Thank you Pasadena Playhouse for a wonderful, rich, and invigorating first two days of rehearsal for NOMS DE GUERRE. The HotHouse reading series has provided us time to dig into the script and discuss the research around the play. I've done rewrites throughout to clarify the plot, smooth out the dialogue, and deepen the characters. It's been new play development heaven! We head back into rehearsals today in preparation for our first invited reading. I hope that you can join us today and tomorrow at 8:00pm. Under the direction of Diane Rodriguez, this reading of NOMS DE GUERRE features Chris Butler, Deidrie Henry, Pia Shah, Jacques C. Smith, Danielle Mone Truitt, and Michole White. Victoria Moy is serving as dramaturg and Mary K. Klinger is our stage manager. Click here for reservations and to learn more. Over the next couple of days, I'm going to share artists interviews. For now, here's more information about the play and this extraordinary, passionate, and talented company of artists! About the Play Noms de Guerre is a haunting, lyrical and passionate story of friendship, love and politics. Mira is a rising star in the Republican Party, but her campaign against women’s reproductive rights puts her at odds with her best friend, Jude, an award-winning journalist. At home, Mira struggles to run a campaign for Governor and help her war hero husband, Douglas, adjust to civilian life. When Jude discovers that Douglas is linked to a massacre of Afghan civilians, Mira is thrown into a whirlwind of political intrigue and must decide whether to hold on to her career or save her husband. Noms de Guerre CompanyMeet the Creative TeamJacqueline E. Lawton (Playwright) was named one of 30 of the nation's leading black playwrights by Arena Stage’s American Voices New Play Institute. Her plays include: Anna K; Blood-bound and Tongue-tied; Deep Belly Beautiful; The Devil’s Sweet Water; The Hampton Years; Ira Aldridge: the African Roscius; Lions of Industry, Mothers of Invention; Love Brothers Serenade (2013 semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference), Mad Breed, Noms de Guerre. and Our Man Beverly Snow. Ms. Lawton received her MFA in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a James A. Michener Fellow. Diane Rodriguez (Director) is an Obie Award winning theatre artist who directs, writes and performs. She is Associate Producer and Director of New Play Production at the multiple Tony Award winning Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles and is an Associate Member of Cornerstone Theater. She has directed and performed for both companies. For ten years she was a Resident Artist and Director of the Mark Taper Forum’s Latino Theatre Initiative, a comprehensive Latino play and audience development program. Victoria Moy (Dramaturg) is a Dramatic Writing MFA candidate at the University of Southern California. Her plays have been performed at American Theatre of Actors, Red Room, Access Theater, and at Dartmouth College. Her forthcoming book Fighting For The Dream: Voices of Chinese American Veterans from World War II to Afghanistan will be published in November by the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College. Meet the CastChris Butler (Cooper) is a two-time Ovation, NAACP, LADCC and Garland Award winner for Yellowman (Fountain Theatre), Best Actor and Stick Fly (Matrix Theatre), Best Ensemble. Other theater: 110 In The Shade (The Roundabout Theatre Company); Death Of A Salesman (South Coast Rep); Race (A.C.T.);Much Ado About Nothing (Kirk Douglas Theatre); Julius Caesar (Shakespeare Santa Cruz); One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, You Can’t Take It With You(Rubicon Theatre); A Raisin in the Sun, The Piano Lesson (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Blue (Pasadena Playhouse); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Globe Theatre); Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Center LA) and The School for Wives (La Jolla Playhouse). T.V. credits include: TNT’s, King & Maxwell (series regular), The Good Wife, NCIS: Los Angeles, Law & Order: SVU, True Blood, Hound Dogs (pilot), Criminal Minds and Rizzoli & Isles. Film credits include The Longshots, Rescue Dawn and Cradle 2 the Grave. Chris holds an MFA in Theatre (University of California at San Diego) and a BA in Dramatic Arts (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). Deidrie Henry (Mira) is very excited to be involved in the reading of this beautifully written play for HOTHOUSE. She was last seen in Love, Loss and What I Wore (Rubicon Theatre), American Night (Yale Repertory Theatre), A Raisin in the Sun (Kirk Douglas Theatre and Ebony Repertory Theatre). Other performances include Parade at the Mark Taper, Coming Home and Yellowman at the Fountain Theatre. She is an Ovation, Los Angeles Drama Critic’s Circle, LA Weekly, and NAACP