Hindsight is 2020

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Join us this Tuesday, Nov 3rd 2020 for a reading of six #GetOutTheVote plays!

Plays will be live-streamed on Facebook – you can RSVP to/watch the event HERE

SELECTED PLAYS

Golden Child by James McLindon – directed by Heidi Breeden
Just the Same as You by Katherine Varga – directed by Cason Murphy
The New Colossus by Rita Anderson – directed by Cason Murphy
The President is Trying to Kill Me by Jen Huszcza – directed by Rob Yoho
The President’s Evacuation by Peter Dakutis – directed by Bryson Allman
Eureka (The Toilet Paper Play) by Jeremy Kehoe – directed by Karen Murphy
Unforgivable by Philip Middleton Williams – directed by Julie Chavez Harrington

And make sure you have a plan to vote!

https://iwillvote.com/

The MGH2020

Blog, Plays
Mikki Russ

A monologue for the moment, by Mikki Russ

Hello, my name is Monique Fuckerberg, and I have been assigned your case. It has come to my attention that your Misogyhomophobotron2020, otherwise known as the MGH, may be causing you some irritation. I would like to go over its operating system with you. There are several ways the MGH begins to alarm, including when the optics detect a woman speaking on her own behalf, or if it spots a woman with footwear on outside of the kitchen, (unless that woman is bringing it a sammich, and then, the system is overridden). If the woman who exited the kitchen wearing footwear does not offer a sammich, the MGH requires a full reboot or for the offending woman to have a baby shoved up inside her as quickly as you can scramble one up. Please give the MGH a full view of the impacted hymen for quickest system recovery.

If the MGH has observed a lesbian, you may have heard the words, “She’s only gay because she hasn’t gotten a piece of this yet” emanating from its audio output source. This is because it’s fragile Ego-system has been rattled by its sensors picking up on a woman that isn’t picking up on it. Feel free to just go ahead and rub your vagina on it, so that perhaps that will distract it into a fully functional system restore in safe mode. Please do not commence with the vagina contact without saying the words, “You’re so handsome.” And “Oh no, honey, whatever would I do without you” preceding. Skipping that step may prevent the Ego-system from booting up properly and it might fall asleep on you before you reach your own personal fulfillment. Actually….looking over my notes here, it appears that this model isn’t programmed with Female Fulfillment, so either do or don’t say the words prescribed…but know you’re going to be disappointed for at least a portion of your evening.

Please look under the front panel of your MGH to see if there is any residue left over from exposure to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. If there is, immediately apply Chris Brown lyrics. Please do not try applying Chris Brown directly, as the residue may rile and obliterate him on contact and you don’t have enough money to take on his legal team.

MGH comes equipped with a Weight Recognition Apparatus. The unit is stored underneath it’s dunlap. You know, right there above the belt where his extra cushiness done-lapped-over? This is the sensitive spot where he is able to detect if a woman is overweight or under-weight.. If your MGH malfunctions and is unable to instruct a woman in her eating habits, please immediately put it in front of women judges, women CEOs or women physicists. This should cause internal combustion, thus jarring the mechanism back into functionality.

Your MGH should not be placed directly in front of a television that has not been set to sports, gaming or war movies. The potential for exposure to “Two Damn Men Kissing On Television” is just excessively high, and this causes the MGH to get its wires crossed, causing a real danger of regular outbursts of incoherent rage. Please make sure all entertainment input is sufficiently vetted.

Your MGH has limited understanding of the term “Trans”. It’s most recent application being a “Trans-Am” and a most frequently misunderstood concept – as recently as yesterday- when a transwoman tried to upload the term CIS-male into the MGH’s lexicon. This was met with a fracture in the MGH’s motherboard. As a side note…the motherboard has been renamed the “Otherboard” as to not upset the MGH’s Terminology Center.

Now that you have all of the available tools at your disposal for successful upkeep of your Misogyhomophobotron, we here at MGH2020 headquarters look forward to hearing your feedback on how well the MGH2020 is enhancing your life. Please send all correspondence to Monique Fuckerberg Attention: Eric Bump. I am unable to participate in written correspondence directly, as my daily chores take up considerable time, but Mr. Bump will happily convey all of your marvelous comments to me at an allocated time. Thank you for your participation and here’s wishing you many years of…usefulness.                              

