS became a program of NPTC in November 2013 with Melody Brooks and Melissa Attebery as producers. To date the program has presented 18 plays by 17 playwrights, with works from the years 1718 to 1966. The program currently offers a reading every other month.

NEW PERSPECTIVES THEATRE COMPANY (NPTC) is an award-winning, multi-racial company now in its 23rd season. The Company's mission is to develop and produce new plays and playwrights, especially women and people of color; to present classic plays in a style that addresses contemporary issues; and to extend the benefits of theatre to young people and communities in need. Our aim is not to exclude, but to cast a wider net. www.nptnyc.org

THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DRAMA: The creative home for the future of performing arts. Agile. Engaged. Innovative. Multi-disciplinary. The New School for Drama is home to a dynamic group of young directors, writers, actors, creative technologists, and award-winning faculty. With a core belief in rigorous creativity and collaborative learning, our programs embrace civic awareness across performance disciplines to create work imbued with professionalism, imagination and social context. For more information, please visit www.newschool.edu/drama

The Play in Context, the dramaturgical and scholarly presentation component to the program, is sponsored in part by the League of Professional Theatre Women, a non-profit organization promoting visibility and increasing opportunities for women in theatre since 1982. www.theatrewomen.org

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