The USC School of Dramatic Arts announces its second annual Diversity and Inclusion Summit, taking place from Oct. 27-30, 2016. Consisting of a series of interactive workshops, panel discussions and performances, the summit was created to foster community through civic and conscious dialogue around issues of race, gender, culture and identity.

Organized by SDA Associate Professor Anita Dashiell-Sparks who also serves as the School’s Diversity Liaison Officer, these events are a catalyst to spark a series of conversations and strategies to cultivate and sustain an artistic, innovative and inclusive environment that reflects the evolving communities of the 21st century. The theme for 2016 is Crossroads – Embracing Race, Class and Gender in Theatre, Television and Film and will be guest facilitated by Jacqueline E. Lawton, playwright, dramaturg, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advocate. All events are open to the entire USC community.

Schedule of Events
Thursday, October 27
12:00pm-1:30pm Cultural Appropriation and Cultural Capital Workshop - PED 208
This workshop facilitated by Shafiqua Sahmadi from USC Rossier School of Education will define the difference between celebration and exploitation of cultural customs and traditions. Participants will also examine the various forms of capital we collectively have from our diverse backgrounds that enable us to become allies. RSVP for this event.

1:30pm-3:00pm “Having Our Say” – Theatre for Social Change Workshop - PED 206
Jacqueline E. Lawton will facilitate a workshop exploring how art and theatre provide a creative and critical space for dealing with complex issues of diversity and inclusion. RSVP for this event.

3:00pm–5:00pm Performing Gender Workshop - PED 207
An interactive gender-based, workshop exploring the play SEVEN. One of the seven playwrights, Paula Cizmar, will discuss creative process of documentary theatre based on current events. Jacqueline E. Lawton will lead participants in a gender identity activity. RSVP for this event.

Saturday, October 29
10:00am-11:30am Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop - MCC 111
Dr. Brent Blair, Boal scholar-practitioner, will facilitate a workshop in theatre of the oppressed techniques that provoke civic and community engagement surrounding issues of diversity and inclusion. RSVP for this event.

11:30am-1:30pm #Every 28 Hours Project - MCC 111
Join a national collaboration of multicultural theatre artists responding to our Civil Rights Movement. After a community reading of one-minute plays produced by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Jacqueline E. Lawton and Oliver Mayer, will moderate discussion including community leaders/educators, and facilitate a creative writing workshop. RSVP for this event.

2:00pm-3:30pm Staging Diversity Panel - MCC 111
Join artistic directors Jon Lawrence Rivera (Playwright’s Arena), Anthony Abatemarco (Skylight Theatre Company), Gregg Daniel (Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble) and Khanisha Foster (Educational Outreach, Center Theatre Group) for a conversation about play selection, inclusive casting, diversifying audiences and educational/community outreach initiatives. RSVP for this event.

3:30pm-5:00pm Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Workshop - MCC 111
Jacqueline E. Lawton, playwright, dramaturg, and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advocate, will facilitate a workshop/discussion about how to effectively implement strategies and mission-relevant initiatives to enhance the culture of your school, organization, or business. RSVP for this event.

5:00pm-7:00pm Reading of The Hampton Years - MCC 111
USC students and alumni will present a staged reading of The Hampton Years, written by Jacqueline E. Lawton. This reading will be directed by Anita Dashiell-Sparks, Associate Professor of Theatre Practice and SDA Diversity Liaison. RSVP for this event.

Sunday, October 30
10:00am-12:00pm Performing Race and Class - PED 206
Screenings of the groundbreaking series Queen Sugar and Atlanta will illuminate different perspectives about race and class through the genres of drama and comedy. A discussion with Queen Sugar’s Anthony Sparks (writer/producer) and Ayanna Floyd Davis (writer/producer, Empire, Private Practice), moderated by Anita Dashiell-Sparks, will immediately follow the screening. RSVP for this event.

12:00pm–1:00pm Identity Politics and Representation in Mass Media - PED 206
A panel discussion, moderated by David Maquiling from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, examining how multi-cultural actors, writers, producers and directors explore, define, and represent diverse identities and culture on stage and on screen. RSVP for this event.

It's remarkable what can happen when theatre artists come together in the support and advancement of the American Theatre. The Kilroys are an example of the power, passion, and commitment of a community working together to create change. I'm honored that my play, NOMS DE GUERRE, which was developed as part of Arena Stage's Playwrights Arena was nominated for the "The List."  Here's more about the Kilroys and their amazing and important work.

The Kilroys are a gang of LA-based female playwrights and producers committed to gender inclusivity in the American theater. They are creating positive initiatives to achieve field-wide change while working independently to advance the artistic and professional goals of their members. 

The Kilroys formed in 2013 out of a shared desire to create positive solutions to the long-standing issue of gender-inclusivity on American stages. THE LIST is a tool for producers committed to ending the systemic underrepresentation of female voices[1] in the American theater. Their first national initiative, THE LIST, was published today and can be viewed here. For a full list of nominees, click here. For a list of voters, click here. To nominate yourself as a voter for The List 2015, click here.

American theater professionals have long expressed an urgent desire to address the undeniable gender disparity on our stages. And yet the problem persists: Regional surveys routinely show significant bias towards production of plays by male authors. In three widely-discussed surveys of plays produced in the 2012-2013 season, only 10.5% on Broadway, 21% in Washington, D.C., and 22% in Los Angeles were written by women.

Using The Black List (Franklin Leonard’s yearly publication listing Hollywood’s favorite unproduced screenplays) for inspiration, The Kilroys surveyed 127 influential new play leaders to compile a mighty brain trust. Their responses showcase the abundance of excellent new work being written by women today: These experts identified more than 300 plays as among the best work they had encountered in the past year.

THE LIST comprises the 46 most recommended plays from this survey. In order to be eligible, a play must have been 1) unproduced or have had only a single professional production; 2) by an author who identifies as female; and 3) among the most excellent seen or read by the industry professional within the previous twelve months. The invited responders included Artistic Directors, Literary Managers, Professors, Producers, Directors, and Dramaturgs who had read or seen at least 40 new works in the last year. Each expert recommended three to five plays. To ensure unbiased results, responses were anonymous. All identifying information of recommenders was tracked separately from their recommendations in the survey software. The members of The Kilroys did not vote. The complete lists of nominees and recommenders are available at www.thekilroys.org.

The Kilroys believe THE LIST will be an important resource for theater leaders in season planning, bringing us one step closer to finally achieving our common goal of gender-inclusive production on American stages.

[1] The Kilroys recognize the complexities of gender identity, and the shortcomings of binary descriptors. We use this language as shorthand for the broad spectrum of female and genderqueer identity.

The Kilroys are a gang of LA-based female playwrights and producers committed to gender inclusivity in the American theater. They are creating positive initiatives to achieve field-wide change while working independently to advance the artistic and professional goals of their members.

Founded in 2013, The Kilroys are named after the iconic graffiti “Kilroy Was Here” that was first left by WWII soldiers in unexpected places, a playfully subversive way of making their presence known. 

The Kilroys are Zakiyyah Alexander, Bekah Brunstetter, Sheila Callaghan, Carla Ching, Annah Feinberg, Sarah Gubbins, Laura Jacqmin, Joy Meads, Kelly Miller, Meg Miroshnik, Daria Polatin, Tanya Saracho, and Marisa Wegrzyn.

Zakiyyah Alexander is a bicoastal playwright who sometimes writes television. Plays include 10 Things to do before I die (Second Stage Uptown), The Etymology of Bird (Providence Black Rep), and Sweet Maladies (Rucker Theater). Currently developing the musical GIRL shakes loose her skin (Joe's Pub) with Sonia Sanchez and Imani Uzuri. An alumni of New Dramatists, the Women's Project, CTG Writers Lab, and EST's Youngblood. Past commissions: Second Stage, Philadelphia Theater Company, Humana Festival Children's Theater Company. Education: Yale School of Drama. Television writing credits include Grey's Anatomy. 