THE END     

Written by Mikki Russ
For rights/queries, please contact BlackDuchessProductions@gmail.com
Performed as part of Prescott Vagina Monologues 2020
Shared with permission from the Playwright

Call for Plays: Hindsight is 2020

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SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED. WE LOOK FORWARD TO ANNOUNCING FINALISTS THIS SUMMER.

Protest Plays Project is launching a new #GetOutTheVote initiative and invites playwrights to draft short (1-10 minute) plays/monologues/musicals on the theme HINDSIGHT IS 2020.  We would like interested writers to consider the following:

This is a forward-looking project = Speculative fiction! 

Imagine the world AFTER the 2020 election and what it might look like without a change in leadership.  We are looking for thoughtful pieces that demonstrate consideration into the myriad different ways four more years of current GOP leadership might manifest.

We invite interested playwrights to consider the following:

  • Voter turnout is vital to a thriving democracy, and yet only 54.7% of eligible voters participated in the 2016 election.
  • There are several pressing issues at stake in the 2020 election—which issues should we be most concerned with?  What do our lives look like post-2020 election, if these issues continue to go unchecked/unaided?
  • What do reticent voters need to hear in order feel motivated to vote – especially if their ideal candidate isn’t the nominee?
  • What regrets will people have if they abstain from voting in the 2020 election?  How might abstaining effect their day-to-day lives/kid’s lives/etc.?
  • Humor is an excellent delivery mechanism – don’t be afraid to make us laugh!
  • We love a good expletive, but for this project are hoping to have broad audience appeal – if you are an F-bomb expert, please provide alternative options for public spaces J

Selected plays will be featured on a special Protest Plays Project podcast Our goal is to also make these plays available to theatremakers across the nation in the hopes that they will put them to work as motivational theatre aimed at rallying voters!

Questions? You can email us at ProtestPlays@LittleBlackDressINK.org

Playwrights Call for Action on Immigration Crisis

Press, Theatre Action

Artwork by Josh MacPhee (LINK)

Playwrights from across the country have come together in support of collaborative theatre action to address the inhumane treatment of immigrants at the US border. This theatre action, led by Protest Plays Project, has resulted in a collection of twenty-three plays, made available royalty-free to theatremakers wishing to help raise awareness and raise funds for non-profits working to reunite families at the border.

Although many separated families have been reunited under a court order, more than 500 cases remain unresolved. According to a New York Times article released last week, this includes twenty-two children under the age of five who have still not been reunited with their families.

“The fact that families have been ripped apart by the current administration’s zero tolerance policy is something we must all address,” explains Tiffany Antone, Protest Plays Project creator. “Theatre is a great place to dramatize contemporary issues, to ask questions of ourselves and our communities, and to invite positive action in response to crises.”

In addition to the family separation crises, plays in the collection address other recent changes to immigration policies that playwrights see as threats to asylum seekers and hopeful immigrants.

“There is a lot of fear-mongering and blatant xenophobia being put to work in furthering the administration’s agenda for the border wall,” said Antone. “Many of the plays in this collection invite audiences to examine their own humanity and what it means to be American in light of current policies.”

Theatremakers who wish to put these plays to work for fundraisers can create their own line-up from the collection, and all that is required is that theatremakers register their event with Protest Plays to secure permission for royalty-free readings from the playwrights.

“There are a lot of playwrights writing material in response to our current socio-political climate,” says Antone. “Ten-minute plays are a nice way to work responsively and quickly, and this collection represents a diverse collection of viewpoints which makes a presentation more appealing and effective.”

Contributing playwrights include: Diana Burbano, Ricardo Soltero-Brown, Jacqueline Castañeda, Asher Wyndham, Steve Koppman, Jaisey Bates, Rachael Carnes, Richard Soto, Bruce Costella, Tom Cavanaugh, Jason Tseng, Erica Bennett, Jen Huszcza, A. A. Gardner, Franky D. Gonzalez, Dwayne Yancey, Haydee Canovas, Randy Lee Gross, Jennifer Heale, Lindsay G Partain, Sharai Bohannon, and Jennifer A. Kokai.

In addition to their #TheatreActionImmigration initiative, Protest Plays has also issued a Get Out The Vote challenge, inviting theatremakers to present short, non-partisan and royalty-free “Vote!” plays before curtain at their theatres. The 1-3 minute plays serve as fun and motivational “commercials” designed to get audiences to register and vote in this November’s midterm elections. Protest Plays has organized additional #TheatreActions including a collaborative #TheatreActionGunControl event which resulted in over twenty-five readings and theatrical events across the nation last spring.

