New Works Festival 2024: New Voices, New Narratives
…From the Artistic Director
There's so much going on at The Shattered Glass Project. We are in full swing of rehearsals for the 2024 New Works Festival, which now features FOUR never-before seen works of theatre focusing on New Voices and New Narratives! Get your tickets today! Festival passes are $40.
We are also looking for volunteer ushers for the Festival - support TSGP with four hours of your time, see the shows for free, and help pass out the popcorn for some of them! Sign up here!
Don't forget that GiveBIG is coming on May 7-8, 2024. We would love to have your volunteer time, but we can also use your financial support. Check out our GiveBIG page!
To give you an update on what's going on in the rehearsal room, we wanted to share a note from our Production Stage Manager Jasmine Ritter.
Thanks so much - we'll see you at 18th and Union on May 9th!
—Rebecca
The 2024 New Works Festival is Nearly Here!
Jasmine Ritter - Stage Manager
“The real magic of this program is seeing how in depth the process can be with the payright and directors both in the room with the actors. There's a sense of support that goes on in the room. It's an intense process to get four shows going all at the same time, but the rehearsal rooms stay light due to the hard work of the entire team. It might be a whirlwind, but it is also fun and creative.”
THE PRODUCTIONS
The Uterine FileS, Episode One: Voices SPitting out the rainbow by Jourdan Imani Keith, Directed by Rebecca O’Neil
The first part of a trilogy telling the story of Virgina Mary, an enslaved African American woman transformed after her death by an unquiet and demanding dybuuk. Virginia Mary’s trauma haunts her descendants throughout time. Through her voice and vignettes of women in her family, this choreopoem, rooted in dance, music, and the lineage of African American narratives, explores the connections between the stories and histories our bodies tell, demanding an answer to the question, “What are they doing with our uteruses?”
1st read-through take from the Stage Manager:
“The beauty of The Uterine Files is watching the actors, director and the playwright really getting to take the time to go so in depth with this piece. This is a piece that really needs care in the rehearsal room, and this team is taking the time to set that safe space up. I'm excited to see how the choreopoem aspects of the piece come into play.”
On the Train by Lisa A Price, Directed by Christie Zhao
Shortly after the overturning of Roe, political correspondent Nia Anderson has a brief confrontation with Senator Chad Fox, the pro-abortion ‘face of morality’, about the pending increase in African-American maternity and infant mortality rates; his public insult leads to the damaging of her career. A serendipitous meeting between Senator Fox’s estranged daughter and his African American campaign assistant facilitates possible retribution as Nia seeks a second interview with the politician. The three conspire, exposing the ways in which the Senator has been clandestinely incorporating a new form of eugenics into his legislation. Years of dishonesty, hypocrisy and sinister politics finally catches up with Senator Fox at the hands of three women.
1st read-through take from the Stage Manager:
“On The Train from the beginning has really been taking its time to delve into the material, and being able to have the playwright in the room with the actors. There's been a lot of collaborative background work put into this piece. Christie, the director, has really had a focus on bringing the realness to each of these characters.”
Carmilla by S.W. Jones and Mariah Lee Squires, Directed by Aidan Stevens
While Count Dracula is often seen as the father of the modern vampire, Carmilla is the 1872 Gothic novella by Sheridan Le Fanu that inspired his inception - predating Bram Stoker's Dracula by 25 years. Based on the book of the same name, Carmilla tells the tale of the isolated Laura and the mysterious young woman she falls in love with. But what happens when infatuation turns into obsession? Shattering the mold of male protagonists in horror, the mother of the modern monster is waiting for you.
1st read-through take from the Stage Manager:
“The first time I was in the Carmilla rehearsal room with the actors, director, and the playwriting team there was so much energy. Everyone is so committed to the humor of the show and the teamwork to make these big physical moments. Just from the read-through there has been a lot of laughter and hard work going on in every rehearsal.”
Out of TIme by Rachel Atkins, Directed by Divya Rajan
Moving back and forth through time and place, 3 different pairs of women fight for their lives. Angelina and Sarah are immigrant sweatshop workers who have both escaped dire circumstances in their home countries, trying to escape the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. A century later, Angelina’s great-granddaughter Angie is trapped with co-worker Miranda in a post-9/11 office skyscraper disaster. Angie’s Muslim-American roommate Sera and Miranda’s sister Trish struggle to make sense of their losses together. All are strangers forced to develop connections under extraordinary circumstances—each, in their own way, in the wrong place at the right time. It’s a play about life and death, choices and consequences, chance, hope, grief, loss and survival. And sometimes, it’s funny. Really.
1st read-through take from the Stage Manager:
“There is a real feel of collaborative work with this piece. The whole team has been focused on bringing together a sense of comradery to bring this piece up. Balancing the darkness and the humor of the piece while keeping the energy up in the rehearsals.”
Alison Kozar, 2020/21 Cohort Alum
on Returning as a designer
Ever come back to school after having graduated? It's weird, right? There's this feeling that it's past you, a sense of not belonging, not anymore. Coming back to the I/M program in its latest incarnation as a designer hasn't felt anything like that.
New works are always exciting; there's an energy to collaboratively birthing a new world that's addictive. Add to that working with directors and playwrights who are coming fully into their power as creatives and it's energizing in a way I can't describe. It's like they're leaping off a cliff with us standing on the ground, eager to catch them. We're helping them learn to fly.
TICKETING
There are several flexible options and packages available so you can mix and match your viewing experience - see just one, all four, or anything in between.
Click HERE for all possible ticketing packages!
Through the Window
Journal by Miriam Tobin
We made it! We're finally at our first major deadline! Carolynne and I have been writing, both together and alone, for the past four months. We meet in coffee shops to compare drafts, give one another feedback, and go back to our own spaces to revise. And now, after all these months, we have completed drafts to share! We've sent them off to Rebecca for review, and she's working on finding actors to read them. Our next step is to gather together with the actors and listen to our plays out loud. Carolynne and I need to hear them out loud before we know how to get to the next draft.
Shall I give you a little preview of what we're cooking? Well, think apocalypse. Only not really. Imagine a cabin by a lake in the woods, but a little creepier than that. Sisters, mothers, the planet Venus, a childhood dog named Lacey . . . get ready, friends, these plays are gonna take you somewhere new.
Runs & Openings
Don’t miss all the live theatre happening in Seattle in April/May, including offerings from our friends and associates. Two more weekends of performance for The Plague Master General, featuring SGP Associate Artist & donor Sara Schweid (Nevertheless, She Persisted); and Fat Ham is up and running at Seattle Rep, featuring SGP Associate Artist, Jasmine Lomax (All New Cells) & The Savannah Sipping Society opens at Driftwood Players in May, featuring SGP Associate Artist Kirsten McCory (A Series of Small Cataclysms) - go support these local companies both large and scrappy - these stories are sure to resonate!
