THE MADRES By Stephanie Alison Walker Announced as The 77th NNPN Rolling World Premiere

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, announces its 74th Rolling World Premiere (RWP): The Madres by Stephanie Alison Walker. The Roll will run through Skylight Theatre Company (March 10-April 29 in Los Angeles, CA) and Teatro Vista (April 21-May 27 in Chicago, IL), MOXIE Theatre (May 13-June 10, in San Diego, CA), and Shrewd Productions (August 24-September 15 in Austin, TX). The Madres was presented at NNPN's 2016 National Showcase of New Plays, hosted by the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas-Austin.

From Ms. Walker: "The Madres is a story about the strength and resilience of women. It's about brave women who refused to be silenced. When they chose to speak out, to stand up and march, they were called "crazy/ Las Locas" - as women who speak truth to power often are. No one believed their stories of their missing children. No one believed the government could or would do such a thing. No one wanted to believe them. This didn't stop Las Madres from speaking out, demanding justice and showing up every Thursday to march right in front of the Casa Rosada (Argentina's equivalent of our White House.) Las Madres - the original Women's Marchers - were the first to resist the Argentine dictatorship.

"The timing of the world premiere of The Madres is remarkable because it seems people are finally listening to women. I pray that we never stop listening. There is so much we can learn from Las Madres and their brave act of resistance. Let us never forget, let us never be complacent in the face of injustice, let us always be as brave as Las Madres. Ni olvido, ni perdón!"

In an NNPN Rolling World Premiere, the Network provides production support to the playwright and the partnering theaters, including assistance with the creation and the contracting of the premiere agreement, collaborative interactions between the theaters, and travel and housing funds for the playwright to further develop the play in each city.

ABOUT THE MADRES
It's 1978 in Buenos Aires, Argentina where people are disappearing right off the street but no one is talking about it. The so-called "Dirty War" waged by the military Junta against its own people is in full-swing. Carolina and her mother Josefina are searching for their pregnant daughter/granddaughter, Belén, who has been missing for twelve weeks. When they receive a surprise visit first from a former neighborhood priest who is now stationed at the ESMA (the Navy Mechanics school turned concentration camp in the middle of the city,) they come up with a plan to try to see Belén one last time. Will it work? Will they be able to save her baby? Will they be able to save themselves?

ABOUT STEPHANIE ALISON WALKER
Stephanie is the winner of the Ashland New Plays Festival, American Blues' Blue Ink Award and the Generations Prize, as well as the runner-up for the Jane Chambers Award. She has been a finalist for the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, ATCA's Francesca Primus Prize, the CTG/Humanitas Playwriting Prize, the Saroyan/Paul Playwriting Prize for Human Rights and four-time Finalist for the Heideman Award. Her full-length plays include The Madres, The Abuelas, Friends With Guns, The Art of Disappearing, American Home, The Sister House, Three Fittings and The Box Jumper. Stephanie's work has been produced and/or developed at Los Angeles' Skylight Theatre, Moving Arts, Antaeus Theatre Company, The Road Theatre, Inkwell Theatre, The Blank Theatre, San Diego Rep, 16th Street Theater in Chicago, Chicago Dramatists, Boulder Ensemble Theater Company, American Blues Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville and more. Stephanie's short plays are anthologized by Smith & Kraus and have been produced all over the world. Stephanie is also the author of the book and blog, Love In The Time Of Foreclosure, called "A heartbreaking work of staggering acceptance" and featured by the Los Angeles Times, NPR, Businessweek and Chicago magazines, HuffPost Live, and ABC World News with Diane Sawyer. Stephanie is a proud member of the Playwrights Union and Antaeus Playwrights Lab. She lives in Los Angeles with her brilliant husband Bob and their spirited sons, Malcolm (7) and Graham (4) and Pablo the Pug. She is represented by the Robert A. Freedman Dramatic Agency, Inc. stephaniealisonwalker.com | @littof | New Play Exchange