More information about #TheatreActionImmigration and #TheatreActionVOTE can be found at www.ProtestPlays.org

#TheatreActionGunControl

#TheatreActionGunControl, Blog

The following playwrights are offering up their listed plays for readings in support of Gun Control. I will continue to add to this list as more playwrights contact us with their plays.  You can watch the list grow live on Twitter.  Protest Plays Project invites theatres and theatricians everywhere to organize readings in support of Gun Control/Gun Reform.  All plays available on the New Play Exchange.

PLAYWRIGHTS:  If you want to add your play to this list, Tweet your play’s title and NPX link at us using #TheatreActionGunControl @ProtestPlays

*In addition to the list below, Caridad Svich and NoPassport, Theater J and force/collision has a published collection of plays called 24 Gun Control Plays.*

Kara Lee Corthron TIME AND A HALF https://newplayexchange.org/plays/104917/time-and-half
Jennie MacDonald TEA TIME WITH HRH THE COWARDLY LION https://newplayexchange.org/plays/161545/tea-time-hrh-cowardly-lion
Rachael Carnes GRIEF https://newplayexchange.org/users/16553/rachael-carnes
Everett Robert UNANSWERED QUESTIONS https://newplayexchange.org/plays/80014/unanswered-questions
Everett Robert MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS https://newplayexchange.org/plays/80004/my-thoughts-and-prayers
Everett Robert GUN PLAY-AN AMERICAN FAIRYTALE https://newplayexchange.org/plays/33080/gun-play-american-fairytale
David Meyers BROKEN https://newplayexchange.org/plays/10833/broken
Jordi Casanovas PORT ARTHUR https://newplayexchange.org/plays/59997/port-arthur
Stephanie Walker FRIENDS WITH GUNS https://newplayexchange.org/plays/127688/friends-guns
Diana Burbano ROUNDS PER SECOND https://newplayexchange.org/plays/162221/rounds-second
Nelson Diaz-Marcano PAPER TOWELS https://newplayexchange.org/plays/144340/paper-towels
Lindsay Partain BACKFIRED https://newplayexchange.org/plays/136291/backfired
DC Cathro REASON FOR RETURN https://newplayexchange.org/plays/17629/reason-return
Ricardo Soltero-Brown GRIEF https://newplayexchange.org/plays/162188/grief
Darcy Parker Bruce HOW WE LIVE IN OUR BODIES NOW https://newplayexchange.org/plays/78036/how-we-live-our-bodies-now
Asher Wyndham PAYTON: A BACK-TO-SCHOOL MONOLOGUE https://newplayexchange.org/plays/162300/payton-back-school-monologue
Phillio Kaplan GOOD GUY WITH A GUN https://newplayexchange.org/plays/162339/good-guy-gun
Rachael Carnes SHELTER IN PLACE https://newplayexchange.org/plays/162327/shelter-place
Brandon Cahela DEPARTURE https://newplayexchange.org/plays/162364/departure
Tracey Conyer Lee RABBIT SUMMER https://newplayexchange.org/plays/121518/rabbit-summer

Heal the Divide: We Are Always/And Never, by Cody Daigle-Orians

Heal The Divide, Plays

Every week we will be sharing new plays by our Heal the Divide playwrights.  This week’s play is We Are Always/And Never, by Hartford, Connecticut playwright Cody Daigle-Orians.


So there’s this thing called a “brojob”: straight guys hooking up with other straight guys to “help each other out”… but they’re not gay! They’re still straight! it’s just bros helping bros, bro! And there’s a whole online world of married straight guys trolling for sex with femme men (usually they derogatorily call them “crossdressers”) — men they’d fuck, but men

they’d never acknowledge in the world.

So I wrote a little love story. All the Craigslist ads are real and unedited.


Download (PDF, 188KB)

Heal the Divide – To History:Two, by Jaisey Bates

Blog, Heal The Divide, Plays

Every week we will be sharing new plays by our Heal the Divide playwrights.  This week’s play is To History: Two, by Jaisey Bates – an Indigenous-heritaged Planet Nine playwright currently residing (hopefully not for much longer) in La La Land.


TO HISTORY
/ To Whom It 
May Concern.

