Artist Soapbox Interviews Jacqueline E. Lawton: ARDEO and XIX

In the midst of everything, I'm so happy to have had the opportunity to speak with  talk Piedmont Laureate Tamara Kissane about two projects that are near and dear to my heart. Tamara is the host of Artist Soapbox, a weekly podcast featuring original audio fiction and interviews with Triangle/NC artists about their creative process. In the first podcast, we discussed my latest play, XIX, with my collaborators JaMeeka Holloway-Burrell and Jules Odendahl-James. In the second podcast, Jules and I discuss narrative medicine, our collaboration on ARDEO, and the joy of working in collaboration as playwright and dramaturg.

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Along with director JaMeeka Holloway-Burrell and dramaturg Jules Odendahl-James, I had the opportunity to speak about my new play XIX, which was commissioned by the Women’s Theatre Festival in celebration and reckoning with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. XIX is a socio-political drama following a multi-racial family who find themselves in the middle of the fight for equality and divided over the right to vote.

We also  dig into playwriting topics such as translating a historical event into a contemporary piece, deciding what story to tell and who should be the center of the story, the development process and the roles of the director, dramaturg and playwright and much more. Click here to listen to the podcast interview.

XIX received a public sharing through the UNC Process Series in February 2020. Next up, on Saturday, July 11th at 7:30pm, we will be sharing an excerpt of the play as part of the Women's Theatre Festival. The reading will be followed by a post show discussion on voting rights and advocacy. Because theatre has a long history of addressing social, political, and cultural issues, the conversations around the play will allow us to assess not only how far we've come, but also how much work we have left to do to move towards a more just and equitable society. 

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In the second episode, Jules Odendahl-James and I discuss our collaboration on ARDEO, which is a one act play inspired by research and personal narratives of health practitioners and patients at UNC-CH’s North Carolina’s Jaycee Burn Center. This play explores how patients and doctors communicate with each other; how health practitioners communicate with the public; and how theatre artists can be of service to patients, doctors and the larger public. 

In this conversation, Jules and I touch on the field of narrative medicine, the particular development process of ARDEO, the value of partnering the dramatic arts and science, and opportunities to create those collaborations. Speaking of collaborations, Jules and Jacqueline discuss their work together as theatre-makers and the awesomeness of dramaturgs and dramaturgy especially for new plays in development.

Learn and read more about ARDEO, to see photos, and watch the short film of the piece performed.

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