Women & Theatre Program, ATHE

Women and Theatre Program

JANE CHAMBERS PLAYWRITING CONTEST 2007

2009 JANE CHAMBERS PLAYWRITING AWARD RECIPIENTS
Sponsored by the Women and Theatre Program of ATHE

The Siegels of Montauk

We are pleased to announce the Jane Chambers Contest winners for 2009! Our top winner is Meryl Cohn for her feminist ensemble comedy, The Siegels of Montauk, which rose from 140 entries and three rounds of adjudication by 16 feminist scholars and artists, including many of you. (Thank You!) This witty new work, first produced at Provincetown Theatre, explores variations on sex, loss, family, self-inquiry, and ethics as propelled by a disturbing mystery, and honors the spirit of Jane Chambers’ own work with intelligence and theatricality.

With deft dialogue, a rich array of relationships, and humor as well as conscience, this romp-with-serious-stakes focuses on three adult Jewish sisters who with their mother close out the family’s Montauk beach house in the wake of their psychiatrist father’s death—and the community scandal, as well as unexpected guests, it brings. Lively, smart, and full of surprises, the play’s characters both question and grow in ways that will make audiences laugh and reflect. As the Cape Cod Times reports, “Cohn’s dialogue is crisp and revealing as it illuminates the dark side of grief and secrecy. At the same time, the intricate family dynamics spark … genuine laughter and joy.”

The Siegels of Montauk will be presented as a reading at ATHE August 10th, with a start time of 10:30am sharp in the conference hotel. Unlike in most years, the reading precedes the Awards Ceremony, so please help us to spread the word!

Honorable Mention:

Other plays honored this year by the Contest, administered by WTP with support from ATHE, include:

The Wisdom of Serpents, by Diane Baia, a historical thriller with music about the 11th century mystic, abbess and composer Hildegard von Blingen.
Charm, by Kathleen Cahill, a witty dream play about the private life and influence of the free-spirited women’s rights advocate and writer Margaret Fuller, as imagined in relation to the male literary giants of her time—Emerson, Thoreau and Nathaniel Hawthorne
Topiaries, by Elizabeth Rosengren Cotone, a contemporary play about a female glass blower, infused with an ecological spirit, provocative questions about artistic lives, and unexpected insights on living with a serious reproductive disease
Ching Chong Chinaman, by Lauren Yee, an absurdist satire of Asian-American assimilation and identities, a bold ensemble play that was also a finalist for the Princess Grace Award and which won the 2007 Yale Playwrights Festival as well as the Kumu Kahua Theatre’s 2007 Pacific Rim Prize

Student Jane Chambers Play

Our winning Student Jane Chambers Play is Collateral Bodies by Erin Kaplan of NYU, an activist call to action, with song and poetry, about violence against women from five cultures (American, Mexican, Arab, Somali, and Eastern European) and which will be read at WTP’s Pre-Conference, August 8.

Our honored playwrights this year include emergent to established playwrights, from the nationally-syndicated humor columnist Ms. Behavior --whose irreverent counsel about gay and lesbian relationships infuses our winning play with savvy wit and an array of ethical as well as personal dilemmas-- to a former Jane Chambers winner with a cadre of original musicals to her name, from a much awarded young playwright now serving as a Dramatist Fellow to members of International Centre for Women Playwrights.

From forgotten histories of influential women to exposes of American chauvinisms, from contemporary character-driven ensemble comedies to activist docudramas, and from absurdist satires that probe the complexities of identity and international crossings to poetic protagonist-driven chamber plays, this year’s Jane Chambers honorees can serve an array of production venues, cast sizes, and feminist politics. Please help us to create buzz—and advocate for the production of these, and other, new works by women for the stage.

Stay posted for a pdf of synopses of the winning plays and playwright bios. (The final version will be distributed at WTP and ATHE in August, and posted on our website!)

If finding plays of great talent is the obvious joy to this process, providing a window into new works for the stage by women writers, participating in dialogue about what constitutes feminist playwriting is another. As always, our winning Jane Chambers plays testify to the vitality of women’s writing for the stage, and help to provide an array of significant roles for female performers in production.

From the Jane Chambers Contest Co-Coordinators
Maya E. Roth, Ph.D. Priscilla Page, M.F.A.
Georgetown University University of MA-Amherst, New WORLD Theater