Bekah Brunstetter’s plays include The Oregon Trail (The O’Neill) Be A Good Little Widow (The Old Globe, Ars Nova,Collaboration) House of Home  (Williamstown Theater Festival, Rough Reading Series), and OOHRAH!  (Atlantic Theater, Steppenwolf Garage/ Livewire Productions), She was a New York New Voices Fellow through the Lark Play Development Center and is an alumna of the Women's Project Writer's Lab, the Ars Nova Play Group, and the Playwright's Realm.  She is currently a story editor on ABC Family's Switched at Birth, a member of the CTG Playwright’s group, and writing a new play for South Coast Repertory. BA UNC Chapel Hill; MFA in Dramatic Writing from the New School for Drama. bekahbrunstetter.com

Sheila Callaghan's plays have been produced and developed with Soho Rep, Playwright's Horizons, South Coast Repertory, Clubbed Thumb, The Lark, Actor's Theatre of Louisville, New Georges, The Flea, Woolly Mammoth, Boston Court, and Rattlestick, among others. They include Scab, Crawl Fade to White, Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), We Are Not These Hands, Dead City, Lascivious Something, Kate Crackernuts, That Pretty Pretty; or, the Rape Play, Fever/Dream, Everything You Touch, Roadkill Confidential, Elevada, and Women Laughing Alone With Salad. Sheila is an affiliated artist with Clubbed Thumb, a member of  13P, and an alumni of New Dramatists. Marie Claire named Callaghan one of "18 Successful Women Who Are Changing the World " and Variety named her one of "10 Screenwriters to Watch". http://bekahbrunstetter.com/

Annah Feinberg’s play The Beautiful Beautiful Sea Next Door was produced at part of Ars Nova's ANTFest and by EBE Ensemble. Her play Numismatics was a finalist for Clubbed Thumb's Biennial commission, who produced her short play Mucus Radius in their Summerworks festivities. She has served in artistic and literary capacities for The Civilians, LCT3, ICM, MTC, Steppenwolf, Northlight, TimeLine, and 13P. Annah has an MFA in Dramaturgy from Columbia University and a BFA in Theater Studies from the University of Illinois. She is currently the assistant to Julia Louis-Dreyfus on HBO's Veep and contributes to The Scout Network. www.annahfeinberg.com

Sarah Gubbins’ plays include Fair Use, In Loco Parentis, The Drinking Problem, The Kid Thing (Jeff Award and Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award), fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life, I am Bradley Manning, A Sense of Things and Cocked.  Her plays have been produced at the Steppenwolf Theatre, Actor’s Express, Next Theater, About Face Theater and Chicago Dramatists among others.  And developed at the Public Theater, New York Theater Workshop, and the O’Neill Theatre Center among others.  Fellowships: Carl J. Djerassi Playwriting and Jerome. She’s a member of CTG’s Playwrights’ Workshop, The Playwrights’ Union, an Artistic Associate at About Face Theatre and a Core Writer at The Playwrights’ Center. M.F.A. from Northwestern University. 

Laura Jacqmin is a Chicago-based playwright and TV writer. Plays: January Joiner (Long Wharf Theatre), Ski Dubai (Steppenwolf Theatre), Look, We Are Breathing (Sundance Theater Lab; upcoming Rivendell Theatre), Two Lakes, Two Rivers (O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Royal Court Theatre’s International Residency), Dental Society Midwinter Meeting (Chicago Dramatists/At Play, remounted 16th Street Theater and Theater on the Lake), Do-Gooder (16th Street Theater), Ghost Bike (Buzz22 Chicago) and more. Awards: 2008 Wasserstein Prize, two NEA Art Works Grants, ATHE-Kennedy Center David Mark Cohen Playwriting Award, two MacDowell Fellowships. BA Yale University, MFA Ohio University. She’s currently a story editor on Netflix’s Grace & Frankie.

Joy Meads is the Literary Associate and Artistic Engagement Strategist at Center Theatre Group, where her dramaturgy credits include Forever by Dael Orlandersmith, Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison, The Royale by Marco Ramirez, and A Parallelogram by Bruce Norris. Previous to CTG, Joy was Literary Manager at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Associate Artistic Director at California Shakespeare Theater, where she ran the theater’s New Works/New Communities program.  Joy has also worked with Portland Center Stage, the O’Neill, South Coast Rep, Chicago Dramatists, The Playwrights’ Center, Native Voices at the Autry, NYTW, and Campo Santo + Intersection for the Arts.

Kelly Miller is the Literary Director of South Coast Repertory, the Co-Director of the Pacific Playwrights Festival, and the director of SCR’s CrossRoads Commissioning Project. She has dramaturged over 20 world premiere productions and new play readings at SCR. She has worked at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and as the Literary Manager of Long Wharf Theatre and Playscripts, Inc.  Kelly has also worked as a consultant for the O’Neill, PlayPenn, The Playwrights’ Center, the Public Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, and Berkeley Rep. In 2008, she co-founded Creative Destruction, a company dedicated to the development of new work.

Meg Miroshnik's plays include The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (Yale Rep 2014; Alliance 2012), The Tall Girls(Alliance 2014), The Droll, and Old Actress. Fairytale Lives was the 2012 Kendeda Award winner and a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist. Her work has been developed by the O'Neill, Pacific Playwrights Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, CTG Writers' Workshop, McCarter Theatre Center, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, the Kennedy Center, Chicago Opera Theater, and the Moscow Playwright and Director Center, among others. She has commissions with South Coast Rep, Steppenwolf, and Yale Rep. She is the winner of a 2012 Whiting Award and holds an MFA in Playwriting from Yale School of Drama where she studied under Paula Vogel.

Daria Polatin: Plays include In Tandem, Guidance, That First Fall, D.C., A Fair Affair, and The Luxor Express, inspired by her father’s life growing up in Egypt. Works produced at The Kennedy Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Naked Angels, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Cape Cod Theatre Project, and in London, Hong Kong, and Los Angeles. Daria wrote and directed the short film “Till It Gets Weird,” which premiered at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Residency with London’s Royal Court Theatre, alumna of Youngblood, M.F.A. Columbia University. Kennedy Center/A.C.T.F. Best One-Act Play. Daria currently lives in Los Angeles and works on the Starz original series Flesh and Bone. www.dariapolatin.com

Tanya Saracho was born in Sinaloa, México and is a playwright who writes for television (HBO's Looking, Girls and Devious Maids) PLAYS PRODUCED AT: 2nd Stage (July '14), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theater, Teatro Vista, Fountain Theater, Clubbed Thumb, Next Theater, Teatro Luna and 16th Street Theater. PLAYS INCLUDE: Mala Hierba; Hushabye; The Tenth Muse; Song for the Disappeared; Enfrascada; El Nogalar; a musical adaptation of The House on Mango Street; Our Lady of the Underpass; Kita y Fernanda, and Quita Mitos. IN DEVELOPMENT WITH: HBO. CURRENTLY COMMISSIONED BY: Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre, Two Rivers Theatre, Denver Theater Center, and South Coast Rep.

Marisa Wegrzyn's plays include Mud Blue Sky, Hickorydickory, The Butcher of Baraboo, Diversey Harbor, Ten Cent Night, Psalms of a Questionable Nature, Killing Women, lots of short plays, etc. Produced at Steppenwolf Theatre, Second Stage Uptown, Baltimore CENTERSTAGE, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Fest, A Red Orchid Theatre, MOXIE Theatre San Diego, Chicago Dramatists (resident playwright), Theatre Seven of Chicago (founding member). TV: Mind Games on ABC, The Mentalist on CBS. She's been commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre, and she received the 2009 Wendy Wasserstein Playwriting Prize for Hickorydickory. www.chainsawcalligraphy.com and @howdymarisa on Twitter.

