Including a list of plays compiled by Pamela Vizcarrondo
My name is Pam Vizcarrondo and I am writing to you today in consideration of taking the plays produced at the Hatbox Theatre in a new direction. Those of you who know me, know I am a woman who wears many hats. I am a writer, actress, stitcher and I enjoy all the friends I’ve met since I moved to Concord some ten years ago. Friends I’ve met through my civic groups, book club, church, and especially through my theatre connections at Hatbox have enriched my life. I remember feeling at home
the minute I walked through the doors at Hatbox just over a year ago and enjoyed diving in to experience all it had to offer. Because we have achieved so much, I know we can do even more in the name of equal representation.
Often in the theatre it has been the habit to produce plays that both entertain and educate. There is an oft repeated mantra about producing shows that ‘put butts in seats.’ The shows we choose are in some measure designed to do that. They are certainly second to none. There is a unifying quality, however, to many of these shows that connect us to most companies in the area: a majority of plays are cast significantly in favor of male characters.
I’m not blaming men. I’m merely saying, “Remember the other 50% of the population.” We all have traditions and we all have the habit of looking in the same direction as ever, taking for granted that what has always been will always be. If we just look through a different part of the prism, however, we will discover a revitalized view of ourselves. Something of that nature happened to me this summer when I was cruising the vendors at the Celebration of Needlework, held annually in Nashua. It is a weakness of mine (one of them, anyway) to enjoy all things stitching and accessories related. There was a vendor there from Italy who displayed several designs from classic literature: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and The Scarlet Letter. It was a quote from the last selection by Nathanial Hawthorne which especially struck me and I haven’t been able to let go of it since. The quote reads, “She had not felt the weight until she felt the freedom.” With the greatest respect to all my male friends and acquaintances and their great empathy, I know of no man in this day and age who can fully understand the impact of that statement. Women have been used to going along to get along, a vision of which we mean to change within ourselves, to produce a stronger whole.
Let me be clear: There is no threat here. I am not making commands. Our theatre is a place of inclusion where everyone can find a home. All I am asking is that we start thinking in a new way and realizing the value of ourselves that we all have to share. People in the forefront of our culture, people from the theatre and the arts, have most often been the ones to take that first step in producing work that is meaningful. I am asking any production company that is considering requesting the Hatbox Theatre to produce their play selection, to look over the list of plays by, for, and about women I recently compiled. It is by no means the last, definitive list. It is just the beginning. I have already received additional suggestions which I will include in the next iteration.
I am reminded of an event years ago when Barbra Streisand was accepting an award for being the first woman to win for director of a movie, for her direction of Yentl. In the middle of her remarks (and I paraphrase here), she said, “I look forward to the day when awards for distinctions of this nature are not necessary.” To say someone is distinguished because of the value of their work and not their biology, to take that as second nature, unquestioned, is a dream that can be fulfilled. The next step here is that all must be heard. Then we can move on.
I will take your hand and ask you to make that journey with me.
List of plays by, about and for Women
Compiled for the Hatbox pitch night for the 2019-2020 season
‘night Mother by Marsha Norman
Full length, drama, 2 women
The play is about a daughter, Jessie, and her mother, Thelma. It begins with Jessie calmly telling her Mama that by morning she will be dead, as she plans to commit suicide that very evening. Jessie’s father is dead; she is epileptic and unemployable, her loveless marriage ended in divorce; her absent son is a petty thief and ne’er-do-well; her last two jobs failed and, in general, her life is stale and unprofitable. At first her mother refuses to take her seriously, but as Jessie sets about tidying the house and making lists of things to be looked after, her sense of desperate helplessness begins to build. The subsequent dialogue between Jessie and Mama slowly reveals her reasons for her decision, her life with Mama, and how thoroughly she has planned her own death, culminating in a disturbing, yet unavoidable, climax.
The Devils by John Whiting, suggested by Gary Locke
Full length, drama, 2 women/7 men
The play’s action takes place primarily in Loudun, France in 1634 and revolves around a secular priest Urbain Grandier, whose adamant public opposition to Cardinal Richelieu’s ongoing centralization of the French government makes him a hot political target. The hysterical Sister Jeanne, Mother Superior of the Convent of St Ursula, falls in lust with Urbain Grandier, and subsequently accuses him of bewitching her. When these charges of witchcraft are brought against the priest, both church and state move swiftly to destroy him. The investigation, subsequent trial and eventual execution quickly take on a ludicrous carnival-like atmosphere with crazed nuns (including Sister Jeanne herself), dubious medical procedures, ecclesiastical torture and outrageous public exorcisms, all depicted with considerable onstage realism. (from Wikipedia)
Stop Kiss by Diana Son
Full length, drama, 3 women/3 men
Sara and Callie share a kiss in NYC’s West Village late at night. They are attacked by an angry bystander. Sara is horribly injured and falls into a coma. George, Callie’s good friend, tries to help with the situation, but there is little he can do. Peter, Sara’s ex-boyfriend from St. Louis, comes to help nurse her back to health. Throughout Stop Kiss, relationships are explored, formed, and even ended. Diana Son elaborates on the depths of human emotion and compassion in this play. The story is told out of chronological order: alternating scenes take place respectively before and after the assault which is not shown onstage.
