Hey, All of You ShaSha's Portland Dramatists Workshop Fans! Hope you enjoyed our 2011 Fertile Ground offering--Little Brown Fucking Machines--the sensitive story of five young Filippinas forced into prostitution in Olongopo, the Philippines, during the Vietnam Era. That play earned many comments from those of you who saw it, and although we thought we were going to produce it with Fuse Ensemble, we were unable to cast the show with authenic actors of the necessary ethnicity. We explored every source of actors, but to no available, and rather than cast it with non-authentic actors, we scrapped the projecct with much regret. We hope to revisit this play in the future and maybe we'll have better luck next time. :)
Meanwhile, Portland Dramatists Workshop has merged into PDX Playwrights, which meets most first and third Tuesday evenings of the month to read new plays and plays-in-progress by some very talented Portland writers and actors. You are very welcome to join us to listen, submit a play you're working on, or, if your flare is acting, to be an actor in a reading. Come on board! Check out the PDXPlaywrights website for info.
Watch for further info about producer Archie Washington's airing in November of ShaSha's play "Jerusalem Story," which is a retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story, this time set in Israel with a Jewish girl and a Muslim boy.
Then come see the final, full-length version of "Jersalem Story" at the Fertile Ground Festival in January, 2012, at Hipbone Theatre.
ShaSha is currently finishing up a major rewrite of her play, "They Say Mrs. Brown is Going Crazy," which is set during the tumultuous year of 1968. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy have both been assassinated recently, the Vietnam War rages and more and more young men are ripping up their draft cards, Feminists are burning their bras and picketing the Miss America Beauty Pageant, the Yippies, led by Abby Hoffman are attempting to destroy the Demoratic National Convention, and Mayor Daily (the First) sends out the Illinois National Guard against his own constituency in a public park! Meanwhile, in a posh, gated community outside of Chicago, a discontented housewife declares that she is sick of her sheltered life and wants to join the rest of the world. Surely she must be nuts, right? Watch for a reading of "They Say Mrs. Brown is Going Crazy" and (keep your fingers crossed) a full production in 2012.
For those of you who have inquired, ShaSha's health, which was precarious, has continued to improve and she is feeling better all the time. She thanks you for your many good wishes and prayers and all the encouragement to keep on writing!
Have a fabulous summer! Keep in touch!
|
||