On Saturday, April 26th, Boston's StageSource presented the Defining Gender Parity Town Hall. Hosted by Julie Hennrikus and Ilana Brownstein, here are the objectives, inquiries, and themes of the Town Hall:

"In this Defining Gender Parity Town Hall, we want to have a conversation about what gender parity looks like for our theater community. Where are we now, and what are our future goals? What does "success" look like, and how do we get there?

The Diversity/Inclusion/Gender Parity Task Force report talked about these three topics on stage (actors), back stage (playwrights, directors, designers, technicians, stage managers, crew), in the offices (administration, front of house), in the board rooms (and donor bases), and in the audiences. Gender parity is a conversation for all of these areas, though recent conversations have been around opportunities for playwrights and directors. We will not limit the conversation, though that context is helpful when we think about how to create the change we want (need) to see.

There are a number of recent conversations that help inform this meeting. They include Pat Gabridge's blog posts with an overview of some of the numbers around playwrights and directors on New England stages, and Ilana Brownstein's blog post "Rounding Up The Summit"."

While wasn't able to attend in person, I watched it live and thought it was an in-depth, thoughtful, and deeply engaging discussion. I don't know how often or in how many different ways we need to keep saying this, but sexism, like racism, is a pandemic issue. Just as we have to exercise our privilege to dismantle white supremacy, we must break down the barriers of patriarchy. We must challenge pervasive assumptions that rely on the notion of race and gender based mediocrity to promote and solidify exclusionary and discriminatory practices. White is not universal; male is not inherently best. We simply cannot thrive in either/or modalities. We are stronger together than apart. 

You can watch the Town Hall in its entirety below:

After watching the Defining Gender Parity Town Hall, I took the train to Baltimore to participate in Everyman Theatre's World of the Play panel discussion, Race and Representation: "Our greatest accomplishment. Our greatest shame." It was a powerful, complex, and challenging conversation that asked: 

"What is the personal cost of being a forerunner - a barrier breaker? Through her storytelling, Lynn Nottage reminds us of those who are marginalized by circumstance, yet fervently trying to assert their presence." 

Moderated by Marc Steiner, I was joined on the panel by Dr. Kimberly Moffitt (Professor of American Studies) and Otis Cortez Ramsey-Zoe (Lecturer of Theatre Arts). Click here to listen to the podcast.

One of the final questions had to do with hope. Marc wanted us to meditate on what issues we thought would be laid to rest in generations to come. Interestingly, and not surprisingly, no one was able to provide a solid answer. For me, in reflecting on this production of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, I feel that many of the race and gender based socio-economic and geo-political issues that we struggled against in the 1930s, that we marched against in the 1950s, and that we balled our hands and raised our fists against in the 1970s, continue in detrimental ways to this day. And yet...I still have hope that progress, incremental though it may seem, is being made. 

The next morning, Sunday, April 27th, I took part in the "Writing Our History" panel, which was part of Shakespeare Theatre Company's AsidesLIVE symposium around Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, which Shakespeare wrote approximately 200 years after the historical events depicted. Moderated by STC's Literary Associate and Production Dramaturg, Drew Lichtenberg, I was joined on the panel by Robert Schenkkan, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of Broadway's All the Way.

"What is the history play," Lichtenberg ask. "People often throw those words about with complete confidence in the fixity of the genre, but when you look closer, 'the history play' becomes a surprisingly amorphous and constantly evolving term of art. I'm eager and excited to hold up models of the history play, both Shakespearean and contemporary, as we attempt to answer this surprisingly complicated and resonant question."

Many of the issues I wrestled with during the Race and Representation panel bubbled under this conversation. Weeks later, this question that Drew asked resonates with me still, "What is the ethical obligation of contemporary theatre artists in representing history?"

For me, the greatest obligation we have is to tell the stories of our communities, especially those who are marginalized and to speak truth to power. The greatest thing the Shakespeare Theatre Company (and perhaps even the Folger Theatre) can do is to commission writers of color to tell our stories and to adapt the classics for audiences today. This way, these new plays will be one day be the classics that theatres and historians 400 years from now will produce and study for a greater understanding of the generation that not only brought forth the greatest advancement of technology ever known to man, but also set us on the path to eradicating the ills of racism and sexism in this country.

By the time Monday rolled around, I was amped and ready. It was then that I took part in the long awaited and much anticipated final installment of The Summit hosted by Arena Stage and moderated by Washington Post theatre critic Peter Marks. The focus of the evening was on playwrights and directors. I was joined by Rachel Grossman, ringleader of the District’s innovative audience participation troupe, dog & pony dc; David Muse, Studio Theatre artistic director and director of Tribes; frequent Woolly Mammoth director/playwright Robert O’Hara (Antebellum and Bootycandy); Ari Roth, Theater J artistic director and author of last season’s Andy in the Shadows; and D.C.-area playwrights and members of Arena Stage’s inaugural Playwrights’ Arena collaborative writing group Norman Allen (Nijinsky's Last Dance).

A few days ahead of the event, Peter emailed each of us and shared:

"If you've been following along, you'll know the Summits have been lively, entertaining and even a bit provocative. As you're an especially brainy group, I'm going to try to make the questions friendly but challenging, and of course relevant to the issues facing playwrights, directors and artistic directors today. I think it would be helpful if you all think about the "meta" question of what role theater wants to function going forward in this society. Statistics indicate that a shrinking share of Americans opts for theatergoing as even a once-in-a-while experience. There are also those questions of who the theater you all so diligently strive to put on is for--and whether the playwriting and directorial opportunities are being shared equitably with, for instance, women and people of color."

The event was live streamed and so I'm going to let you all experience this event for yourself. 

After the Summit, I wrote to Peter to thank him for including me and shared my thoughts on why I felt events like this were important:
"With this series, you've given leaders of the D.C. Theatre Community an opportunity to address issues that concern theatre artists locally, regionally, and nationally. From Gender Parity and Diversity and Inclusion to marketing and capitalization to the complex Artist and Arts Organization relationship and the unfortunately reality of our ever dwindling audiences, you are challenging each of us--theatre practitioners and audience member alike--to dig deep, engage, and find new and lasting ways to grow, nurture, and sustain the American Theatre."

On Saturday, January 18th at 5:00pm, Everyman Theatre will host a panel discussion on How Women's Voices Changed Our Culture in conjunction with the production of Crimes of the Heart.  Hosted by radio personality Marc Steiner, panelists will include: Teresa Eyring (Executive Director, Theatre Communications Group), Jacqueline Lawton (Playwright and Dramaturg) and Jackson Bryer (Professor of American Theatre, University of Maryland). Click here to listen to the podcast.

"The World of the Play is a new panel discussion series at Everyman Theatre. With the program we aim to promote cultural dialogue within the community, providing access to conversations with experts, professionals, and academics, relating to the themes and broader relevance of a given Everyman production. Everyman is beyond excited to welcome the highly distinguished panel of guests for the discussion inspired by Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart. We live in a time that has been dubbed, ‘The Age of the Playwright’, examining the presence of the American female voice in this declaration is as pertinent as ever. We hope to provide a platform on which panelists and participants can interrogate the intricate dynamics between gender, art and culture." said Everyman Theatre Education Director Nora Stillman Burke

Crimes of the Heart debuted in December, 1980 and became a swift success for playwright Beth Henley. The Pulitzer Prize-winner provided great leading roles for many great actresses. However, over 30 years later, plays written by women are still produced far less than plays written by men. To this day, less than 15 women have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In this discussion we will use the legacy of Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart to discuss the role of women play in theatre today. Contemporary playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton will provide living expertise as a current playwright. And Jackson Bryer will provide historical perspective as a professor of American Theatre at the University of Maryland.

