Tickets are now on sale for the 2nd Act Players’ #MeToo Play Festival which will take place May 19-20 and May 26-27. Tickets are $17 when bought in advance, $20 at the door on the day of performances. To purchase your tickets, simply click here or on the Tickets icon on our website.
The festival will feature staged readings of six scripts which examine topics raised by the #MeToo movement such as sexual harassment, physical and psychological abuse.
“These are some very powerful stories, we were immensely impressed by the quality of entries this year,” says 2nd Act Players’ Founder and Artistic Director John N. Frank.
The winning scripts and authors are:
Allegiances
By Eileen Bryne Richards
This excerpt from a larger piece looks at a young woman and the impact that emotional, financial, sexual and physical abuse has on her life and relationships. Here, the main characters decide which allegiances are most important in the face of MeToo allegations.
Cattywampus
By Jean Waller
Shortly before their wedding, a couple on the way to the Women’s March finds they may not know as much about each other as they thought and, suddenly, everything is cattywampus.
Driving Lesson
By Carol Saller
A woman desperate to get her driver’s license is put through her paces by a lecherous instructor, an escaped convict, and a flirtatious cop.
Donnarella Spangle’s Feet
By Anne Segard
Donnarella Spangle has escaped her sordid past as a circus act and made a new home and life in another town. She feels safe until Harvey Trin finds her. Harvey has the ability to expose her past and Donnarella has to stop him.
Fair
By Elizabeth DeSchryver
Laura begins to suspect some unsettling truths about her father as she helps her widowed mother pack for moving.
Physical
By Cassandra Rose
Three academically gifted high school graduates become hopelessly entangled in a sex scandal. Based on true events.
Aayisha Humphrey, a Chicago stage veteran who teaches at the Piven Theatre Workshop and was assistant director of the 2nd Act Players’ 2017 production of Moving Boxes, will director this production.
Waller, Rose, Segaard and Saller live in Chicago. Richards is a Wilmette resident while DeSchryver lives in Evanston.
K. Sujata, CEO of the Chicago Foundation for Women, will be taking part in a panel discussion at the 2nd Act Players’ #MeToo Play Festival on May 20, the first Sunday of the two-weekend festival.
“We hope to have discussions with audiences and invited guests after each of our shows during the festival so that the plays we present can be the start of broader discussions on the #MeToo-related issues they raise,” says John N. Frank, 2nd Act Players’ founder and artistic director. “We hope our playwrights and others will take part in these discussions as well. We’ve already reached out to several other women’s groups about joining the discussions.”