Town Hall Theatre Announces Second Show Of 2021-2022 Season ANTIGONE, PRESENTED BY THE GIRLS OF ST. CATHERINE'S

A piece written by Madhuri Shekar "Antigone, presented by the girls of St. Catherine's" will be the second show for the 2021-2022 Mainstage Season at Lafayette's Town Hall Theatre.

The St. Catherine's Preparatory School Drama club is about to put on their first play when suddenly, a scandal: their beloved drama teacher has betrayed them in an unforgivable way. Their production of Sophacles' Antigone becomes a shocking parallel for their own roles in society. Posing the impossible questions: What is the right thing to do? Should the show go on? And how does a teenager stand up to authority?

"Antigone is a character that is hard to forget." shared director Claire Ganem. "A daughter of Oedipus, she was an anarchist ahead of her time- standing up for what she believed in despite society's attempts to silence her. Many young women are introduced to Antigone during high school English class while they are growing into societies' rules of what women should be and what they should accept. Antigone, Presented by the Girls of St Catherine's introduces us to a group of these young women, embarking on a school production of Antigone. I found myself particularly drawn to these characters as they attempt to navigate the right moral choices while fighting against an environment that is trying to silence them. We cannot wait to share Shekar's retelling of this classic Greek myth with Town Hall audiences!"

"Antigone, presented by the girls of St. Catherine's" will feature talkbacks after the June 11th and June 18th performances with the cast and Victoria Schubert-Gardiner.

For our performance on Juneteenth, all bar and audience donations will be shared with Ujima The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community. https://ujimacommunity.org/

Antigone, presented by the girls of St. Catherine's contains Strong Language and Themes of Sexual assault.

Madhuri Shekar is a playwright and screenwriter of the 2020 Amazon/Blumhouse feature "EVIL EYE" produced by Priyanka Chopra Jonas and starring Sarita Choudhury, based on her Audible original audio drama. She is currently writing the screenplay for "SISTER ACT 3", produced by Whoopi Goldberg and Tyler Perry, and directed by Tim Federle. Her TV credits include the upcoming series adaptation of "THREE BODY PROBLEM" for Netflix, executive produced by Benioff and Weiss, Alex Woo, and Rian Johnson, and the HBO fantasy epic "THE NEVERS". She is writing a new epic drama pilot for Hulu, ABC Studios and Nisha Ganatra. Her play "A NICE INDIAN BOY" is also being adapted into a film by Levantine Films.

She received her MFA from USC and graduated from the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at Juilliard. Her play "HOUSE OF JOY" first premiered at California Shakespeare Theatre in 2019, and will have its next production at St. Louis Rep. Her other plays include "QUEEN" (2019 New York Innovative Theatre Awards, Outstanding Original Full Length Script; Edgerton New Play Award), "IN LOVE AND WARCRAFT" (Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award), "A NICE INDIAN BOY", "ANTIGONE: PRESENTED BY THE GIRLS OF ST. CATHERINE'S" and the TYA play "BUCKET OF BLESSINGS" (Suzi Bass Award for Outstanding Original Work - TYA).

Claire Ganem is a director/performer/educator, who has a passion for bringing new works to the stage. She is a current company member and ambassador at Playground SF. In addition to Playground, her work has been featured at Magic Theatre, Cutting Ball Theater, Pianofight, and Santa Cruz Shakespeare. Upcoming: Mirror Face at 3Girls Theatre Company in June 2022. She is a proud graduate of UC Santa Cruz and Nazareth College of Rochester, NY.

Victoria Schubert-Gardiner holds a Master of Arts in Dramaturgy from the University of California, Santa Cruz. While there she worked on a landmark production of Luis Valdez's Zoot Suit and wrote her thesis on anti-fascist protest theater while working on Brect's The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui. Victoria has always had a passion for the revitalizing of classical works through modern plays; the very thing that makes Antigone, Presented by the girl's of St. Catherine's so fascinating to work on! She is delighted to be working with Town Hall Theater Company for this outing.

https://www.theatrebayarea.org

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