Lots of news!

Some long overdue updates, along with some fresh news!

  • I have just finished my second year in the PhD program in theater and performance studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, where I focus my research around climate change theater.

  • I am a co-author on a recently published article about using story maps in Environmental Justice: “Amplifying Desire-Centered Research Beyond Deficits and Fatigue: A Case Study of Environmental Justice ArcGIS StoryMaps in Colorado.” You can find it HERE.

  • This past spring, I directed a mainstage production of Antigone, Presented by the Girls of St. Catherine’s, by Madhuri Shekar. You can see more about it HERE.

  • This past year, I have also been working with my advisor and colleagues on Side by Side, a project that uses an art-science approach to build interspecies friendships between young women and barn swallows.

  • And now I am gearing up to write my prospectus for my dissertation. If you have any leads on climate change plays, performances, theater practices, etc., please send them my way!

Hewnoaks

Back in June, I was lucky enough to spend a week at Hewnoaks, thanks to the support of a Bodwell Fellowship from the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. I started working on a new play, which involved a lot of trying out lines of dialogue (read: talking to myself) while hiking, swimming, and spying on groundhogs. The magic of this place worked its way into my body and onto my pages.

Fall Updates

I have exciting news to share on several fronts:

  • Lisa Quoresimo, who directed a workshop of my play Daisy Violet the Bitch Beast King at the UC Davis Ground and Field Festival in 2018, has just published an article about the process! It’s called “Daisy Violet the Bitch Beast King: Framing Chaos and Ritual,” and you can find it in Frontier: A Journal of Women Studies. It’s available HERE.

  • My audio ghost story, “Vacationland,” will be featured in Penobscot Theatre Company’s digital season, as part of Ghost Postcards from Maine. Info and tickets available HERE.

  • I will have a short play in Post-Industrial Productions’ virtual series, Digitally Dramatized: Video Plays for the New World. Bella Poynton is directing! More info available HERE.

  • And, as always, Sarah Cho and I continue to interview playwrights, directors, and other theater artists on our podcast Beckett’s Babies. We have some exciting things in store for the months ahead, so be sure to tune in!

Summer Updates

I have some exciting news to share!

I have been awarded a Bodwell Fellowship from the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. This includes a residency at the lovely Hewnoaks Artist Colony, which will be postponed until 2021 because of the pandemic. Very grateful to the MWPA, and super excited to spend a couple weeks writing there next summer! You can find more information here.

I’ve also started working on some new projects:

  • I’m working on a story for Hello Winter, an anthology published by India Marie Paul and Hello Out There Productions! More information here.

  • And…I have a couple other projects in the works, but it’s too soon to share the details just yet. More to come!

Daisy Violet at New College of Florida

Photo by Shane Donglasan

Photo by Shane Donglasan

There’s a workshop performance of Daisy Violet the Bitch Beast King happening this weekend at New College of Florida’s theatrical production program: [performance @ new college].

The performance is free and open to the public, and there are three more opportunities to see it!

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

[performance @ new college]

A Workshop Production of Daisy Violet the Bitch Beast King

Written by Sam Collier
Directed by Summer Dawn Wallace

February 6-8 @ 7:30 pm
February 9 @ 2 pm

Free and open to the public
RSVP HERE

RSVP on Eventbrite to reserve your seat!

Photo by Shane Donglasan

Photo by Shane Donglasan

Daisy Violet at Urbanite Theatre's Modern Works Festival

Image courtesy of Urbanite Theatre

Image courtesy of Urbanite Theatre

UPDATE: Daisy Violet the Bitch Beast King is the winner of the 2019 Modern Works Festival! Many thanks to everyone who came to see it, the beautiful and brilliant team of artists I was lucky to work with, and to Urbanite Theatre for believing in and supporting new plays by women!

This week, I’m down in Sarasota, Florida for the 2019 Modern Works Festival at Urbanite Theatre, and I’m having a blast! This team of artists is spectacular, and I can’t wait to get this show in front of an audience. We’ll have three staged readings. Here are the details!

Daisy Violet the Bitch Beast King
directed by India Marie Paul
featuring Terri Weagant, Brooke Benson, Jordan Boyer, and Jen Diaz

Wednesday, Oct 9th at 8pm
Friday, Oct 11th at 6pm
Saturday, Oct 12 at 3pm

You can get tickets here.

You can find the full digital program here.

I hope to see you there!

thing with feathers at the Women's Theatre Festival

I’m delighted to share that thing with feathers, my queer love story about climate catastrophe, wildness, and women who can turn into birds, will be featured in the 2019 Occupy the Stage event at the Women’s Theatre Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina!

The play will have two readings:

Saturday, July 13 at 10:30 am
Sunday, July 14 at 8:30 pm

Both performances will happen at the delightfully named venue The Wicked Witch, 416 West South St, Raleigh, NC

Very excited to see all the plays lined up for the festival!

Hope to see you there!

A Hundred Circling Camps

A reading of my brand-new play A Hundred Circling Camps, directed by Nina Morrison, is scheduled for Monday, July 16th at 7:30 p.m. at the Goodman Theatre, as part of the Goodman Playwrights Unit:

A Hundred Circling Camps
During the summer of 1932, over 20,000 people hopped trains to Washington D.C. and camped out to demand fair pay for veterans of the World War. The legacy of the Bonus Army is written into our laws and culture, but the march has been largely forgotten. As America protests and forgets and protests and forgets, what is carried forward? Touching on the Poor People’s Campaign, Occupy Wall Street and Standing Rock protests, A Hundred Circling Camps explores what it means to live in public as an act of resistance.

I've been developing this play since August, with the support of the Playwrights Unit, and I'm thrilled to share it with an audience. You can find more information and reserve tickets here.

The reading is free but ticketed, so I recommend reserving a seat.

I also encourage you to check out the bold and beautiful plays by my colleagues in the Playwrights Unit:

Wade by Isaac Gomez, Saturday July 14th at 2pm.

The Woyzeck Experiment by Nigel O'Hearn, Sunday July 15th at 2pm.

The Wizards by Ricardo Gamboa, Tuesday July 17th at 7:30 pm.

Three Antarcticas by Kristin Idaszak, Wednesday July 18th at 7:00 pm.

Hope to see you there!