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“We Are Theatre” Gender Parity Panel @ #AWP16

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Before the panel…

I’m a bit delayed in sending a shout out about a pretty cool panel (We Are Theatre) that Guerilla Girls on Tour’s Aphra Behn cooked up for this year’s Associated Writers & Writing Programs Conference. Being a non-member-type, I wasn’t even aware the AWP or its high-profile conference existed, but Aphra – who was the gal behind the mask behind the 2012 “We Are Theatre” evening at NYC’s Cherry Lane Theatre – reached out to a few of us who’d been involved in the 2012 event (me, indirectly through the LA FPI), an evening of monologues billed as a “Speakout Against Sexism.”

So this was last year sometime. Aphra said she wanted to propose a panel to talk about gender parity issues in theatre for the conference.  Despite my fear of panels and conferences, I said yes I’d love to be involved. (Honestly, I figured we had a slim chance of being included because she said the AWP was not at all theatre/playwright-centric!)

But lo and behold, the panel was meant to be, and I ended up having a terrific time chatting with a room full of writers/would-be activists alongside LA FPI Co-Founder Laura Shamas,  Thelma DeCastro of San Diego Playwrights, LA FPI’s Laurel Wetzork (who just formed the new collective Athena Cats) and the infamous Aphra Behn. (No, it’s not that Aphra Behn; the Guerilla Girls take the name of women from history and wear masks for “official” appearances.  Can’t wait to read her memoir, due out this October, UN/MASKED.)

Thanks Aphra for including me in this group of terrific women. (Uh, yes, beverages were consumed afterwards. Need you even ask?)

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Laurel, me, Aphra, Laura & Thelma at a downtown watering hole post conference.

“Chicken Shoot” in Road Summer Playwrights Festival July 29th

Thrilled to be part of SPF6 at The Road Theatre Company – once again, the Road artists are so very cool. As I can’t help keep mentioning, I’m crazy for the poster for my play, “Chicken Shoot.”  AND I’m really fortunate to work with director Michelle Gillette and actors Hilary J. Schwartz & Lorianne Hill.

“Chicken Shoot” is a short comedy about crimes and validation.  When two half-sisters visit an abandoned aerospace compound, absurd government secrets shed an unexpected light on toxic family truths. The night also features my friend Stephanie Walker’s full-length “The Art of Disappearing,” directed by John Gowans. See you then for food, drinks, music and two plays by LA women playwrights! Performances are at The Road on Magnolia in the NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd.

No reservations are necessary; tickets are by donation only ($15 suggested). More info: http://www.roadtheatre.org/chicken-shoot-by-jennie-webb/

Thank you to all at The Road for involving me again this year, especially the producers including Scott Alan Smith and Carlyle King. A special shout out to Tiffany Antone and the artists involved in Little Black Dress INK‘s Female Playwrights ONSTAGE, where “Chicken Shoot” was a Finalist. And thanks to my sweet husband Jim for helping with the image, below, and also for some fab SFX for the reading – I am laughing already!

Chicken Shoot

“Outside the Lines” Finalist in Waco, TX!

How fun to learn that “Chicken Shoot” has been named a finalist in this year’s Little Black Dress INK Female Playwrights ONSTAGE Project, and will be read in Waco, TX on Saturday, May 23rd, directed by Ms. Tiffany Antone. I’m included in a fantastic group of 15 inspiring women writers who’re pushing all sorts of envelopes; aptly, the theme of this year’s festival is “Outside the Lines.”  Ye haw! (Do they say that in Texas?)

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