"I’m excited to participate on this panel, in my hometown of Baltimore where my love of theatre began," shared Eyring. "I am also passionate about the topic. I’ve been fortunate to be given extraordinary opportunities in the American theatre field, including in my current position as the first woman to head the 52 year old Theatre Communications Group. Many of the most significant artists and producers working in theatre today are women, and I am honored to be a part of an important conversation about opportunities and issues for women in the field.”

"I first read Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart when I was an undergrad and I've held a deep respect for it ever since." said Lawton. "I admire not only how Henley addresses the role and expectations of women in society, but also how she allows the sisters to have an awareness and access to her sexuality. Additionally, I appreciate the respectful way that race relations and depression are addressed in this play. I'm excited to take part in this panel and to have the opportunity to explore these issues in depth."

Click here to listen to the podcast. 

Everyman Theatre is an intimate Equity theatre with a resident company of artists from the Baltimore/Washington area, dedicated to producing quality plays that are accessible and affordable to everyone. Everyman Theatre is a professional Equity theatre company celebrating the actor, with the resident company of artists from the Baltimore/DC area.  Founded in 1990 by Vincent Lancisi, the theatre is dedicated to engaging the audience through a shared experience between actor and audience seeking connection and emotional truth in performance.

Tomorrow, Friday, December 13th at 7:30pm, please join Hilary Kacser, Laura Zam, and Mary Resing at High Tea Stories--a performance of true stories of honesty, generosity, quality, responsibility and community.

"Laura Zam has written a wonderful piece that really captures moments in the lives of women striving to help the world," said Mary Resing, Artistic Director of Active Cultures.  "It is very fun and touching.  Hilary Kacser and Laura are delightful as they rapid shift from character to character, showing a wide range of the Jewish women of Baltimore."

High Tea Stories
by Laura Zam
directed by Mary Resing
performed by Laura Zam and Hilary Kacser

Synopsis
When Chana, a character from the Book of Samuel, faces conflict and self-doubt, she turns to a group of modern day women in Baltimore for help. A modern parable, High Tea Stories celebrates the role of authenticity, community and generosity in our lives.

Friday, Dec 13, 7:30 pm
Old Parish House
4711 Knox Road
College Park, MD 20740
Click here for directions.

Commissioned by The Associated of Baltimore and produced by Active Cultures. Please support our free events with your donation at the door.

Mary Resing is a playwright, director, dramaturg & producer and the founder of Active Cultures Theatre. In 2012, the Maryland State Arts Council recognized her with an Individual Artist Award in Playwriting for her signed/spoken musical Visible Language. She has served on panels for the TCG, CIES and The Rockefeller Foundation. A proud alumna of Michigan-Ann Arbor, NYU, and Spring Hill College, Dr. Resing was a 2005-2006 US Fulbright Scholar to Armenia. In 2005, she also received an Offstage Award from the League of Washington Theatres for her body of dramaturgical work at Woolly Mammoth. With Tim McKeown, she is co-owner of the successful startup ResingMcKeown Unlimited.

Hilary Kacser is a long time DC actor,who has performed regionally and internationally, on stage and screen.  She has produced and performed in every Capital Fringe Festival since the Festival’s inauguration eight years ago.  Her original work has been awarded multiple DC Commission on the Arts and Humanties grants. Hilary just returned from Austin,Texas and Miami, Florida, where she performed her touring solo show, “DisordR, the Play,” in which Pakrat Patty the Hoarder comes out of the Clutter Closet (2reprises.blogspot.com).

Laura Zam is a writer/performer specializing in solo plays. MARRIED SEX, commissioned by Theater J (Semi-Finalist O’Neill), at NY Fringe and Off-Broadway (United Solo). Other NY performances: Dixon Place, Public Theater, EST and others. COLLATERALLY DAMAGED tours nationally, including Kennedy Center, Woolly Mammoth, Shakespeare Theatre, universities, schools, conferences, and museums. International: four Prague productions. Awards: Tennessee Williams Fellowship, Artist Fellowship (DCCAH), Amiri Barka Literary Prize, and others. Publications: six book anthologies, personal essays and articles. As an arts-educator, Laura has worked with post-trauma populations internationally, including teens from Mid-East, wounded soldiers, and sexual trauma survivors. M.F.A from Brown (Playwriting). LauraZam.com. 

The thing about core values is that once you establish them, they will be tested. Constantly and at varying degrees of intensity. You must continually nurture, finesse, and engage them. In doing so, you will either re-avow your allegiance or release them. Quite frankly, it seems that the more you honor and live by them ... the more you firmly hold on to them, the greater the test will be. As great as holding on for dear life to a twig in the midst of a tempest. You dare not let go, for you must protect yourself and the twig. You're in it together. Such a moment happened to me last night:

It was just past midnight. I was lying down in bed. My upstairs neighbor was either watching porn or playing videos games. There were odd and random sounds and bad music playing. Really, it could have been either. 

Despite efforts to the contrary, I was wide awake. I turned to my side and placed a pillow over my head. This strategy has never worked to drown out sound, but the effort--its dramatic release of frustration--seems worthy of repetition. I saw a blue light flashing on my phone indicating a message. I'm waiting to hear back about several exciting job opportunities, so every message is read with eagerness and enthusiasm. 

I read the email and was struck. I was being asked to consider something that put my personal, professional and artistic integrity on high alert. My heart started racing and leapt into my throat. It was difficult to breathe. My vision blurred and I was thrown into a fit of tears recounting the number of times I'd been asked to whitewash a situation and put conversations about racial equity, cultural awareness, and gender parity aside for the betterment and ease of the room. 

But then I remembered the line that I drew some years ago ... an invisible, but palpable line that stood between who I am (the essence and truth of my honor and dignity, and how I choose to live in the world) and what I am willing to walk away from no matter what the cost. By meditating on that line, I contemplated what it would mean to cross it and the silence I would have to bear if I agreed with the conditions set forth in this email. 

Make no mistake, the cost of walking away from this situation would be great and public, but I would have to walk away. I would neither be able to stand the hypocrisy nor stomach the lies. What's more, I wouldn't be able to advocate for women playwrights and theatre artists of color or continue the work that I'm doing around Diversity and Inclusion in the American Theatre with any credibility. 

That line, which temptation, greed, convenience and power, oft tempt to erase brought me comfort, hope, empowerment and sanity. I renewed my allegiance and slept a good, uninterrupted sleep. As for the rest, we'll see what unfolds.

Each year, the Washingtonian publishes its list of 100 Most Powerful Women. This year’s list included 117 of the area's most influential women working in the arts, business, education, government, health, law, media, and nonprofit fields. The invitation asked that each honoree bring as their guest a woman with talent and tenacity whom the Washingtonian should watch in the future. The women were honored at a luncheon that was held in the beautiful Colonnade Room of the Fairmont Hotel in Georgetown. Click here to view photos from the event.

The only reason I know about any of this is because on Monday morning Molly Smith, Artistic Director of Arena Stage, invited me to attend as her guest. I was honored, delighted, and quite simply floored. You could’ve knocked me over with a feather. As the leader of one of the preeminent regional theatres in the country, I have long admired Molly for her vision, ambition and passion. It was inspiring and empowering to spend time with her at this most prestigious event. 

Washingtonian’s President and Publisher of Washingtonian Media Cathy Merrill Williams opened the event by sharing a powerful personal story. She and a group of close women friends were skiing in the Pacific Northwest on a mountain range along the border of Washington State and Canada. Cathy was sure to point out that she is a highly skilled and experienced skier. When she felt the snow moving beneath her, she knew immediately what was happening. She knew that she needed to pull the avalanche cord, a colored line that helps rescuers locate a skier if caught and buried in an avalanche. But she didn’t. She thought to herself, “I got this.” Moments later, she found herself covered in snow up to her neck. Thankfully, her friends and guide were there to help dig her out of the snow. She reminded us that in our day to day efforts and struggle for success, our ego can get in the way. Confidence can cloud hard experience, truth and knowledge. We should to do our best to check our ego at the door. When it does make its way through and we find ourselves trapped beneath 5 feet of snow, we should never to be too proud to accept the help of others who care about us. 