Vanities by, Jack Heifner, suggested by Valerie Kdonian Kehr
Full length, drama, 3 women
The story centers on the lives and friendship of three Texas cheerleaders starting from high school in 1963, continuing through college as sorority sisters in 1968, and ending with the dissolution of their friendship in 1974 New York as their interests and livelihoods change and they are no longer as compatible with one another as they had been in their school days.
Five Women Wearing the Same Dress by Alan Ball
Full length, comedy, 5 women/1 man
The play is a comedy set at the home of the bride in Knoxville, Tennessee during the newly married couple’s ostentatious wedding reception. The five bridesmaids have found refuge in the room of Meredith, the sister of the bride, avoiding the proceedings below by hiding upstairs. The women come to realize that despite their differences, they have more in common with each other than any of them do with the bride.
Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker
Full length, comedy, 3 women/2 men
(I believe I saw this on Facebook as being offered in the near future by a production company in the area.)
In Shirley, Vt., Marty, an acting teacher, holds an “Adult Creative Drama” class at the local community center. The people who sign up for the class are Schultz, a recently divorced carpenter; Lauren, a reserved high school junior; Teresa, a former actress; and Marty’s husband James. Marty takes the “students” through various acting and dramatic exercises; they act like trees, beds and baseball gloves. In one exercise, they act as one another and tell their life stories. As a possible romance begins each of the group slowly reveal themselves. In a final exercise, Lauren imagines herself meeting Schultz in 10 years and they tell each other what has transpired.
Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron
Full length, comedy, 5 women
A series of monologues with a rotating cast of five principal women. The subject matter of the monologues includes women’s relationships and wardrobes and at times the interaction of the two, using the female wardrobe as a time capsule of a woman’s life. A character called “Gingy” acts as the narrator. The show opens with her sketching various parts of her wardrobe that stir the most poignant memories. She weaves her life story among the other tales, describing her three marriages, “motherhood and the death of a child, each turning point marked by a particular item of clothing”. Her life is represented beginning with experiences in a Brownies uniform and extending through her full life. Another character serves as the vixen, another plays a vulnerable gang member from Chicago, a third portrays a brave cancer patient, and the last serves as a mature woman pierced by vivid memories. One of these characters, named Heather, chooses conservative “think” shoes over high heels in her youth, but at a later stage in life shows a preference for high heels.
Sharks in the Custard by Tony Layton
One act, comedy, 4 women/3 male or female, 40 minutes
The cleaning ladies in the municipal art gallery enjoy their work, but rumors of government cut backs threaten to upset their cozy regime. In the face of adversity, they come up with a solution that not only secures their futures and helps to save the gallery, but also ensures that their lives will never be quite the same again.
Rude Awakenings by Nicolas Ridley
One act, comedy, 4 women, 45 minutes duration
Set in a typical English village – and easily staged with minimal props and scenery – ‘Rude Awakenings’ is a charming comedy, a perfect one-act play for local drama groups, ‘Rude Awakenings’ has four strong and very different female parts. Everything normally runs so smoothly at the Little Gissing Art Group’s ‘Annual Exhibition and Competition’ in the Village Hall but this year it’s all going wrong. There are mishaps, misunderstandings, all sorts of complications and some really very shocking revelations!
Practice to Deceive by Ann Gawthorpe and Lesley Brown
Full length, drama, 9 women
A murder mystery with a difference as the audience can never be sure who killed whom. Set in the mid-1950s, ‘Practice to Deceive’ is about a group of middle-class women who hold a committee meeting to make the final arrangements for a Christmas Bazaar. When one of them collapses, is it a straightforward case of natural causes, or has something more sinister happened? A second mysterious death soon afterwards puts political ambitions in jeopardy and secrets to be revealed.
Remembrance Day by Tony Layton
One act, drama, 5 women, 40 minutes
Leanora – a ‘difficult’ patient, has been moved from one nursing home to another, and the new staff are not too happy with her. During a visit by her daughter and grand-daughter, some family skeletons are revealed. Forced into a corner by all around her, Leanora decides it is time to tell the ‘truth’ behind the rift.
The Audition by James Johnson
One act (full length version also available), drama, 2 women, 60 minutes, Strong Content
How far will an actress go to get a part? How far does the Director need to push? A psychological drama exploring the relationship between Director and actress at an audition where the normal rules and etiquette have been dispensed with. A most unusual play.
3712 by Ben Ohmart
One act, drama, 2 women/1 man (?), through stageplays.com
The year is 3712 and something in the air is making all dead bodies come back to life spouting poetry. The single mom and her daughter at the edge of the cemetery are doing their best to kill everyone off, yet all this new knowledge is slowing them down.
