Bemidji State University, in collaboration with Bemidji’s The Mask and Rose Theater, is bringing Little Black Dress INK’s nationally sourced Female Playwrights ONSTAGE Festival to Bemidji Jan. 21.
This nationwide event, held in conjunction with International Women’s Voices Day, features actors from BSU and the Bemidji community performing short plays and monologues written by women playwrights from across the nation.
The festival begins at 2 p.m. and is free and open to the public. BSU will host a reception following the performance, which will include a talkback session with the festival’s actors, directors and producers. Audiences are advised that some plays may contain mature subject matter and/or language.
Each year, Little Black Dress INK — a nationwide organization that produces work by female playwrights — solicits short pieces to suit the year’s ONSTAGE theme, which for this year is “Volume Control.” After submitting their plays, playwrights participate in a peer-review process to select semi-finalists. The six plays being performed in the festival were selected by Bemidji State and The Mask and Rose. After the festival, their feedback will help Little Black Dress select ONSTAGE finalists.
“From its inception, The Mask and Rose has had as one of its missions to support new plays by women,” said Cate Belleveau, artistic director of The Mask and Rose. “We think our actors and audience will have a blast hearing the varied voices of women from across the USA.”
Dr. Season Ellison, assistant professor of interdisciplinary studies at Bemidji State, has a lengthy background in theater and specializes in new play development. She will produce and direct the festival’s plays and will join Belleveau to act as well.
The six Little Black Dress performances featured in the festival include:
- “Recipe for a Play,” by Rebecca Zelanin, Grove City, Ohio;
- “The Bees Are Watching” by C.J. Erlich, Chappaqua, N.Y.;
- “Peggy” by Paula Goldberg, Dallas;
- “Exceeding the Purchasable Calories” by Rhea MacCallum, Downey, Calif.;
- “One Loud Little Chicken” by Nancy Cooper Frank, San Francisco; and
- “Only One Letter Short” by Karen Loseff Lothan, Chicago.
The festival also will feature an excerpt from “Mary 4 Martha 3 – No Footnotes.” Written by Belleveau, the play explores the lives of the Hemingway women, including Bemidji-native daughter Mary Walsh Hemingway.
Contact
- Dr. Season Ellison, assistant professor of interdisciplinary studies; (218) 755-3355, sellison@bemidjistate.edu
Links
- The Mask and Rose Women’s Theater: https://www.maskrose.com/
- Little Black Dress INK: “ONSTAGE 2018: Spotlight on Bemidji State University & Mask and Rose Women’s Theatre Collective”: http://www.littleblackdressink.org/onstage-2018-spotlight-on-bemidji-state-university-mask-and-rose-womens-theatre-collective/
- International Women’s Voices Day: http://www.womensvoicestheaterfestival.org/events
Bemidji State University, located amid the lakes and forests of northern Minnesota, occupies a wooded campus along the shore of Lake Bemidji. Enrolling more than 5,100 students, Bemidji State offers more than 80 undergraduate majors and eight graduate degrees encompassing arts, sciences and select professional programs. BSU is a member of the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities and has a faculty and staff of more than 550. The university’s Shared Fundamental Values include environmental stewardship, civic engagement and international and multicultural understanding.