Award Recipient for her many roles on the Los Angeles stages. Credits include Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, Alliance Theatre, Hartford Stage, Arena Stage, Boston’s Huntington Theatre. Television apparences include, Criminal Minds, Justified, Twisted, Touch, The Riches, ER, She is a proud member of Actor’s Equity, SAG and AFTRA. Michole White (Jude) is a seasoned vet to the world of theatre, film, television and commercials. Ms. White’s is most noted theatrically for her role in August Wilson's Jitney Off Broadway and regionally with Radio Golf and Two Trains Running to follow at the Goodman, Kennedy Center and The Ebony Rep. She enjoyed originating the role of Taylor in Stickfly at The Mcarter in New Jersey, then bringing it to The Matrix in Los Angeles which garnered quite a few awards and nominations as well as her role in Of Equal Measure at the Kirk Douglas. Some of Ms. White’s latest film credits include: Lyla and Eve starring Viola Davis and Jennifer Lopez with an early 2015 release along withThe Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes in which she plays the lead role of Dr. Myes. She is excited to be participating in this well written political drama, Noms De Guerre. Pia Shah (Hasina) is a recent graduate of the USC School of Dramatic Arts MFA Acting Program. She made her LA stage debut in Lina Patel’s Sweet Life at Circle X’s Holiday One Acts and was most recently seen on stage at South Coast Repertory’s 2014 Crossroads project in These are my Drawings of Orange County, by Aditi Kapil, directed by Jessica Kubzansky. She appeared in the 2014 Ojai Playwrights Conference in Dry Land by Ruby Rae Spiegel, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt. Other recent readings include Body Politic by Jessica Goldberg, directed by David Warshofsky (Goddard College) and A Nice Indian Boy by Madhuri Shekhar, directed by both Robert Egan (USC New Works Festival) and Nico Raineau (East West Players). Upcoming projects include indie feature films Grass and Big Baby. FILM credits (selected): Disney’s Planes, Grant St. Shaving Co; Pretty to Think So; Canada; Bollywood’s 8 X 10: Tasveer. TV credits: ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D; HBO’s The Wonderful Maladys (pilot); NBC’s Mercy; PBS’ Futurestates PIA. Pia has also worked with indie filmmakers at the Center for Asian American Media in San Francisco (CAAM), in conjunction with CPB/PBS, and at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Jacques C. Smith (Douglas) is honored to be a part of this HotHouse reading. He was most recently seen on stage in L.A. in Chalk Rep’s, Lady Windermere’s Fan. He was last seen at the Pasadena Playhouse in Twelve Angry Men. He has appeared on Broadway as Benny in Rent. He has performed at the La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Goodman Theater (Joseph Jefferson nomination), South Coast Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse (FRED Award, NAACP nomination), Cleveland Playhouse, and Paper Mill Playhouse, among others as well having toured internationally. Some of his television credits include series regular on “Oz” (HBO), “Eagleheart”, Issa Rae’s “The Choir”, “General Hospital”, “CSI: Miami”, “American Masters”, “Law & Order”, and “The Division”. He received his M.F.A. from University of California, San Diego and his B.A. from Princeton University. Danielle Mone' Truitt (Leeda) is thrilled to have been a part of the Pasadena Hot House Reading Series for the 3rd time now. Originally from Sacramento, Danielle studied acting at Sacramento State University before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in Television and film. She is an Actor, Singer, Dancer and is known for her work on DISNEY ANIMATION'S THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG as the Video Reference Princess Tiana and the voice of Georgia. Most recently Danielle was seen Guest Starring on ABC's SUPER FUN NIGHT and can also be seen on the new FOX sitcome MULANEY coming this fall! Some of her stage credits include IN THE HEIGHTS, The West Coast Premire of THE MOUNTAINTOP, NEAT, AIDA, and A RAISIN IN THE SUN. Danielle is also apart of the For The Record Company here in Los Angeles. She has performed in FOR THE RECORD: Baz Lurhmann, Tarantino, Scorsese, Coen Brothers, and John Hughes. Danielle is most proud of her One Woman Show "3: BLACK GIRL BLUES" that she has been developing over the last 4 years and will be performing again in 2015. She is also starring in the FOX Digital Feature Film ETXR now available on Netflix. Built on a tradition of innovation and excellence, The Pasadena Playhouse is committed to continue to be the premiere theatrical experience in Southern California showcasing the most exciting theatrical entertainment in the state and being an amazing forum for launching new work onto the national stage.