Then guest speaker Chris Simmons, Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ Managing Partner, took to the podium. He spoke to us quite candidly. He told us that if you’re married, an organization may feel entitled to pay you less money and that regardless of our achievements and accolades, men still run the world and they knew it. He reminded us that “Whoever people choose to have around them in their relaxed moments, those are who they will support and promote.” This is why he encourages women in power to “use your positions to make systemic changes within your organizations, but also to support other women. Each of you has the credibility to tell other women how extraordinary they are.” He believes in Gender Parity. He knows that you can’t have a solution to a problem when you exclude half the population. “There are good answers to problems that aren’t being addressed because women aren’t invited to the table.” He reminded us that while we all have our struggles, we can help each other. Lastly, he spoke about the merits of Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. He appreciates that in her book, Sandberg asks women to choose partners, who will support and stand by us, and not get in the way of our success. He also like that she asks us to think about, “What would we do if we weren’t afraid?” He encouraged us to be fearless in our ambition, steadfast in our efforts and courageous in all that we do. It was a refreshing, enlightening and empowering speech.

We dined on an absolutely delicious meal: a mixed green salad with some kind of new-age egg that was made of something that wasn't an egg at all followed by chicken for the meat eaters and spinach lasagna for the vegetarians. We were also served some rather fancy wine. This was quite the "Ladies who Lunch" affair! 

Seated at our table was none other than Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, founder and chairman, of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. At 91, she is sharp, convivial, and lovely. I couldn't help, but share that I had visited the gallery recently to take in the exhibit, American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold’s Paintings of the 1960s. She smiled with such delight and told a few personal stories of her and Faith.  

Throughout the event, Molly introduced me to a number of nominees and we also sought out a few to meet together. And we talked. She spoke about the trajectory of her career, the personal and professional challenges that she's faced and overcome, and the impact she hopes to make on the D.C. community and the American Theatre. And as a true mentor, we spoke about my dreams and ambitions and about where I am in my life ... this exhilarating and frightening transition that is fraught with such potential and uncertainty. She was excited for me and gave me some much-needed encouragement and advice. 

As the event came to a close, my heart swelled with such appreciation and I felt so fortunate to be in this room filled with so many accomplished women. I thought about how far I had come from my days as a poor Texas farm girl, who was filled with so many dreams for what my future could be. I am where I am today because of parents who believed in me and instilled in me a thirst for knowledge, and because of the many amazing mentors in my life. All of which have been women. I left the event feeling inspired and invigorated, and also more grounded and hopeful than I have in such a long time.

Thank you, Molly, for your time, support and enthusiasm. Thank you Washingtonian and PWC for celebrating the hard work and achievements of women in the Washington area. Click here for a full list of the nominees and see below to learn more about the Arts and Letters nominees.

Marin Alsop, musical director, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Alsop is the maestra with the mostest at the Music Center at Strathmore, where the BSO plays a third of its concerts.

Jenny Bilfield, president and CEO, Washington Performing Arts Society. Bilfield is the area's major performing-arts producer, bringing artists of all genres to audiences in many venues. The first woman to head the WPAS, she came from Stanford in January with expectations to bring more contemporary artists to local stages.

Elizabeth Broun, Johnnetta B. Cole, and Kim Sajet, directors, Smithsonian museums. Broun (American Art Museum), Cole (National Museum of African Art), and Sajet (National Portrait Gallery) run three of Washington's major museums, including laboratories in each where visitors can observe the conservation of invaluable works of art.

Monica Jeffries Hazangeles, president, Strathmore. Hazangeles took over the arts center from Eliot Pfanstiehl (now CEO) in 2010, after serving as executive vice president and heading a $110-million campaign to raise funds for organizational development and a long-term endowment. Strathmore is bursting with artistic energy both in its education programs and on its stages.

Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, founder and chairman, National Museum of Women in the Arts. The cultural visionary used her personal collection to create an institution that spotlights women's long-ignored artistic endeavors.

Victoria Sant, president of the board, National Gallery of Art. A major philanthropic force in Washington, Sant has supported not only the National Gallery but also the Summit Foundation, the Smithsonian, and Vital Voices.

Sky Sitney, director, AFI Docs. The documentary-film festival has grown to include 53 works shown in venues in Silver Spring and downtown DC, attracting thousands and offering opportunities for filmmakers to meet with policymakers.

Molly Smith, artistic director, Arena Stage. The queen of DC's theater scene helped shepherd One Night With Janis Joplin—which had successful runs at Arena both last fall and this summer—to Broadway, where the Randy Johnson-directed production opened in October.

Francesca Zambello, artistic director, Washington National Opera. Zambello took over from Plácido Domingo in 2012, cementing the WNO's merger with the Kennedy Center. She's also responsible for directing the Young Artist Program and commissioning new works. In her spare time, she directs one opera each season at the WNO and heads the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York.

The Washingtonian, the magazine Washington lives by, is the region's top source of information for dining, shopping, entertainment, and personalities. It has been Washington's most trusted guide to living, working, and playing in the area for more than four decades thanks to features like "100 Very Best Restaurants," "Top Doctors," and "Great Places to Live." The magazine is read each month by more than 400,000 people, who spend an average of 96 minutes with each issue and save each issue for an average of five months. The Washingtonian, under the guidance of its longtime editor, Jack Limpert, is a five-time National Magazine Award winner for its reporting and writing.

Washingtonian.com, the online extension of the magazine, helps hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors explore and live in the nation's capital. From planning a night out on the town to locating the best pediatrician or lining up a new hairstylist, Washingtonian.com is the region's premier destination for lifestyle information. Through online chats with editors, online columns, events calendars, and blogs, the site helps readers keep up with everything happening around them. Whether you're contemplating moving and want to know the area's best places to live or contemplating switching jobs and want to know the region's best places to work, Washingtonian.com is the national capital region's one stop for trustworthy, dependable, and thoughtful advice

JACQUELINE LAWTON: Why did you decide to get into theatre? Was there someone or a particular show that inspired you?
ARALYN HUGHES: As a card carrying feminist, I fell in love with the work of LADIES AGAINST WOMEN a street performance group that used satire to ridicule the anti-feminist backlash of 1980s Reagan-era America, inspiring to me to consider theatre as way of protest and wild, comic improvisation.   I was part of a theatre company in Austin (Big State Productions) who around the same time period created a workshop inspired by the Richard Avedon photographic exhibit, "In the American West" that was meant to showcase a response to these photographs through a presentation of original monologues.   We had planned to present two performances but because of popular demand, the show ended up running for 8 years!  That-- was my real introduction to the theatre.  I then took a hiatus from the theatre for almost twenty years and have only recently returned to it full-time in my mid-60s.  I felt time was running out and even though I was fearful to come back to it at the age of 65, I was also driven to make it happen.  Amparo Garcia-Crow, my director,  has been my mentor and inspiration.  Because she was also an original company member of Big State Productions,  I contacted her  about helping me get my story on stage and the last three years we have presented a series of eight original shows under the umbrella title: "Aralyn's Home Economics presents. . . ."  The shows have been a hybrid of performance art meets storytelling meets sketch comedy resulting in me "painting my life on a canvas" which means I am creating on stage the life I want to live.  A life imitates art experience.

