From New York to Eugene and In Between: 5 SWAN Events Celebrate Women in History

365 Women A Year Invites Women to Reclaim Their History

As part of this year’s SWAN day festivities, five different groups are participating in 365 Women A Year, an international playwriting project that is designed to reclaim women’s history. Groups in New York, Oregon, Vermont, North Carolina and Texas will present staged readings of short plays about extraordinary women in history who have been forgotten or misrepresented.

Playwright Jessica Eisenberg created 365 Women a Year after co-founding Chicago’s Prologue Theatre Company, which is dedicated to underrepresented voices.  She realized that there was a special need to preserve women’s names and works, and she set a personal goal of writing plays about 365 women in one year, but quickly realized that she could not do it alone. She brought on co-founder Gina Scanlon, and together they put out a call to other playwrights in 2014.

Jesse Bliss in “Sor Juana” by 365 Women NYC playwright Cynthia Cooper

Women writers around the world stepped up. In the project’s first year, over 200 playwrights from the United States, Spain, Russia, India, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Chile and other countries wrote one-act plays loosely based on approximately 365 remarkable historical figures.

Many of these plays have already been produced around the country and the world.  In addition to the five SWAN events featuring the plays this month, there are several festivals of plays planned for this spring, including in Madrid and Kitchener, Canada. Also, 365 Women A Year will be live-streaming its plays on March 27 for World Theatre Day in collaboration with Howlround and NITE.

The 365 Women Project is ongoing, and they are seeking playwrights, directors, producers, and others who want to help.  To find out how you can join them, please visit their website.

FIVE SWAN EVENTS FEATURE PLAYS FROM 365 WOMEN A YEAR

TEXAS
Rover Dramawerks produced a festival of 10 plays from 365 Women a Year in Plano, Texas from March 19-22. Their program included plays about Anne Sexton, Mary Todd Lincoln, and Anne Sullivan.

OREGON
Oregon Contemporary Theatre and Northwest Ten (a group specializing in 10 minute plays) will present four new plays from 365 Women a Year on SWAN Day, including a comedy about the rehabilitation of Cleopatra’s reputation; a play about La Malinche, the translator between Cortez and Montezuma; and a piece featuring both Angela Davis and Marilyn Monroe. You can hear more about the plays and the festival in an excellent NPR interview with playwright and director Connie Bennett.
Date/Time: March 28 at 2 pm
Venue: Oregon Contemporary Theatre, 194 W. Broadway, Eugene, OR
Tickets: Free, with donations going to support Ophelia’s Place, a community organization for  girls; no reservation required.

NEW YORK
365 Women NYC presents staged readings of 10-minute plays by 15 playwrights about women including Shirley Chisolm, Beatrix Potter, Wilma Rudolph, Condoleezza Rice, Sonia Sotomayor, Butterfly McQueen, and Anais Nin.
Date/Times: April 11 at 6:30 pm, 7:45 pm, and 9:00 pm
Venue: The Sheen Center, 18 Bleeker Street, New York, NY
Tickets: Suggested donation, $10 for each program. Reserve tickets online.

NORTH CAROLINA
Prizes of Accident Theatre Company will host a staged reading of eight pieces from 365 Women a Year.
Date/Time: March 26, 7:30 pm
Venue: Upstage, 3306-C North Davidson St., Charlotte
Tickets: Suggested donation, $5.

VERMONT
NOplays hosts a festival featuring four one-acts written by Bennington College students and alumni. The festival will be live-streamed for World Theatre Day in collaboration with Howlround and NITE.  The plays will be Making Frankenstein by Natalie Osborne (about Mary Shelley), Feelin’ Lonely by Catherine Weingarten (about Elizabeth Bishop), En El Medio by Maia Villa, and After the Thin Man by NY playwright Shellen Lubin (about Stella Adler and Sylvia Gassell).
Date/Time: March 27, 7:30 pm
Venue: Bennington College Student Center, One College Drive, Bennington
Tickets: Free; no reservation required.