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Westward bound and so excited! I've checked in for tomorrow's flight, paid for my luggage, and arranged my shuttle to the hotel where I'm staying. The only thing left to do now is pack, finish rewrites on THE HAMPTON YEARS for Virginia Stage Company, and re-read NOMS DE GUERRE. Balancing these two plays over the past few weeks has been a rich and compelling experience. Set against the backdrop of World War II, THE HAMPTON YEARS explores art, education, and race relations in the 1940s. While NOMS DE GUERRE is present day and examines women's rights, politics, and the military. It is the theme of war that connects them. In the former, an artist works to create a mural that captures the pain, violence, dignity, and honor of war. In the latter, a broadcast journalist risks everything to speak truth to power in order to save the lives of soldiers fighting an impossible and unending war on terror. It is this intimate and urgent response to war that most interests me and brings me back to writing about it time and time again. ANNA K, BLOOD-BOUND AND TONGUE-TIED and THE DEVIL'S SWEET WATER all address the impact of war in some way. This past March, NOMS DE GUERRE was presented as part of Arena Stage's inaugural Playwrights’ Arena showcase. In preparation for our showcase, as part of the Kogod Cradle Series, Literary Manager Linda Lombardi asked each of us to write about our plays. My post, The Cost of War, speaks to the evolution of the play and the impact of war on my life and family. As I work my way back into NOMS DE GUERRE for the upcoming workshop and reading at Pasadena Playhouse, I found myself thinking about this post and wanted to share an excerpt of it with you here: The Cost of War by Jacqueline E. LawtonNoms de Guerre is a play about war … about the cost of war, the price of freedom.
I come from a family of soldiers. My grandfather was in the Army and served in the Korean War. My mother and father were also in the Army and served during the Vietnam War. My brother served sixteen years in the United States Air Force. My sister has worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs for five years. Noms de Guerre is a play about war … about honor and glory, pain and sacrifice. Originally, this was meant to be a play about the War on Women and our ever-changing role in society. I wanted to write about a conservative Black woman whose political decisions hindered women’s reproductive rights. Ultimately, I write to make sense of the world. In the wake of what’s been happening to women around the world and in America, I wanted to understand what could possibly drive a woman, a politician, to do this to other women. The play was to follow the evolution of a friendship between two women, Mira and Jude. Over the course of seventeen years, we would have seen certain events play out in their lives that addressed these larger issues. But despite many valiant attempts and wonderful conversations with my smart, talented and fearless fellow playwrights at Playwrights’ Arena, I found that I couldn’t write that play. Instead, this other story, this story of war … about how a broken soldier returns home and disrupts the lives of his wife and her best friend, needed to be the driving force. So, after speaking with Arena Stage’s brilliant, discerning and passionate dramaturg Jocelyn Clark, I set forth to tell this story. And in the most haunting, exquisite, and terrifying way, these other issues have come through, but now on more personal and deeply intimate levels. Noms de Guerre is a play about war … about broken rules of engagement and the lengths the government will go to stay on mission. When I first spoke about the play to my father, he told me about a flashback he had experienced more than thirty years ago. It was the middle of the night. He found himself suddenly on the front porch with a gun in his hand. He asked me if I remembered this. I told him that I didn’t. I was probably four at the time and fast asleep. He then told me that the only thing that saved him was talking to his father about all that he had seen and done for his country. Noms de Guerre is a play about war … about heroic deeds, acts of horror, and the strength and courage it takes to speak truth to power. I’ve dedicated this play to my father. This post was originally appeared on Arena Stage's Stage Banter blog. On Sunday, I'm heading to Pasadena Playhouse where my latest play, NOMS DE GUERRE, will receive a workshop and reading as part of the 2014-2015 HOTHOUSE New Play Development Program. We'll be in workshop Monday and Tuesday and then the play will receive a staged reading on Wednesday and Thursday evening followed by post show discussions each night. The ever brilliant and wonderful Diane Rodriguez will serve as director. The cast includes Chris Butler, Deidrie Henry, Pia Shah, Jacques C. Smith, Danielle Mone Truitt, and Michole White. Also, as part of the program, each play is assigned a 3rd year USC MFA in Dramatic Writing student as dramaturg. It's been wonderful working