Mz. Fest 2015

MARCH 31ST – APRIL 5TH

 A Festival of New Works-In-Progress Created By Women To Tell Their Stories Through Art 

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE FULL SCHEDULE AND ALL OF THE SPECIAL EVENTS THAT WERE IN MZ FEST 2015!

Mz. Fest 2015 was a premiere festival hosted by Plays & Players that brings multiple local theatre companies together for a week to explore, question, and celebrate female stories. In 2015, Mz. Fest attempted to answer “Who are women in today’s world? In yesterday’s world? And in tomorrow’sworld?”

For Mz. Fest 2015, Plays & Players was joined by TS Hawkins, ReVamp Collective, and Kaleid Theatre to bring you a one week festival the first week of April of women’s’ voices through art.

Be Sure To Check Out All Of the COMMIT TO CREATE Projects at the Bottom! 

MZ. FEST 2015 PRODUCER
AMBER EMORY

THE SHOWS IN MZ FEST 2015:

THE SECRET LIFE OF WONDER: A PROLOGUE IN Gsecret-life-individual-2-300x300
BY TS HAWKINS

The Secret Life of Wonder: a prologue in G journeys through the lives of seven girls being escorted into womanhood. Embracing multiple levels of play, the girls teach one another ways to interact with the world at large. Using poetic dialogue, these girls introduce that their similarities expand beyond their assigned genders while exploring how their differences bring them together. Positioning itself as a foreshadowing to Ntozake Shange’s work “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf”, The Secret Life of Wonder: a prologue in G highlights the embryonic spark of when all girls gather; soothing one’s aches, sorting each one’s puzzles, and sharing one’s triumphs with her chosen collective.

Featuring: Nastassja Baset, Marisol Custodio, Jackie DiFerdinado, Kimie Muroya, Kaitlyn Pribulsky, Zoe Richards, Rebekah Sharp and special guest appearance by Steve Wright

TO READ MORE ABOUT THE CAST OF THE SECRET LIFE OF WONDER, CLICK HERE!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
TS Hawkins plays include two off-Broadway solo works titled “Seeking Silence” and “Cartons of Ultrasounds” that were created in partnership with Alphabet Arts (NYC). “The Secret Life of Wonder: a prologue in G” is her first full length play. Additionally, Hawkins is an internationally recognized author and an artist of many trades. She adores teaching and conducting workshops for audiences across the nation. In her spare time, she leads a course titled “Legacy & Lineage” which she designed specifically for youth to explore poetic language and hone proficient skills in creative writing to pursue artistic careers in literature. For fun, she runs her own radio station dedicated to promoting a community at large; it currently serves over 42,000 listeners worldwide with satellite offices in the West Coast & London. For more detailed information on TS Hawkins, CLICK HERE.

project-60_3SHIT MEN HAVE SAID TO ME: TALES OF HOW MEN AND WOMEN COMMUNICATE
BY REVAMP COLLECTIVE

“Shit Men Have Said to Me: Tales of how Men and Women Communicate” is a devised piece about the ways in which men and women interrelate.  The work blends together the thoughts and interactions confronting societal realities—from catcalling to slut shaming, and everything in between, it is a piece about “what is” as well as “what has been” in the lives of women and men.

Written By: Carly Bodnar, Erin Carr, Greg Nanni, Katherine Perry, Slade Roff, and Kristen Scatton
Choreographer: Peter Andrew Danzig
Sound Design: Carly Bodnar & Matt Dargan
Featuring: Slade Roff, Lisa Fischel, Colleen Hughes, James Kern, Adam Rzepka, and Ryan Tygh.

TO READ MORE ABOUT THE CAST OF SHIT MEN HAVE SAID TO ME, CLICK HERE!

ABOUT THE THEATRE COMPANY:
ReVamp Collective is a woman-centric theatre company that strives to create opportunities for women in all aspects of the theatrical process. We create inspiring work that investigates societal constructs and cultivates theatrical discourse–all the while producing established contemporary plays, works by new and emerging artists and collective devised theatre. Both behind the scenes and on the stage, our goal is to reset the woman default in theatre and to explore the direction of the work when women collaborate.

For more information about ReVamp Collective, CLICK HERE  and/or contact Producing Artistic Director Carly Bodnar.