A Night of Dark Intent by L. Don Swartz
Full length, drama, 8 women
Set in October 1978, this is the story of six women, who spend the weekend together in an abandoned house. But the house is no ordinary house – 13 years prior, it was the location of the grisly Stark killings, in which young Lenora Stark brutally murdered her parents. Now, as the six women try to unravel the secrets of what really happen all those years ago, they learn a horrifying truth – Lenora Stark has escaped from her asylum and just might be coming home! The six women must race against the clock to solve a murder and save their own lives. (through stageplays.com)
A Short Walk After Dinner by Cleve Haubold
One Act, drama, 2 women/1 man
Charles Haven returns home from a short walk after dinner to find something has gone hauntingly, terrifyingly wrong with his life. With growing alarm, he tries to explain away the strange change that has come over him, finally discovering he has unaccountably lost twenty years during his walk. (through stageplays.com)
Anatomy of a Suicide by Alice Birch
Length not known, drama, 3 women
Winner of the 2018 Blackburn Prize. “I have Stayed. I have Stayed – I have Stayed for as long as I possibly can”
Three generations of women: Carol, Anna and Bonnie, Mother, daughter and granddaughter. For each, the chaos of what has come before brings with it a painful legacy. The three stories play out simultaneously on stage, the dialogue from one scene overlapping with the other two in a manner that borders on the choral. (through stageplays.com)
Belles by Mark Dunn
Full length (2 acts and 45 phone calls), 8 women
The six Walker sisters hail from Memphis, but now they are scattered all over the country – only Peggy still lives in Memphis, where she cares for Mama. When the play begins, Peggy is phoning her sisters to tell them that Mama is in the hospital – nothing serious, she just ate some bad tuna. An intriguing story of vivid characters and involving conflicts emerges in the ensuing phone calls among the sisters. (through stageplays.com)
The Trojan Women by Euripides
Full length, drama, 5 women/3 men, chorus of women
The play follows the fates of the women of Troy after their city has been sacked, their husbands killed, and as their remaining families are about to be taken away as slaves. Throughout the play, many of the Trojan women lament the loss of the land that reared them. Hecuba in particular lets it be known that Troy had been her home for her entire life, only to see herself as an old grandmother watching the burning of Troy, the death of her husband, her children, and her grandchildren before she will be taken as a slave to Odysseus.
The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca
Full length, drama, approx. 12 major women’s roles and the same number in minor roles
Upon her second husband’s death, domineering matriarch Bernarda Alba imposes an eight-year mourning period on her household in accordance with her family tradition. Bernarda has five daughters, aged between 20 and 39, whom she has controlled inexorably and prohibited from any form of relationship. The mourning period further isolates them and tension mounts within the household.
Lysistrata by Aristophanes
Full length, comedy, a cast not of thousands, but many
A comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC, it is a comic account of a woman’s extraordinary mission to end the Peloponnesian War by denying all the men of the land any sex, which was the only thing they truly and deeply desired. Lysistrata persuades the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace—a strategy, however, that inflames the battle between the sexes. The play is notable for being an early exposé of sexual relations in a male-dominated society.
The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein, suggested by Richard Harris
Full length, drama, 5 women/2 men , Pulitzer Prize winner in 1989
The action of the play proceeds over the course of more than 20 years, from the years of the main character, Heidi Holland, in high school in the 1960’s through her awakening sense of awareness as a woman and eventual sense of betrayal in the 1980’s. From Wikipedia, “Heidi realizes that not marrying does not mean she cannot be a mother and takes matters into her own hands. She chooses to adopt a child on her own.”
Some may consider the material as dated, but it was an important step forward in presenting social issues. It would be important to remember that before we got where we are today, we went through discussions and illuminations like this. Though Wasserstein died more than a decade ago, she remains an important voice in American theatre and in the hands of the right director, cast, and production team, The Heidi Chronicles could be a dynamic presentation in the Hatbox production space. p.s. There is a scene played in Manchester, NH.
Other alternate Wasserstein titles: Uncommon Women and Others, Isn’t it Romantic, and The Sisters Rosensweig are also possibilities.
Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, suggested by Gary Devore
Full length, drama/comedy, 15 women
Actually, Gary first suggested Cloud 9 by Churchill, but I don’t know that that title would be as effective in a Hatbox setting. It deals with British colonialism and changing sexual mores with many startling theatrical conventions altered. After I read it, however, I felt like I had been knocked around in a pinball machine and not necessarily in a good way.
Top Girls seems much more approachable with the action centering around Marlene, a “tough career woman portrayed as soulless, exploiting other women and suppressing her own caring side in the cause of success.” (Wikipedia) A wide variety of women, characters from history provide many opportunities for a diverse cast. The scenes are not presented chronologically, but offer illumination on Marlene’s thoughts and anxieties and the choices she has made.
August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, suggested by Richard Harris
Full length, drama, 7 women/6 men, 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner
The action takes place over several weeks in August outside Pawhuska, Oklahoma. There is so much going on within the play, it’s difficult to capsulize in 25 words or less. The family gathers first for the disappearance then the discovery of the suicide of one of its members. All the scenes explore the deep conflicts within the family and the story takes really unexpected turns. Certainly a powerhouse role for the character of Violet, the play is a rich feast for everyone involved, all characters are worthy of consideration. The set is written as multi-level, but creative design and direction can mitigate the difficult placements in the Hatbox space.