Glass Ceiling Breakers 3-A Festival of Short Plays and Films by Women Artists at Philipstown Depot Theatre

Theatre Revolution breaks Glass Ceilings…again!

Theatre Revolution, the first theatre company in the Hudson Valley to produce a women’s short play festival, is back and crashing through even more glass ceilings! TR is returning to their home away from home at the Philipstown Depot Theatre with Glass Ceiling Breakers 3 on June 16, 17 and 18. This time they will be presenting short plays AND short films from all over the world. It’s believed that this is the first women’s film festival in the Hudson Valley and they couldn’t be happier! And, as if that weren’t enough, the Bedford Playhouse will be hosting The Best of the Fest: GCB3 Films on Thursday September 14. Films selected for The Best of the Fest will be announced on June 18th. 

TR founder and Artistic Director Gabrielle Fox says “Women artists are underrepresented at every level of the entertainment industry and while there has been progress, we need more. When Nora Matz (co-producer) and I started speaking about bringing GCB back to audiences, we decided to go bigger and bolder by adding films! Our inaugural year will include films with artists from the US, Israel, France, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, and Serbia.” Fox says they wanted to call attention to the great work women are doing and give them a platform to share it. 

The festival will include three nights of short plays by Kristin Battersby of Beacon who will be directing her play, Sharon Cooper of NYC with roots in Garrison (Sharon also has 2 films in the fest!), Adrienne LaValley of Peekskill who will be directing her play, Steph Prizhitomsky of NYC who is also directing, Evelyn Mertens of Briarcliff Manor (Evelyn also has a film in the fest!), Susan Jennifer Polese of North Salem, Kelli Lynn Woodend of Kentucky and Louise Schwarz from NYC. 

Directors for the plays include Cat Banks of Peekskill (also starring in a play!), Jess Bauman of NYC, Mel Nocera of Yorktown Hts, James Phillips of Newburgh, Susan Ward of Ossining, and Lucia Bellini of NYC. 

Fox has deep roots in theatre and two of her theatrical works have been made into films and will be included in the festival as well. She is also teaming up with Lucia Bellini from NYC (by way of Italy) to present the world premiere of her short play Latte Love You.S.A. Bellini and Fox have collaborated several times including on the short film Liberty Speaks which will be screened at the festival along with two other films directed by Bellini: Firsts and Stuck. Fox is particularly proud of bringing her award-winning film Father Daughter Dance home to the Depot Theatre where it was originally presented as a play and served as the location for the film. 

Other Hudson Valley artists you’ll see in the fest are Susan Ward from Ossining who will be directing Goodnight, Annabelle by Susan Jennifer Polese, Michelle Concha Herko, also of Ossining, who stars in the film Star Qualitydirected by Ward and written by Evelyn Mertens. 

GCB3 will host a panel discussion, Women in the Business with Annetta Marion of NYC and Sol Miranda of Peekskill. Annetta Marion recently produced Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, which received standing ovations at the Sundance Film Festival and the HOPE Filmmakers Award at SWSX, and will be released theatrically and drop on AppleTV+ on May 12. Annetta is a Primetime Emmy-nominated director and showrunner known for her work on Oprah’s Master Class and NBC’s Making It. You’ll be able to catch her short film Midas’ Son at the festival. “I’m honored for the invitation to talk about such an important and timely topic - women in entertainment!"

Born & raised in Puerto Rico, Sol Miranda is known widely for her roles as "mole woman" Donna Maria Nuñez on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and the medium Beatriz on Archive 81 both series #1 globally on Netflix. Most recently, she co-starred in Daniel Poliner's indie feature Come Find Me, a Latinx mother-daughter story with Victoria Cartagena and Tovah Feldshuh. On stage, her one woman show “I Am Here. I Belong. This is Peekskill a Friendly Town”, based on interviews to Latino/a/e residents in Peekskill, was presented at MOCA in 2017 thanks to a NEA grant for Lana Yu’s “What Matters?” multidisciplinary project.

Tickets are $25 for plays Friday, June 16 at 7:30 pm; Saturday, June 17 at 8 pm and Sunday, June 18 at 2 pm. Tickets are $20 for Film Block 1 Saturday at 2 pm; Film Block 2 Saturday at 4 pm; and Sunday at 4:30 pm. $10 for The Women in Business Panel Discussion, Saturday, June 17 at 3pm. A Saturday All Day Pass is $60; a Sunday All Day Pass is $40 and a Three-Day Festival All Access Pass is $80. Tickets and information on casts and creatives can be found at www.theatrerevolution.org