About This Show

Women Center Stage (WCS), originally conceived in 1996, is a celebration of women in the arts. One of the largest multi-disciplinary women’s arts festivals in the region, WCS brings to New York both established and emerging female voices in the performing arts. This year, they’ve partnered with Planned Parenthood to explore women’s choices and amplify women’s voices during this exciting four week festival.

The Scarlet Letter
Adapted by Carol Gilligan

The Scarlet Letter is a story of a woman exposed, two men hidden, and a child whose eye for the truth shakes Puritan New England to its foundations. An engaging new look at Hawthorne’s 1850 classic about church, state, and human love. Directed by Wier Harman and starring Marisa Tomei.

Post-performance discussion on August 8th: What is the relationship between religion and reproductive rights and health today? Is The Scarlet Letter a tale of yesteryear or a current affair? Planned Parenthood brings together religious leaders to address these questions and more. Panel participants include Rabbi Linda Henry Goodman, Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, and Rev. Sara Lamar-Sterling.

Staged Reading
Sunday, August 7th & Monday, August 8th at 7pm. $50/$25

Girl Blog from Iraq: Baghdad Burning
Adapted by Kimberly I. Kefgen and Loren Noveck of Six Figures Theater Co.

Since August 2003, an anonymous 25-year-old Iraqi woman known as “Riverbend,” has chronicled her day-to-day life as an educated Muslim woman in occupied Iraq. Girl Blog from Iraq: Baghdad Burning explores America’s encounter with Riverbend’s complex reality: her love for Iraq and its people, the devastation of the war and occupation, and her mounting fear as fundamentalists gain power. Directed by Ken Rus Schmoll.

Staged Reading
August 16th,17th, 20th, 21st, 23rd & 24th at 7pm. $10

Moving with the cultureproject
Christine Jowers/Moving Arts Projects created the Moving Arts Mini-Festival to provide an energizing, supportive and low cost experience this summer for dancers, actors, and other artists who move. The mini fest offers participants some space to “retreat” for a few hours from the daily struggles of being a performer/creator in NYC and allows them an opportunity to share their visions of dance, connect with other artists and explore creative possibilities. Christine Jowers herself will also perform a special “moving installation” for the Festival’s opening celebration on July 29th at 8PM.

Class size is limited, pre-registration is required:
sydney@movingartsprojects.org or CJ/MAPS at (646) 613-8668

August 2nd & 4th: Moving Sounding Acting with Janis Brenner 2pm-4pm
August 3rd: Media Dance with Troika Ranch 2pm-4pm
August 9th: Mama’s and Papa’s Stories with Andrea Woods 2pm-4pm
August 10th: Interfaces-Gender and Theatricality with Jill Sigman 2pm-4pm

The Speed Queen
Adapted and performed by Anne Stockton

Marjorie Standiford is on Death Row in Oklahoma. Answering questions posed to her by America’s most popular horror novelist about the wild life of sex, drugs, and crime that has led to what may be her imminent execution, this is the story of a woman’s attempt to set the record straight. Adapted and performed by Anne Stockton. Directed by Austin Pendleton. Based upon the novel by Stewart O’Nan.

Limited Engagement
August 11th, 12th, 18th, 19th, 25th & 26th at 8pm. $15

Woman Rebel
Adapted by Katherine Creel

Woman Rebel is a dynamic and contemporary compilation of selected speeches, letters, and articles by Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood. Sanger writes elegantly and forcefully about the imperative of birth control in the larger context of personal autonomy, a stronger human race, and the right of every person to love and be loved. Starring Lynn Cohen. Directed by Mallory Catlett.

Staged Reading
Monday, August 15th at 7pm. $20

Nightingale
By Lynn Redgrave

Inspired by memories of the Playwright’s maternal grandmother, Nightingale is the story of a woman whose voice, like the small brown bird of the title, can only be heard in the dark. A one woman show written and performed by Lynn Redgrave.

Staged Reading
Tuesday, August 30th at 7pm. $35

Saviour
By Timothy Cooper

In July 2001, Raj and Shahana Hashmi of England announced they would attempt to save their son Zain from a rare blood disorder by having a second child using a new technique called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. Using the actual words of the doctors, philosophers, politicians, patients, activists, and families surrounding the debate, Saviour starkly illustrates the conflicts of real people struggling to determine who should decide others’ fates, where ethical lines should be drawn, and when emotion and love for a child should override reason. Directed by Ian Morgan.

Staged Reading
Monday, August 22nd at 7pm. Suggested donation $10

viBe
viBe Theater Experience, in collaboration with Planned Parenthood of New York City LES Teen Advocates Program, presents an original, heart-poundingly brave show with songs and dances that celebrate and challenge issues surrounding the urban girl experience. Listen to the expressive voices of the next generation of diverse, independent women as they use the dazzling power of theater to ignite their communities to live healthier, more fabulous lives.

Teen Performance
Tuesday, August 30th & Wednesday, August 31st at 7:30pm

Show Details

Dates: Opening Night: July 29, 2005 Final Performance: August 31, 2005