Theater For the New City to Present THAT'S (NOT) ALL SHE WROTE... in April

From April 25 to 27, Theater for the New City will present "THAT'S (NOT) ALL SHE WROTE...because after 50, she's got A LOT to say." The piece is a showcase of "She Speaks, She Talks," a unique new genre of theater pioneered at Westchester Collaborative Theater of Ossining, NY by a team led by Lori M. Myers, producer, and Carol Mark, director. The audience is meant to imagine itself as present in a playwriting workshop for women over 50 who are reading and acting their own work. The goal is to reveal how women "of a certain age" are thinking in these times by putting a face on the playwrights and also by putting them face-to-face with their audience. 

Women over 50 are often marginalized in theater, both as creators and subjects. This production is meant to spotlight their perspectives, life experiences, and untold stories—offering something fresh, insightful, and deeply human. It is performed by artists of Westchester Collaborative Theater, a membership theater in Ossining, NY, which has developed this format in three previous similar workshops.  They mapped the evening by sending out a request for submissions, calling for short pieces or excerpts from larger works. Nine playlets were chosen, in themes including politics, age, gender and fertility. They will be performed script-in-hand by a diverse group of five women over 50 that includes professional writers and actors.

The entire evening is a play-within-a-play in which the theater audience plays onlookers at a gathering of writers. The writers talk to each other and to the onlookers, breaking the fourth wall and putting everyone into the world of the playwright. In some cases, the setting goes well beyond the walls of a theater. For example, "Civil Disobedience" by Lori M. Myers takes place in a re-imagining of the January 6 insurrection and the audience becomes, figuratively, part of the crowd.  Info on the playlets and the participating artists follows below.

Theater for The New City embraces the work of small developmental theater companies who experiment with new forms.  The theater aims to embody the vision of a center for innovative theater arts that is accessible to the community and its artists, facilitating a bridge between playwright, the experimental theater artist, and the community.

Producer Lori M. Myers writes, "TNC has embraced us with this tremendous opportunity to present our creative work as women playwrights to a New York City audience. That support from this renowned theater means the world. Thank you, TNC, from the bottom of our hearts!" 

THE PLAYS

"Window at Nir Oz Kibbutz" by Loretta Oleck is a monologue where an imagined deceased girl speaks to her older sister in the aftermath of the atrocities of October 7th.

"Kindling" by Jessica W. Bonds is the story of a woman speaking to her friends about her new lease on life. 

"There She Is…" by Kathryn Rosseter is a lecture to pageant contestants.

"Please Marry My Dad" by Kathryn Rossetter is a desperate search for Mr. Right on the treadmill of life.

 "The Heart of the Matter" by Kathryn Rossetter is a short exercise in futility among an academic, a politician, a scientist and a typical, ordinary woman.

"Fertility Rites" by Joni Fritz is a story of one woman's fertility journey. 

"Civil Disobedience" by Lori M. Myers is a re-imagining of the January 6 insurrection. 

 "Independence Day" by Joni Fritz is one woman's coming out party... and it's not what you think. 

"Road Kill" by Carol Mark is a play about how misery may love company but it can play havoc on a relationship.

PLAYWRIGHT/ACTORS

Lori M. Myers is an award-winning writer, playwright, actor, producer, director. Broadway World Award nominee; Pushcart Prize nominee. Her plays have been produced across the US, Canada, and internationally. She has had over 1500 articles published in more than 45 print and online publications, and dozens of short fiction/plays/monologues in print anthologies. Her play “Ruthie Lives Here” was chosen as one of the Best 10-Minute Plays for 2025. She is the Drama/Nonfiction Editor for Masque & Spectacle, an online literary journal.

Carol Mark is a playwright, director and actor.  Her plays have been produced by the Westchester Collaborative Theater, The Actors Playhouse, GoJo Productions and the Ridgefield Theater Barn.  Several of her plays have made it to the final round of the annual Aery Festival at the Philipstown Depot Theater in Garrison, NY, winning Best Actress in 2023 for her performance in her own play, ‘Ode to Clouds’.

Jessica W. Bonds is an actress, emerging playwright, and emerging director known for her versatility and depth. Her work spans theater, film, and commercials, including roles in "Invisible Shark," "Murder by The Lake," "Redeemed, "and as Cornelia Rain Barton in "Paule Cuffe In Search of A New Land." She co-wrote and performed "Gladys Day- The Love and Lives" and recently presented her monologue "Kindred" in WCT’s "That's Not All She Wrote." In 2025, she will perform her play "Peregrination" at the Glass Ceiling Breakers festival, portray Aunt Susie in "Sisters of Conflict" and play "Jade in Not His Type."

Joni Fritz has appeared on NYC and regional stages, television, and countless TV commercials. Her segue into writing began as a comedy writer for USA Network. Among her writing highlights are: "Girl's Room" starring Broadway legends Carol Lawrence and Donna McKechnie and "In the Car with Blossom and Len," named Best New Play at Centenary Stage. She has created over 400 videos, live theatrical pieces, podcasts and documentaries for numerous Fortune 500 companies.

Loretta Oleck has had plays selected as semi-finalists in the Gary Marshall Theater’s New Works Festival, has been a finalist in the Henley Rose Playwright Competition for Women, and has been a finalist for Playwrights First "Best New Play Award." Her works have been produced at Westchester Collaborative Theater, NY Theater Festival, NY International Human Rights Festival, the Aery Theater Festival, Cork Arts Theater Festival (Cork, Ireland), Actors Theater Playhouse (New Hampshire), The Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art, The Hammond Museum, and numerous other venues.

Kathryn Rossetter has acted on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Regional, Film & TV.  Writings include essays in "No Kidding; Women Writers on Bypassing Parenthood," "The Hollywood Reporter," "Baby Boomers.com," "Manifest Station" and The Gettysburg Magazine. Screenplays include"Fine!" and "Virgin Territory." She has been a semi-finalist for Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. Her one-Act plays include “The Water Boy”  in NYC and "FORE!", performed in London, Minnesota & The Aery Festival.  Her full length play, “Tacky Gardens,” won the TNT POPS new play contest and premieres this month in Boerne, Texas. She is recipient of a Tennessee Williams Fellowship for developing solo performances.

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