with Victoria Moy and so rewarding to have an educational component to this work. I'm honored and excited to be taking part in this program, and deeply appreciative for the opportunity to continue developing this play. It will be my first time working on the script since Arena Stage's workshop and reading as part of Playwrights Arena back in March. HOTHOUSE readings are by invitation only. Click here for more information. About the PlayNoms de Guerre is a haunting, lyrical and passionate story of friendship, love and politics. Mira is a rising star in the Republican Party, but her campaign against women’s reproductive rights puts her at odds with her best friend, Jude, an award-winning journalist. At home, Mira struggles to run a campaign for Governor and help her war hero husband, Douglas, adjust to civilian life. When Jude discovers that Douglas is linked to a massacre of Afghan civilians, Mira is thrown into a whirlwind of political intrigue and must decide whether to hold on to her career or save her husband. About the PlaywrightJACQUELINE E. LAWTON was named one of 30 of the nation's leading black playwrights by Arena Stage’s American Voices New Play Institute. Her plays include: Anna K; Blood-bound and Tongue-tied; Deep Belly Beautiful;The Devil’s Sweet Water; The Hampton Years; Ira Aldridge: the African Roscius; Lions of Industry, Mothers of Invention; Love Brothers Serenade (2013 semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference), Mad Breed, Noms de Guerre. and Our Man Beverly Snow. Ms. Lawton received her MFA in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a James A. Michener Fellow. She is a 2012 TCG Young Leaders of Color award recipient and a National New Play Network (NNPN) Playwright Alumna. A member of Arena Stage's Playwrights' Arena and the Dramatist Guild of America, Ms. Lawton currently resides in D.C. About the DirectorDiane Rodriguez is an Obie Award winning multi-disciplinary theatre artist. She is an accomplished actor, anthologized writer, regional theatre director and Associate Producer/Director of New Play Production at Center Theatre Group (CTG), Los Angeles. She began her career as a lead actress with the seminal ensemble, El Teatro Campesino. Recognized as one of the country's leading advocates for non-text based and ensemble driven work as well as a long time advocate of Latino playwrights and actors, Diane maintains her artistic career while being a member of the artistic staff of Center Theatre Group, which includes the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theatre and the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Currently, under her tenure as Director of New Play Production (NPP), CTG's NPP program was awarded a one million dollar grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the commissioning and development of seven new collaborative works from ensembles or creative collaborators. She has developed and directed the works of numerous writers including Nilo Cruz's Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams and Dreams of My Father, Lynn Nottage's Fabulation at Sundance Theatre Lab, Lloyd Suh's American Hwangap at Ojai Playwrights Conference, Erik Patterson's Sick for Playwrights Arena, and Les Thomas'Cave Quest for East West Players, among many others. In 2008, for Mattel Toy Company, she wrote the book and was the supervising director for the first live Barbie musical Barbie Live/The Princess Adventures. The show premiered in Buenos Aires and will tour Brazil in 2012. She won an OBIE for Performance (Best Ensemble) in 2007 for playing 23 characters in Heather Woodbury's Tale of Two Cities. In 2012 her two plays, Living Large in a Mini Kind of Way and Pitch like a Girl will be produced in Chicago and Los Angeles, respectively. With Mark Murphy and Mark Russell she co-directed the RADAR LA Festival in 2011. She lives in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles with her long time husband, friend and advisor, Jose Delgado. About the HOTHOUSE New Play ProgramHOTHOUSE is the signature new play development program at The Pasadena Playhouse. Launched in 2005, the program provides playwrights and audience with a living lab where new scripts are rehearsed, read aloud, revised, rehearsed and read again. Co-creation through our consensus organizing methodology, experimentation with and exploration of text, music and movement, and artistic bravery are embraced and encouraged through our process. Under the leadership of Associate Artistic Director Seema Sueko, starting in 2014, the HOTHOUSE reading series will be devoted to advancing plays that authentically align with The Playhouse’s commitment to diversity. We will focus on plays written by playwrights who are historically underrepresented in our field: women, playwrights of color, and playwrights with disabilities; or plays that, through content and/or casting, deliberately diversify the landscape of the theatre. As our field of nonprofit American theater struggles with issues of inclusion, access, community demand, and relevance, HOTHOUSE aims