Kitchener Ontario

Celebrates International Womens Day 2007

with

She Speaks

Staged readings of short plays
and excerpts from longer plays
Thursday March 8
8pm
The Registry Theatre
122 Frederick St.
Kitchener, Ontario

The evening features the writing of:
Shirley Barrie
Lea Daniel
Francine Dick
Paddy Gillard-Bentley
Grace Kary
Tamara Knezic
Jenny Mundy

Entrance is by donation. Donations will be divided between the ICWP and Anselma House which
provides emergency shelter and services for abused women and their children.

For more information contact Paddy Gillard-Bentley paddy@skyedragon.com
or visit the She Speaks web site.

Thursday, March 8th

Report by Paddy Gillard-Bentley

Jenni Mundy and I had our "She Speaks" event, celebrating International Women's Day. It took place at The Registry Theatre, a lovely 160 seat theatre.

The turnout wasn't what we had hoped, but the people that were there, could not have been better.

We presented seven pieces in various stages of production. They were all written by women. Some were short plays, complete. Some, were pieces that will grow into maybe a one-act, or a full length play, but are yet to be written. Others were scenes or fragments from full length plays. All rough. All new. All unproduced.

We had fourteen actors involved, some reading several roles. It was wonderful, as always, to see the actors push themselves, but wonderful also, to see the playwrights to direct. I challenged the playwrights to stage their reading the way they wanted. The only thing I asked was the scripts remained in hands. I told the actors, even if you learn your lines, hold the script. Without the script, expectations become too high for this kind of event. So there were props and costumes and some blocking. After the plays, there was a talk-back session with five of the playwrights present, and the other two, having someone sit for them. Although the audience didn't ask a lot of questions, I may have scared them with my 'rules', the playwrights were thrust into a lively discussion about process, and what the reading did for them. The audience were very enthusiastic. There were some quintessential local theatre people in the audience, so good for playwrights and actors. And the comment I think I heard most was, when are you going to do this again? Seems, like me, the audience likes all stages of the process. The talkback was good, but I might have frightened some people out of asking anything with my 'guidelines', so it turned more into a playwright's discussion, which was very interesting. It was a blast working with Jenni, by the way, the most gracious trip I've ever witnessed, and the entire thing was loads of fun. Theatre people who attended where handing out business cards to actors, and I was approached by a director to see the remainder of my play, so the net-working was great. Here is a line-up of the show.	Downtown Kitchener Registry Theatre- Kitchener
Brianna's Quest (Act 1, Scenes I & II) by Shirley Barrie performed by Arlene Thomas, Kristopher Bowman, Nicholas Cumming and Tracey Kenyon Are women the gentler sex? The spirit of a Viking warrior is trapped in the body of a struggling actress who gets a job impersonating a futuristic computer game heroine. Color Me Fuchsia (fragments) by Lea Daniel performed by Shelagh Ranalli & Paddy Gillard-Bentley To stay or to go - images of obsession. Down Memory Lane by Francine Dick performed by Shirley Barrie & Carol Lewis An innocent gift and a woman confronts a dark secret from her past.	Arlene Thomas and Kris Bowman run through a scene before the Readings.
Opaque ( Act: I Scene: I) by Paddy Gillard-Bentley performed by Arlene Thomas, David Antscherl & Carol Lewis Coping with life badly. The Sun is a Neon Sign (Act: I Scene: III) by Grace Kary directed by Jascha Narveson performed by Gary Kirkham & Paddy Gillard-Bentley A great poet, Federico Garcia Lorca, and a great city, New York, share a breakdown on their first date. The Death of Suzie Lau by Tamara Knezic performed by Lindsay Stewart & Bruce Wolff Two ordinary guys struggling with everyday sacrifices. On the Edge by Jenni Mundy performed by Carolina Miranda & Kristopher Bowman How well do two people really know each other?	David Antscherl and Tracey Kenyon in the midst of conversation. Tracey is wearing a bit of costume...to get a feel for the Viking that emerges from the body of the skinny actress, in the play, Brianna's Quest, by Shirley Barrie.
Nicholas Cumming and Carolina Miranda discuss, previous to the readings. In the back ground, left to right, is Paddy Gillard- Bentley, half of Carol Lewis and Shirley Barrie.	Shelagh Ranelli read in Lea Daniel's, Colour Me Fushcia.

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