TAKE/SACRIFICEkaleid-postcard-image-300x291
BY KALEID THEATRE

What do we cling to?
In history and in myth, we sacrifice humans to win battles, abate crop failure, or maintain peace. Iphigenia was sacrificed for wind to take her father’s army to Troy and Jephthah offered his own daughter in exchange for victory in battle. We trade human lives to shape the world and ask for cosmic favors.

Take/Sacrifice explores this space of desire, a landscape littered with those we have sacrificed to secure the things we want. Surrounded by iconic figures and archaeological mysteries, our wishes become reflections of ourselves – what we want from the world, how we want the world to behave, and the lengths we are willing to go to make it so. What do we cling to? What do we want so much that we’ll destroy each other for it?

Featuring: Pratima Agrawal, Jess Brownell, Jess Jacob, and Rachel O’Hanlon-Rodriguez.

TO READ MORE ABOUT THE CAST OF TAKE / SACRIFICE, CLICK HERE!

ABOUT THE THEATRE COMPANY:
Kaleid Theatre (as in kaleidoscope, as in collide) is a physical theatre ensemble that combines an obsession with language, a compulsion to dance, and a thirst for community knowledge to create new work. We are dedicated to exploring the dynamic, contemporary questions our communities are asking today. Kaleid combines language, movement, music, and sound to create a new, multi-sensory, multi-dimensional language, which, allows us to honestly explore the conflicted emotions and urges of these human experiences.

For more information about Kaleid Theatre, CLICK HERE.

COMMIT TO CREATE PROJECTS:

During our Post Show REVEAL Panel on March 31st, we revealed a series of programs committed to creating opportunities for female artists in Philadelphia. Be sure to check them out below!

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COMMIT TO CREATE PROJECT #1: 
Pointbold: A Neighborhood Project:
Point Breeze is a neighborhood in South Philadelphia that is changing fast: some of the change is positive and some of the change is not, depending on who you talk to. But that’s the problem…residents and developers and city officials are having a hard time talking. Pointbold, a collective of professional performers, educators, and creatively minded neighbors, wants to help these conversations happen productively – so everyone’s voice is heard.

COMMIT TO CREATE PROJECT #2: 
Girls Rock Philly
Girls Rock Philly is a volunteer-based non-profit music and mentoring organization dedicated to empowering girls and young women from the greater Philadelphia region through music education and activities that foster leadership skills, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration.

COMMIT TO CREATE PROJECT #3:
SHE Directs: 
SHE Directs will feature a variety of Philadelphia-based emerging female directors. Each participant will present a short showing of work that represents their point of view as a theatre artist. Reject Theatre Project strives to provide a showcase opportunity for emerging female directors and create an evening that celebrates female theatre artists.  The evening will be hosted by Philadelphia lady-director-favorites Kathryn MacMillan (Associate Artistic Director of Lantern Theater Company & Freelance Director) and Amy Smith (Co-Director of Headlong Dance Theater, Director & Choreographer).
SHE DIRECTS IS ON AUGUST 1ST @ THE PLAYS & PLAYERS MAIN STAGE

COMMIT TO CREATE PROJECT #4: 
#RM2B: 
Part of the Souls of Black Folk Bridal Salon over at The Painted Bride
Do we give ourselves room to be ourselves? Or do we allow societal structures to solely shape how we navigate and exist in the world today? Using W.E.B DuBois work as a template, these six women explore how the concepts of “to be the problem” and “to live in privilege” collide, survive and thrive physically and linguistically in everyday life.
SHOWCASE IS ON MAY 19TH AT 7PM

COMMIT TO CREATE PROJECT #5:
Diana:

Diana is an ensemble that champions women through a diverse body of work. They seek to create theater through which they can explore the past and dream in the present to build a future where women can just be themselves without being confined or defined by traditional relationships. Nothing in life is black and white, including women. Diana seeks to show the black, white and resulting gray within the female experience which is, after all, everyone’s experiences. By challenging dualities and stereotypes, Diana hopes to truthfully portray the lives of a myriad of women and share their unique stories from the familiar to the fantastical while inspiring audiences to think critically.

COMMIT TO CREATE PROJECT #6: 
Philadelphia Women’s Theatre Festival: 
PWTF fosters and encourages women in the performing arts by offering unique opportunities for exposure, professional and artistic and personal development and a platform for performance.
FESTIVAL IS ON JULY 30TH – AUGUST 2ND