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Support Women Artists Now Day is this Saturday, and we can’t wait to celebrate with you online. Today we’re spotlighting Women’s Theatre Festival North Carolina, and their SWAN Day related events! WTF, now in its 5th year, is bringing their work into virtual spaces for all of us to enjoy from the comfort of our homes. Scroll to the bottom of this feature to catch details on their upcoming events (the first of which is happening tonight!).
Photo via Proctor Photographics, WTFNC 2018
As theaters sent emails en masse to inform audiences of their plans to postpone planned productions or close runs early, WTF, fortunate to be far from the next scheduled production, believed the best way to serve the community in this moment was to provide an outlet to engage in discussions around great plays. The WTF community helped Executive Artistic Director Johannah Maynard Edwards choose Dance Nation by Clare Barron to read and discuss, and before they knew it, nationally acclaimed artists quickly joined WTF’s panel, live-streamed on Twitch.
Thus began WTF’s Virtual Plays Club, filling the great need theater artists have to experiment and, more importantly, keep making and sharing art: “The community grew fast and playwrights were eager to not only participate but to really get inventive with us in exploring what might be possible,” Johannah recalls. “In some ways, our theatre community was just made really small by forcing us all into our homes, but in other ways, it has expanded exponentially in that, suddenly, geographic proximity is no longer a barrier.”
Now WTF has committed to weekly panel discussions each Monday night, and live play readings each Thursday night to keep their community of artists thriving! Last week was Albemarle by Caridad Svich. “I have been experimenting with virtual and digital performance for some years,” Caridad shared, “often through grass-roots schemes such as this one. I am interested in how we can re-think [the] theatre's liveness in virtual realms, especially as a medium that can be accessible (in all ways) and reach more people, even through humble means.”
“Even beyond this pandemic, there are tons of reasons why people cannot always attend live events,” Mikki Stith, Marketing and Communications for Theatre Raleigh and WTF’s Twitch Consultant explains. “Right now, organizers are learning that we shouldn't penalize people for not attending our in-person events; We should accommodate them. Nothing is ever as good as being in ‘the room where it happens,’ so streaming your event does not cheapen the in-person experience. It is a chance to welcome people who otherwise couldn't participate, and I hope that everyone sees the incredible opportunity that streaming has to offer artists."
Upcoming Virtual Events:
WTF's Virtual Playreading Book Club Presents Natural Shocks by Lauren Gunderson
A live-stream virtual "staged" reading of the play, followed by a group discussion.
Date: Thursday, March 26, 7:30 p.m. EST
Virtual location: Watch it here: https://www.twitch.tv/wtheatrefestivalnc (no Twitch account needed)
SWAN Day Panel & Community Discussion: Taking the Patriarchy Out of Directing
The focus of this event is to unpack “traditional” directing practice in order to see what else is possible. Directing is often a solo endeavor grounded in a hierarchical/patriarchal/top-down structure. The director is frequently cast in the role of sole decision-maker and even sole knowledge-holder. In the face of this model, WTF has come to ask, “Are there other ways?” Locating the conversation within the lens of intersectional feminism, how can we change the established directing model to improve opportunity, representation, and career health/longevity for women+ directors? And, how does a change in directing methodology impact other elements of the creation and presentation of theatre? Special thanks to Rachel Blackburn and Molly Claassen of Columbus State University (GA) for initiating this formal discussion at the 2019 and 2020 Southeastern Theatre Conference annual convention.
Date: March 28, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Virtual location: Please join from your computer, tablet or smartphone here:
https://uky.zoom.us/j/254585245
You can also dial in using your phone:
United States: +1 (224) 501-3412
Access Code: 243-013-677
Other Upcoming Events:
Freakshow By Carson Kreitzer
Co-Directed by Rachel Pottern Nunn and Rowen Haigh
Dates: May 29 - June 7 2020
Pure Life Theatre
3801 Hillsborough Street Suite 113
Raleigh, NC
The 5th Annual Women’s Theatre Festival
Dates: July 9-12 2020
Locations throughout the Royal Bakery Building (including Pure Life Theatre)
3801 Hillsborough Street
Raleigh, NC
The World Premiere of XIX by Jacqueline E. Lawton
Dates: October 2- 11 2020
Pure Life Theatre
3801 Hillsborough Street Suite 113
Raleigh, NC
Interested in adding your women-led art event to the 2020 SWAN Day Calendar? Please submit your information HERE.