to methodically make our theatrical botanical garden grow. HOTHOUSE Legacy Many plays that started out as HOTHOUSE at The Playhouse readings have since gone on to our Mainstage, as well as other regional theaters, the West End, and Broadway, including SISTER ACT, THE MUSICAL, which was nominated for multiple Tony Awards. Previous HOTHOUSE at The Playhouse artists include writers Suzan-Lori Parks, Alan Menken, Matthew Lombardo, Charles Randolph-Wright and Carol Burnett; actors Beau Bridges, Sharon Lawrence, Robert Forster, Loretta Swit, Scott Lowell, Enrico Colantoni, Danny Pudi, Angela Bassett and Steven Dietz; and directors Art Manke, Sheldon Epps, Oz Scott, Jeremy Cohen, Kappy Kilburn, Alexis Chamow and David Lee. About Pasadena PlayhouseBuilt on a tradition of innovation and excellence, The Pasadena Playhouse is committed to continue to be the premiere theatrical experience in Southern California showcasing the most exciting theatrical entertainment in the state and being an amazing forum for launching new work onto the national stage. For the past year and three months, I've taken part in Arena Stage's Playwrights’ Arena, the newest new play initiative developed by the American Voices New Play Institute. Curated by Director of Artistic Programming David Snider, I joined fellow playwrights Norman Allen, Randy Baker, Heather McDonald, Danielle Mohlman, and Shawn Northrip for twice monthly meetings. When we first convened in January of 2013, New Play Institute Dramaturg, Jocelyn Clarke, set the tone for our work together in the room (paraphrased from my notes): “We are to serve as each other’s memory for the work we originally set out to do on our respective plays. We are here to champion and challenge each other. We are here to ask questions and listen intently. We are here to dig deeply and honestly into our process and forge ahead even when it all falls apart.” Toward the end of May, we took a three month break to focus on completing our scripts and returned in September. I wrote about our process for Arena Stage's blog Stage Banter: "Our focus is on script development. But it’s more than that. We are investigating our dramaturgical practice and our writing process. We’re exploring our theatrical and creative mindset and exploding assumptions about what is and isn’t theater. We are shaping a philosophy of theater that guides our writing practice and acts as a point of entry into our story telling. We are here to experience the ecology of playwriting — we are learning who we are as playwrights in relationship to our work and process to each other and to the American Theater. Each session allows for an intense, focused and rigorous practice of inquiry, writing and study. I leave each meeting exhausted and rejuvenated all at once, which is really quite thrilling. I feel so fortunate to be able to spend a year dedicated to communing with such exceptionally talented and diverse playwrights. After only five months together, I felt that I had become a stronger and more confident writer. What’s more, I had a renewed sense of love for the theater." We returned in September for further development and workshops with actors. Hearing the play aloud and embodied by actors was essential. It's important to discuss a play, but there's only so much development that can happen in that space. Also, it helped that this cast came into the room so prepared. They asked smart questions and offered invaluable insight from their perspective. Our time together culminated in a two day open rehearsal that was presented as part of the Kogod Cradle Series. Jocelyn Clarke served as my dramaturg and led the work in the room. In the course of 48 hours, I slept for four of them and wrote nonstop. It was the most exhilarating, inspiring, encouraging, deeply satisfying, and productive experiences of professional career so far. Now, below you will find a few things about NOMS DE GUERRE, including a recent blog post, an interview with DC Metro Theatre Arts' very own Joel Markowitz, and wonderful photos from the open rehearsal by Ryan Maxwell. Please enjoy! Thoughts on Noms de GuerreNoms de Guerre is a play about war … about the cost of war, the price of freedom. I come from a family of soldiers. My grandfather was in the Army and served in the Korean War. My mother and father were also in the Army and served during the Vietnam War. My brother served sixteen years in the United States Air Force. My sister has worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs for five years. Noms de Guerre is a play about war … about honor and glory, pain and sacrifice. Originally, this was meant to be a play about the War on Women and our ever-changing role in society. I wanted to write about a conservative Black woman whose political decisions hindered women’s reproductive rights. Ultimately, I write to make sense of the world. In the wake of what’s been happening to women around the world and in America, I wanted to understand what could possibly drive a woman, a politician, to do this to other women. The play was to follow the evolution