JL: Next, tell me a little bit about your writing process. Do you have any writing rituals? Do you write in the same place or in different places?
AH: No writing ritual just a roomful of boxes, mostly journals, archival videos, photos, artifacts and the backs of napkins which Amparo was brave enough to sort through to begin directing my stories.  Typically  I write in spurts,  notes on my phone or ipad/computer,  mostly I capture ideas about events to remember how I felt, thoughts that tie into whatever "social experiment" Amparo guides me towards so that I become the live subject of "the matter."   She listens very carefully to what distracts or obsesses me and off we go into the heart of the subject.  In the three year-series of shows we just completed, she has finally graduated me into sitting behind a desk ala Spalding Gray to just tell the story!  The idea being to ease into becoming the graceful but loud-mouthed crone.  Because I tell my life story, there is no script until after the performance when I transcribe the various approaches to the story.  The so called script is changing until I go on stage.  Often in performance, the story will evolve and be different.  There is more of an outline and notes on what I want to remember to tell so the story flows but in truth, the story becomes more alive than even I can imagine! 

JL: What inspired you to write XXX? What was the process of developing this piece? 
AH:  Bedicheck Jr. High in Austin, Texas choose me as one of the four most inspiring people in Austin and to honor that, they were painting my face as a mural on the side of the building!  I had no idea how they came upon me, I do not have children, I do not know anybody at that school.  Maybe they saw my "Keeping Austin Weird" art house on HGTV or my pink pig art car and my sidekick (a Vietnamese potbelly pig who used to perform with me around town) on the Discovery Channel or my visual art which hangs at different locations in Austin, but suddenly there I was, my face painted on the side of the building the size of a semi-truck  and it looked like me!  While I was there visiting with the students, I was introduced to their art teacher who put me on her email list and started sending me what 30 year olds are into.  One day she sends me the Rihanna video called S&M.  I opened it and LOVED the visuals of what I saw her doing and I found myself obsessing about her dominant actions and wondered-- what in the world is she doing?  Have I had my head in the sand?  Is this mainstream?  I now know it was a popish stereotype of the BDSM world but I found myself thinking: "If only I was 30 years old!"  I became so obsessed, my director said, why don't you research that for your next show!   I not only researched it, I tried on the role of dominatrix and the  universe of choices and rituals involved. For a 65 year old woman contemplating retirement, it opened up a radical dialogue and practice which  ended up changing my life.  Not because the practice was ultimately a lifestyle choice for me, but the process of becoming a dom ended up giving me the true to life role of a lifetime!  And without knowing how significant it would be to take this practice on with real submissive men in order to yield the monologue XXX,  the development of this story ended up taking me into a childhood sexual abuse incident I experienced at the hands of the Baptist deacon that lived across the street from my family in Elks City Oklahoma.  To uncover this enlightened me and liberated a lifelong (unconscious) oppression in me.

JL: What do you hope audiences will walk away thinking about after experiencing this play?
AH: I am saddened by the violence I see in our world and the lack of clarity and ease that exists with relationships between people.   What I present is a contradiction or at least a question or two that I hope contributes towards creating a less judgmental world, one in which there is more freedom of choice, and ultimately better communication, more peace (inside and out) and tolerance for diversity in the world--meaning, the more education we have about sexuality, oppression, fetish behavior and the desire for connection, the more understanding there can be for that fine line between pleasure and pain and how ultimately, everyone wants to experience their authentic,  true natures, in whatever form that arises.  The desire to no longer oppress those who are different--be it because of gender, lifestyle or personal choice is a life-long hope.  And a cause for which I have spent a lifetime rallying.

ARALYN HUGHES is a storyteller/performer who for years as been called "The First Lady of the Keepin' Austin Weird movement."  She has been a lobbyist at the Texas State Capital for women's issues, having served as Director for the first abortion clinic in Central Texas in the 1970s; she's taught high school Home Economics (and been reprimanded for teaching sex education in the schools) and been a member of various board and commissions in Austin, Texas.  A dedicated feminist, she has been a successful business woman and a company member of Big State Productions and various improv companies in town

AMPARO GARCIA CROW acts, directs, sings and writes plays, songs and screenplays.
She coaches individuals to follow their dreams BY DESIGN, a creative
and spiritual coaching dialogue that enlivens their art and life!  As a playwright her work has premiered Off-Broadway (INTAR, THE WOMEN’S PROJECT), Actor’s Theater of Louisville and been developed at South Coast Repertory.   Her films have premiered at SXSW and the Los Angeles International Latino Festival. She is currently in development with STRIP, a burlesque musical she began in residency with Mabou Mines. And in Austin, she hosts the monthly THE LIVNG ROOM: Storytime for Grown-ups.

UNITED SOLO THEATRE FESTIVAL™ is an annual international festival for solo performances held in New York City. Through a diverse range of one-person shows, we explore and celebrate the uniqueness of the individual. From openly solicited submissions, we stage the most intriguing productions at the highly acclaimed Theatre Row in the heart of the New York City theatre district on 42nd Street. Renowned solo performers as well as new talents have opportunities in many categories (e.g. storytelling, puppetry, dance, multimedia, documentary, musical, improv, stand-up, poetry, magic, drama: tragedy or comedy). The artists also benefit from being presented by United Solo, a company made up of artists and producers with vast experience in solo performance. Submission is open in spring, and selected participants are announced in summer each year.

America Women Writers National Museum 
presents
The Dramatic Women Who Play Wright

Wednesday, June 5th 
McLendon Room of the National Press Club (529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor)

Event Details
Meet & Greet with Writers at 11:30am
Women Who Play Wright Discussion from 12:00pm 
Questions & Social at 1:00pm 
50-state Project honors Women Writers from 
Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Maine at 1:15pm 

Please join three extraordinary women playwrights for a in-depth and engaging conversation about writing for the stage. American Women Writers National Museum welcomes Renee Calarco (The Religion Thing and Short Order Stories), celebrated playwright and professor at George Washington University; Jennifer L. Nelson (Torn from the Headlines and 24, 7, 365) and critically acclaimed director and playwright, now Director of Special Programming at Ford's Theatre; and Mary Hall Surface (Lift: Icarus and Me and Perseus Bayou, ), an internationally recognized playwright and director, and Artistic Director of the INTERSECTIONS: A New American Arts Festival.

All AWWNM programs are free and open to the public. 
Click here for more information.

RENEE CALARCO

Renee Calarco lives and works in Washington, DC. Her play SHORT ORDER STORIES received the 2007 Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play. Other plays include THE RELIGION THING (2012 Helen Hayes Recommended), KEEPERS OF THE WESTERN DOOR, THE MATING OF ANGELA WEISS, BLEED, and IF YOU GIVE A CAT A CUPCAKE (commissioned by Adventure Theatre in 2011). Her 10-minute play WARRIORS was published by One Act Play Depot in 2010.  Other short plays include SEMPER FIDELIS,  POUNDS AWEIGH, and FIRST STOP: NIAGARA FALLS. Renee is an artistic associate with First Draft/Charter Theater, the program coordinator for Naked Ladies Lunch, and a proud member of both DC Area Playwrights and The Dramatists Guild of America. She teaches playwriting at George Washington University and improvisational comedy at The Theatre Lab, and is a licensed professional tour guide.  www.reneecalarco.com

JENNIFER L. NELSON

Jennifer L Nelson is currently Director of Special Programming at Ford’s Theatre.  Prior to this appointment she was the founding Producing Artistic Director of the African Continuum Theatre Company, Washington D.C.’s only professional black theatre company. During that eleven year tenure, she produced twenty plays, multiple readings and other events. Ms. Nelson is a commended playwright and published poet.  Her musical play Torn from the Headlines was awarded the 1996 Helen Hayes/Charles MacArthur Award for Most Outstanding New Play. Her three-minute telephone play Somebody Call 911 was commissioned by and featured at the 2001 Humana Festival at the Actors’ Theatre of Louisville. Her latest full-length play 24, 7, 365 was produced by Theatre of the First Amendment. Her full-length musical Hubert & Charlie was honored by the 2003 Larry Neal Writers’ Awards and was subsequently produced by the African Continuum Theatre. She has received several commissions to write issue-oriented plays for young audiences, most recently by Ford’s Theatre to bring to life historical character Elizabeth Keckly (2011 Washington Post Helen Hayes Theatre Award).  She has also been commissioned to write short plays for the Theatre Lab; Active Cultures/Sportaculture Festival; the Cultures-in-Motion Program of the National Portrait Gallery; the Education Department of the Corcoran Gallery; the Kennedy Center Program for Families; and Round House Theatre’s HeyDay Players. She is a three-time grantee of the DC Commission on the Arts Individual Artist program, and a recipient of the Mayor’s Arts Awards for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline. 