TWO: War
/ Games

This Letter
was inspired by
a FB friend’s
FB posts re:

a town
with a school
with a Native
mascot.

A town
with a chamber
of commerce whose
leadership set up

“The First Annual
Hunt for the Indian!”
treasure hunt

aiming to encourage
shoppers to Shop Local
during the holidays.

A town
where there was a
massacre of Natives.

A town
where the government
paid bounties for Native
captives, or scalps:

Man.
Woman.
Or child.

SPECIAL THANKS to Amelia Tuplin, Member of the Maine Indigenous Peoples Panel, for her permission to share her eloquent and powerful words with all who read this play.


Download (PDF, 837KB)

 

Heal the Divide: The Little Things, by Rachael Brogan Flanery

Blog, Heal The Divide, Plays

Every week we will be sharing new plays by our Heal the Divide playwrights.  This week’s play is The Little Things , by Minneapolis, MN playwright Rachel Brogan Flanery.


 

This little play seems a little snarky. It is. Towards myself mostly. I am the guiltiest of all “woke” people for showing up one day in a pussy hat and back to my couch the next. I spend less time on CNN and more on Pinterest.

 

 

Download (PDF, 33KB)

Heal the Divide: Spotlight on Rachel Brogan Flanery

Heal The Divide, Playwrights

I’ve had the JOY of knowing Rachel Brogan Flanery for a decade now, and I am always delighted with her ability to take in the world, digest what she sees, and then create wacky and interesting stories out of it all.  She is a talented writer, passionate teacher, and hilarious mom (check out her writing on Medium)

Rachel and I met at UCLA, but she lives and teaches in Minneapolis, MN – a city that loves the arts and artists… a city with a lot to mine.  I look forward to reading Rachel’s plays, and I encourage you to read a little more about Rachel below!


What about our Heal the Divide project captured your interested/why did you decide to participate in this initiative?

Tiffany is one of the most organized and passionate people I know. Any project she is heading up-is a project I want to be a part of. Selfishly being given a deadline and purpose to write helps me find the time to do the work…and now more than ever we need a way to get our voices out there.

What areas of concern in your community do you find yourself curious about or interested in considering for this project?

I love where I live. Minneapolis is an awesome creative and diverse community with so many opportunities for culture and nature. However, the divide between the haves and have nots is so deeply intertwined with race. We have to do better. I know a lot of people in my little liberal haven that fight for justice and progress until it is inconvenient for them. Until too many of “those” kids start filling up “their” schools.. We have to call it out and we have to do the work.

There have been a lot of discussions lately about what artists can do to “make a difference” in light of our current political spectrum.  What do you think we can (or should) do?  Or are there pitfalls we need to avoid?

Anything we do as artists needs to be genuine. When it’s not, then it doesn’t work creatively and any social impact will be lost. I struggle with this. In my life I am a warrior for social justice and women’s rights. As an artist, I don’t often feel inspired to write political pieces.

What questions, as a playwright, are you most drawn to explore in your work?

Relationships and the mundane.

Are you engaged in any other organizations fighting for change or progress that you want to give a shout out to?

Keep fighting the good fight everyone!

More about Rachel:

Rachael Brogan Flanery is an actress and writer in the Twin Cities. She has her MFA in playwriting from UCLA and BA in theater from the University of Iowa. Her plays have been produced in Aspen, CO., Iowa City, IA., Los Angeles, CA., Minneapolis, MN., Prescott, AZ., and New York, NY. She is co-founder of Twin Cities’ theater company: Table Salt Productions and has performed in many of their shows since 2009. You can next see her work in January 2018 as part of Theater Unbound’s annual “Smackdown.” You can find her fiction and other written works at:

https://medium.com/@rachaelflanery

In her spare time she is a wife, mother, and teacher.

Heal the Divide: Conditional, by Michelle Tyrene Johnson

Heal The Divide, Playwrights

Every week we will be sharing new plays by our Heal the Divide playwrights.  This week’s play is Conditional, by Kansas City, Missouri playwright Michelle Tyrene Johnson.


 

I wanted to quickly illustrate the hypocrisy of how some make allyship dependent on how “nice” people are to them. But, you either support the right thing to do, or you don’t. Anything else is you trying to pass yourself off as more compassion and justice-minded than you actually are.

 

 


Download (PDF, 33KB)