of a friendship between two women, Mira and Jude. Over the course of seventeen years, we would have seen certain events play out in their lives that addressed these larger issues. But despite many valiant attempts and wonderful conversations with my smart, talented and fearless fellow playwrights at Playwrights’ Arena, I found that I couldn’t write that play. Instead, this other story, this story of war … about how a broken soldier returns home and disrupts the lives of his wife and her best friend, needed to be the driving force. So, after speaking with Arena Stage’s brilliant, discerning and passionate dramaturg Jocelyn Clark, I set forth to tell this story. And in the most haunting, exquisite, and terrifying way, these other issues have come through, but now on more personal and deeply intimate levels. Noms de Guerre is a play about war … about its necessity and its waste, about the impact of war on returning veterans and their families. The first man I ever loved played the French horn, graduated from high school a year early, joined the Army, survived boot camp, and killed himself two days after my birthday, one week after holding me in his arms for the last time. The second man I loved left me to join the Marines, married someone else, had two children, did two tours in Iraq, and then returned to me for a year and half before parting again … this time to Afghanistan and to a woman more suited for military life. The third man I loved was born into a civil war that lasted on and off for the first thirteen years of his life. He longs to return to his home country, but cannot owing to its continued state of uncertainty. Each time Lebanon appears in the news, I write to him and ask after his family. Noms de Guerre is a play about war … about broken rules of engagement and the lengths the government will go to stay on mission. When I first spoke about the play to my father, he told me about a flashback he had experienced more than thirty years ago. It was the middle of the night. He found himself suddenly on the front porch with a gun in his hand. He asked me if I remembered this. I told him that I didn’t. I was probably four at the time and fast asleep. He then told me that the only thing that saved him was talking to his father about all that he had seen and done for his country. Noms de Guerre is a play about war … about heroic deeds, acts of horror, and the strength and courage it takes to speak truth to power. I’ve dedicated this play to my father. (Originally posted on Arena Stage's Stage Banter.) Playwrights Arena InterviewJoel Markowitz: What or who first inspired you to become a playwright? And why?
Jacqueline Lawton: Growing up, I always loved writing plays and poems and short stories. I did so mostly to entertain my little sister, but also to escape poverty and racism. Life was a little less harsh and vastly more entertaining in my imagination. I even wrote a passionate novella when I was eighteen. My sister found it a few years ago amongst some other long ago lost treasures and gave it to me. It’s a good thing she did, because my father no doubt would’ve had it published in the local newspaper by now! But I was inspired to become a playwright, as in earn an MFA and make a profession out it, by my former professors Amparo Garcia Crow, Ruth Margraff, Omi Olono Osun, and Jill Dolan. These women are brilliant scholars, extraordinary artists, and passionate advocates for gender parity, racial equity, and social justice. They believed in me and my voice as a writer, and showed me that I could do great good in this world from my work. As a playwright, I could address issues that mattered to me and also write parts for women and men of color, which were sorely lacking in the cannon of plays being taught. JM: Now, tell me about your play being featured in Arena Stage’s Playwrights’ Arena Showcase? JL: Ultimately, Noms de Guerre is a play about war and its impact on the lives of soldiers and their families. I spoke about the play at some length here on Arena Stage’s blog, but here’s the synopsis to further pique your interest: Noms de Guerre is a haunting, lyrical and passionate story of friendship, love and politics. Attorney General Mira Hamilton is a rising star in the Republican Party, whose campaign against women’s reproductive rights puts her at odds with her long-time best friend, Jude, an award-winning, truth-seeking Broadcast Journalist. At home, Mira struggles to run a campaign for Governor and help her war hero husband, Douglas—a former Marine Gunnery Sergeant and member of JSOC, who battles terror-fueled delusions and flashbacks, adjust to civilian life. When Jude discovers that Douglas is linked to a massacre of Afghan civilians, Mira is thrown into a whirlwind of political intrigue and must decide whether to hold on to her career or save her husband. JM: What do you hope audiences will walk away thinking about after experiencing your work? JL: With this play, I’m addressing three big ideas in deeply personal and intimate ways: (1.) the ever-changing role of women in society, (2.) the