MARY HALL SURFACE

Mary Hall Surface is a playwright and director specializing in theatre for families and multi-disciplinary collaborations.  A DC theatre community member since 1989, her producers include Round House Theatre, Arena Stage, Folger Theatre, the National Gallery of Art and over 15 productions at the Kennedy Center. Internationally her work has been featured in productions and festivals in Germany, Canada, Japan, Peru, France, Taiwan, Sweden and Ireland. Nominated for four Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play and five Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Direction, she received the 2002 award for her musical, Perseus Bayou. She is the artistic director of INTERSECTIONS: A New America Arts Festival at the Atlas Performing Arts Center.  She received the Charlotte Chorpenning Award, presented by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education for an Outstanding Body of Work as a Playwright, May 2006. She was a finalist for the 2011 DC Mayor's Arts Award for Service to the Arts.

Welcome to the Women Theatre Critics of D.C. Series! Over the next few days, you'll be introduced to a smart, talented and diverse group of women working in the American Theatre as freelance and staff theatre critics, and also as feature writers. Many of these women are writing locally, regionally and nationally. Their combined credits include BroadwayWorld, DC Metro Theatre Arts, DC Theatre Scene, Huffington Post, MD Theatre Guide, Washington City Paper, the Washington Post and the Washington Times. And I admire each of them for efforts, ability and commitment to the theatre. 

As a theatre artist, advocate, teacher and audience member, I engage in a great deal of critical thinking about theatre. I first learned critical theory and analysis in grad school at the University of Texas Austin while studying under Omi Olomo Osun (Dr. Joni Jones) and Jill Dolan. From them, I learned about the complicated ways in which race and gender politics for and against artists, audience members and critics. On a basic level, when we approach and engage with a piece of theatre we must be open-minded enough to consider and also counter cultural biases that work against women and artists of color. We must be socially aware, racially conscious and establish a more diverse and inclusive cultural literacy.

In her blog for the Washington Post, journalist and classical music critic Anne Midgette wrote this about the role and responsibility of the art critic:

“The role of a critic is to cover a field. This doesn't mean simply pandering to popular taste. It means doing one's best to convey a sense of what is going on in a given discipline by writing about every possible side of it. It means trying to convey a perspective that a reader who doesn't spend every night going to concerts/plays/films may not be able to gather himself; or offering a thoughtful take that might stimulate a reader who does go to everything to see something in a different light.

For part of our role is to foster dialogue and debate. That doesn't mean setting forth judgments of taste in order that readers might fall obediently into line behind us. Quite the contrary: it may mean putting out views that one knows may represent the minority. It means being interested in the thoughts of those who disagree. It means being delighted when someone is powerfully moved by something one didn't like oneself. It also means writing well enough that someone might want to read you -- a goal that's hard to reach if all you're doing is trying to push readers to buy tickets.”

For me, this is criticism at its very best and actually, it's what I see Howlround.com accomplishing so masterfully. 

When I first began these series, I knew that I wanted to connect with the Women Theatre Critics of D.C. I wanted to engage them in a discussion not only about their ideals, standards and passion for the form, but also about the impact they hope to make on the American Theatre. As with my previous series on Playwrights, Directors, Artistic Directors, and Dramaturgs, it is my hope that these interviews will serve others who are making their way as theatre critics and feature writers in the Nation's Capital, and beyond. I also hope it will shed light on the essential role of the critic in the American Theatre and offer a point of entry into their process of engagement. 

JAYNE BLANCHARD

Jayne Blanchard has been a critic covering DC theater for the past 14 years, most recently for DC Theatre Scene and previously for the Washington Times. Prior to that, she was a theater critic in the Twin Cities and a movie reviewer in the Washington area. She is a proud resident of Baltimore.

SOPHIA BUSHONG

Sophia Bushong is very flattered to have been asked to participate in this series, even though she reviews plays very rarely and usually just for the fun of it. She has been a creative writer, theater geek and actress all of her life. She has a BA in English Literature and Dramatic Arts from Dickinson College. She spent ten wonderful years acting and studying in New York City. She trained at the New Actor's Workshop, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, the American Globe Theatre Conservatory with John Basil, and with the best Voice for Actors coach ever, Robert Perillo. Favorite roles include: Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, STNJ, Shakespeare Live; Sylvia in Sylvia, Lake Placid Center for the Arts; the Angel in Angels In America, Parts I & II, Pendragon Theater; Woman in Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act,Prospect Theater; Madge Larrabee, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Bernadette in The Misadventures of Julia Child, Upright Citizen's Brigade. A special mention must go to the part of Dissenter in MacRune's Guevara, Mirror Repertory Company, because she was cast in the role by her future husband. Five years into their friendship he sweet-talked her into moving to Washington, DC. Once here, she turned her focus towards writing. She has been a freelance contributor to the Washington City Paper Arts Desk blog for about sixteen months.

SYDNEY-CHANELE DAWKINS

Sydney-Chanele Dawkins is an award-winning feature filmmaker, film curator, film festival and theater producer, and an impassioned advocate for the Arts as a Commissioner and Vice Chair for the Arts for the City of Alexandria,VA. She also is also a staff writer and theater and film reviewer for DC Metro Theater Arts.  Sydney-Chanele made her theater producing debut, 'Someone Who'll Watch Over Me' in May 2012 with Port City Playhouse, in Alexandria VA. and just ended a very successful theater producing effort in McLean, VA. with Neil Simon's 'Rumors' for  McLean Community Players at Alden Theater.  Her next producing effort will be Pearl Cleage's 'Blues for an Alabama Sky'. Co-Chair of the Film Program with Artomatic 2012, and Programmer of Cinema Art Bethesda, Sydney-Chanele is the past Festival Director of the Alexandria Film Festival, the Reel Independent Festival , and Female Shorts Film and Video Showcase. She is active with DC Metro area film festivals, including programming and leadership positions with FilmFest DC, the Washington Jewish Film Festival, Arabian Sights Film Festival, DC Shorts, Rosebud Film Festival, and AFI's Docs

VICTORIA DURHAM

Victoria Durham is a writer, spoken word artist and lifelong resident of the DC Metro area. After earning degrees from Temple University (PA) in both Film and African-American Studies, Victoria worked extensively as a freelance talent and production coordinator throughout the local independent film circuit. She also contributed her talents to such companies as Girard Video, BET, The Barrie School, WTTG FOX-5 and the CW (formerly UPN-20). In 2011, after contributing an article to the website of the late author Erica Kennedy, Victoria decided to more seriously pursue a career in arts writing and began penning her first stage play.  More significantly, she began working as a freelance arts journalist.  In 2012, Victoria covered the ever popular Capital Fringe Festival for the well-established website DC Theatre Scene.  That same year she joined the staff of MD Theatre Guide as a contributing writer. 