ABOUT SKYLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY
Skylight Theatre Company discovers, develops and produces new, compelling works that expand mainstream theatre while nurturing and educating the people who create them. Recognized as a "powerhouse" of new play development by Dramatist Magazine, works premiering at the Skylight have gone on to be performed nationally and internationally; Church & State by Jason Odell Williams made its Off-Broadway debut March 2017. Most recently, Skylight garnered 5 LADCC award nominations for its production of Rotterdam, receiving the most nominations by a single production in 2018, and sharing that title with three other productions including Hamilton. A recipient of the prestigious Steinberg National Theatre Critics Citation (Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea - Nathan Alan Davis), Skylight's resident PlayLAb writers have been recognized with productions nationwide, a national 2014 USA Ford Fellowship in Theater and Performance (Sigrid Gilmer), and locally as a winner in the 2015 Humanitas/CTG Playwriting Prize (Louisa Hill - Lord of the Underworld's Home for Unwed Mothers). Skylight won 4 Ovation Awards in 2014 for The Wrong Man and Pray To Ball (the most of any intimate theatre in LA), after seeing three of their original productions, Years To The Day, Open House, and Sexsting, named to LA Weekly's 2013 Top Ten list. From the beginning Skylight made news, in 2011, their first year dedicated to developing new plays, Hermetically Sealed made The Los Angeles Times annual Top Ten Plays, and Mad Women moved to New York's famed La MaMa. For more information, script submission policy and production history go to skylighttheatrecompany.com

ABOUT TEATRO VISTA
Teatro Vista is a premier Chicago theater company dedicated to nurturing and presenting voices that explore the wealth and variety of the human experience from a Latinx perspective. Teatro Vista's ensemble of professional theater artists do so collectively through theater productions that reinterpret established plays, as well as by commissioning and creating new and dynamic works. Of equal importance is Teatro Vista's commitment to nurturing new talent and supporting the diverse individual interests and efforts of its ensemble members. teatrovista.org

ABOUT MOXIE THEATRE
MOXIE Theatre is a professional non-profit theatre founded by the critically acclaimed group of performers and directors; Jo Anne Glover, Liv Kellgren, Delicia Turner Sonnenberg and Jennifer Eve Thorn in 2005. MOXIE's mission is to create more diverse and honest images of women for our culture using the intimate art of theatre. By producing works by female playwrights and giving special attention to plays that defy female stereotypes, MOXIE expands the idea of what is feminine. Our dedication to finding work that is underproduced means we're discovering the classics of the future.

MOXIE fans know that each distinct MOXIE production will always share one similar quality - moxie. Moxie is defined as "force of character, determination, or nerve." It may be the hero of a play who embodies the term moxie, or a challenging subject matter. Perhaps a playwright has invented an original world for audiences to explore, or actors are asked to stretch to new heights and break new ground in story-telling. In whatever way it is revealed, moxie is the unifying quality that defines all of our productions. moxietheatre.com

ABOUT SHREWD PRODUCTIONS
Championing unique perspectives and emerging artists, Shrewd Productions is focused on women's voices, new plays, and work developed though a collaborative artistic approach. We are committed to creating high-quality theatrical experiences that are thoughtful, provocative, and entertaining, featuring the work of female and LGBT artists as we seek to provide a broader array of voices in American theatre and for Austin audiences.

Shrewd has been honored by 73 nominations and awards from the Austin Critic's Table, B. Iden Payne Committee, Broadway World, and Austin Theatre Examiner and inclusion on multiple "Best Of" lists in the Austin Chronicle. We are proud to be a member of the Austin New Works Theatre Community, building Austin's professional theatre community devoted to the development of original work. shrewdproductions.com ABOUT NNPN
National New Play Network (NNPN) is the country's alliance of non-profit professional theaters dedicated to the development, production, and continued life of new plays. Since its founding in 1998, NNPN has supported more than 250 productions nationwide through its innovative National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere program, which provides playwright and production support for new works at its Member theaters. Additional programs - its annual National Conference, National Showcase of New Plays, and MFA Playwrights Workshop; the NNPN Annual and Smith Prize commissions; its residencies for playwrights, producers and directors; and the organization's member accessed Collaboration, Festival, and Travel banks and online information sessions - have helped cement the Network's position as a vital force in the new play landscape. NNPN also strives to pioneer, implement, and disseminate ideas and programs that revolutionize the way theaters collaborate to support new plays and playwrights. Its most recent project, the New Play Exchange, is changing the way playwrights share their work and others discover it by providing immediate access to information on more than 17,000 new plays by living writers. NNPN's 30 Core and 80 Associate Members - along with the more than 250 affiliated artists who are its alumni, the thousands of artists and artisans employed annually by its member theaters, and the hundreds of thousands of audience members who see its supported works each year - are creating the new American theater. nnpn.org | newplayexchange.org

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