impact of government and military policy on human rights, and (3.) the damaging impact of PTSD on veterans and their family. I hope folks become more aware of these issues and consider how they resonate in their own lives. JM: How has being a part of Playwrights’ Arena helped you as a playwright? JL: Having the support of Arena Stage, David Snider, and Jocelyn Clarke has been wonderful. It’s been empowering to be a part of an intimate group of playwrights. Interestingly, being a part of this group reminded me of how much I love working with playwrights and why I love being a dramaturg so much. For the past few years, I’ve shifted my focus away from dramaturgy in order to focus on the growth and development of my own plays. Honestly, I miss it and was so glad to be asked to serve as dramaturg on browsville song (b-side for tray) by Kimber Lee, which will receive a world premiere production as part of Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival of New Plays.JM: What did you learn about your writing process? JL: I became more aware that my writing rituals are rooted in discipline. They are as meditative and focus-driven as they are inspirational and process driven. Also, I became even more aware of how important solitude is for me. As lovely and inspiring as it was to meet regularly, I would not have written this play without time away from our meetings. Also, that I rely heavily on my dramaturg for process and can only take a play so far before needing to hear it read aloud with actors. What’s great is that Playwrights Arena allowed for all of this to take place. JM: What else are you working on now? JL: I’m working on an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz for Adventure Theatre MTC next season and a ten minute Biblical feminist play about Miriam and Tzipora for Theatre Ariel to be featured at the Women’s Shabbat at Germantown Jewish Center in April and again at Salon Ariel’s 10×8: Food, Family and Philosophy Festival in Mary. I’m also working rewrites of The Hampton Years ahead of a reading in Miami later this year and a new full-length play, Among These Wild Things, which revolves around an interfaith/interracial couple, Nigel and Lee. When Nigel loses his beloved grandfather and learns more about the lengths his family went through to survive the Holocaust, Lee struggles to negotiate the introduction of religion into her life. It’s still in the early dream stages, but I’m so excited to get started on it. (Originally posted on DC Metro Theatre Arts.) Wars erase language, borders, foodways, religion, culture, bloodlines, and history. War also offers a time for great rumination. Some take hands to marble, brush to canvas, pen to paper, body to space, and voice to pulpit. The Persian Wars and legendary muscle flexing of the Athenians and Spartans gave us the great and brilliants minds of Aristotle, Plato and Socrates.
Since those tumultuous times of the 5th century, the world has seen a great many wars and heard the musings of a great many minds. Each offering a new way to absorb the glory and destruction that lay in the wake of these ritual, social, and political upheavals. The current War on Women, the struggle against and to maintain women's civil and reproductive rights takes me to Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine Women. When I stood in front of this sculpture during the summer of 2001, I was overcome. I felt in awe of its beauty and gutted by its terror. I tried to create a new story. "No, the arch of her back and parting of her lips is out of ecstasy. The reach of her hand a desperate attempt to get closer to the gods where such love is experienced eternally." Satisfied, I stepped back to take a photograph. But through the lens of my disposal camera, all that I had conjured quickly and completely disappeared. All I could see was a woman stripped of her dignity, whose body and soul were taken, tossed, and handled against her will. I captured the image and later taped it to the first page of my journal. I still have it. It's a reminder of my struggle ... how to negotiate the beauty of that masterful sculpture and the terror of that moment in history ... a moment too often repeated in the name of conquering nations and heroes. Not that I need a reminder. The world offers enough of them every day. This is why I'm so grateful to the theater and feel quite blessed to be a playwright. I write to answer big, challenging, scary, and awe inspiring questions about the world. My next play, Noms de Guerre, will address the War on Women; specifically, how women actively take part in it. But make no mistake, while beautiful--this meditation on women--there is no ecstasy in my query. These are terrifying times in which we live. |
My BlogI'm a playwright, dramaturg, and teaching artist. It is here where you'll find my queries and musings on life, theater and the world. My posts advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equity in the American Theatre and updates on my own work. Please enjoy!
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