SUSAN GALBRAITH

Susan began studying the field of theatre criticism as an assistant to theatre director and critic-at-large Robert Brustein in London 1972-1973. Subsequently, while pursuing a career on stage in New York, Minneapolis, and Boston, Susan continued to write reviews periodically. For the last three years, Susan has worked for DC Theatre Scene, covering theatre and opera for Washington’s premiere on-line arts magazine. Recently she was invited to write dance reviews dance for The Washington Post. Trained as both an actress and dancer, Susan brings diverse perspectives to her writing on performance. She has directed and also performed in repertory theatre, new plays, and experimental cross-over forms of dance-theatre. She served as Artistic Director of Performers Ensemble from 1978 to 1989 including serving as a company member of Peter Sellars’ Boston Shakespeare.  In 1994, she co-founded Alliance for New Music-Theatre working collaboratively to develop libretto for operas and musicals and directing new works.

MARLENE HALL

Marlene Hall grew up an army brat and has lived all over the world and in Washington, D.C. Marlene graduated from the University of Virginia where she wrote for the Cavalier Daily and was in Air Force ROTC. Commissioned an Air Force officer, she served in Korea, Germany, New Mexico, and Louisiana. Marlene earned two masters degrees while in the Air Force in Management and IO Psych. After leaving active duty, she has worked as a government contractor, freelance writer, public relations executive, and sales for Viridian green energy. She just graduated with her third master's in Public Relations from Georgetown University. Marlene dabbles in improvisational comedy and has taken classes at the famed iO Theater in Chicago. She is very active in the D.C. charity and social scene and contributes her time to veterans' issues including Team Red, White, and Blue, bringing veterans together through social and physical activities. Marlene has been going to plays since she was a little girl and her all time favorite play is "Les Miserables."  She covers the plays in the DC area for The Huffington Post and Ask MissA.  She love the vibrancy of the theatre in the DC area. She also participates in the GI Film Festival which honors the military through authentic story telling.

JANE HORWITZ

Jane Horwitz has been a regular panelist on WETA TV's critics' roundtable show “Around Town” since 1988. Horwitz wrote the "Backstage" column for The Washington Post's Style section from 1997 to 2011, covering the Washington area theater scene in feature stories and interviews. She currently writes freelance theater reviews for The Washington Post and for Washingtonian magazine's website.  Her column The Family Filmgoer appears every Friday in The Washington Post's Weekend section and is syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group to newspapers around the country. A Chicago area native, Horwitz earned her bachelor's degree from Stanford University and received a master’s from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She began her career in radio as a reporter in Springfield, Illinois, then joined the television news department at WFAA TV in Dallas/Fort Worth. After eight years as a reporter and film/theater critic at WFAA, Horwitz married and relocated to Connecticut, and then to the Washington area. She worked on WTTG TV’s “Ten O’ Clock News” as a  theater and film critic for four years, co-hosted the national cable program “The Moviegoing Family” on The Learning Channel and became a panelist on WETA's "Around Town." She began writing "The Family Filmgoer" column in 1993. In the 1990s, Horwitz was heard Friday afternoons on WETA 90.9 FM’s “PM Program” in a weekly segment called “Talking Pictures.” She also produced and hosted two pilot film review programs titled “Chicks on Flicks,” that featured a panel of female critics.

DEBBIE M. JACKSON

Debbie is recognized throughout the Center for her creativity, energy and zest for life.  In addition to fostering camaraderie within the office, encouraging and contributing to group activities, she makes full use of her theater background at numerous NCHS events, most recently performing as “Sistah D” for Diversity Day.  She organized the NCHS Double Dutch Jumpers and she is a walking and jogging coach who has helped many log miles on the trails in University Park.  Debbie has performed on plenty of stages from Chicago to Montgomery, AL to  Washington, D.C. and organized a dance troop while in college.  She is a member of the Black Women Playwrights’ Group with works performed as part of the Source Theater Festival and NYC.  She has a Masters in English from the University of Illinois and currently writes for D.C. Theatre Scene.

JENN LARSON

Jenn Larsen is one of the founders of We Love DC, a website created by a group of writers dedicated to exploring and celebrating life in the nation's capital. Currently serving as editor-in-chief, she writes about art, theater, and the craft cocktail scene. She is a graduate of the Catholic University of America's drama program where she studied both acting and design, and is a veteran of National Players, the nation's longest running classical touring company. In addition to We Love DC, her theater reviews have been featured on DC Theatre Scene, and she's been profiled by Washingtonian's Capital Comment and My Voice is Strong. An advocate for DC's talented food and drink industry, she's judged the Corcoran Gallery of Art's ARTINI gala, the DC Craft Bartenders Guild's Rickey Month Contest, the Jefferson Hotel's Quill Competition, and is a founding member of LUPEC DC. 

ROSALIND LACY

Rosalind Lacy MacLennan, who hails from Los Angeles, has enjoyed writing for DCTheatreScene since 2006, where she covers Washington's Hispanic theatres.  A 25-year journalism veteran, with newspapers such as the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette, the Butler Eagle in Pennsylvania, the Suburban Newspapers of Northern New Jersey, Rosalind won a MD-DC press award for the Montgomery Journal in 1999. Acting started her career at Occidental College in L.A.  Rosalind switched to U.C.L.A. for their theater and film departments and supplemented by joining the acting workshop of Martin Landau, from the Mission Impossible TV series. Since moving to the Washington area, she has reviewed theatre and classical music for the Gazette Newspapers, until she joined DCTheatrescene.com. Invited to join the National League of American Pen Women in 2007, several of Rosalind's poems have been published and won awards.  A former board member of FootlightsDC, Rosalind is an aficionado of Spanish theater history. As a community activist, she attended Montgomery College, took law courses for three years and earned a paralegal degree.  "I always wanted to be a lawyer or a novelist or both, but the draw of theatre is like a magnet." Reviewing and writing is something she has to do, or die.

JENNIFER PERRY

Jennifer Perry hails from Liverpool, New York and has been a DC resident since 2001. When not attending countless theatre, concert, and cabaret performances in the area and in New York, she works for the US Federal Government as an analyst and previously worked in non-profit research and advocacy organizations.  Jennifer previously wrote for Maryland Theatre Guide and DC Metro Theater Arts and continues to review theatre and cabaret for BroadwayWorld and DC Theatre Scene. Ms. Perry earned her B.A. in Sociology and Spanish (Linguistics) from Houghton College in Houghton, NY and her M.A. in International Affairs from the School of International Service at American University in Washington DC where she focused on international security and ethnic conflict.  

REBECCA RITZEL

Rebecca J. Ritzel is a writing professor and freelance journalist who lives in Alexandria, Va. Her cultural reporting has been featured in more than two dozen American, British and Canadian publications. Locally, she writes about dance for The Washington Post and theater for City Paper. She has taught literary journalism in the MFA program at American University and currently teaches in the Professional Writing Program at the University of Maryland. Ritzel is originally from Baltimore and earned her master's degree in arts journalism from Syracuse University. Follow her on Twitter @rjreporter

JOJO RUF

Jojo Ruf is the General Manager of the National New Play Network, an alliance of nonprofit theaters across the US that champions the development, production and continued life of new plays, and the Coordinating Producer for the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University.  She is a freelance writer for theatreWashington, a Teaching Artist for Ford’s Theatre, and has worked with Arena Stage, the Kennedy Center, Theater J, the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, and Georgetown University as a freelance producer and director. Jojo graduated from Georgetown University with a dual degree in English and Theater and Performance Studies.  In 2010 she assistant directed and co-adapted In Search of Duende: The Ballad of Federico Garcia Lorca as part of the UNESCO/ITI World Festival of Theater Schools in Peru, and represented Georgetown as the lone US delegation among representatives from dozens of the world’s leading theater academies.  She was the Coordinating Producer for the Tennessee Williams Centennial Festival, presented by Georgetown University and Arena Stage, and served as the Coordinator for Theater J’s Spinozium and other Beyond the Stage events for New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza.  She also produced Will the Circle be Unbroken: Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith, a Georgetown University/Arena Stage Collaboration.