Knowing Women is a rollicking jubilee of voices crackling with life which never fail to captivate the hearts and minds of its audience. The characters are five women over 90, none of whom had met one another until the playwright decided to bring them together in a setting that blurs the line between a cosmic waiting room and modern day nursing home. They form alliances, clash, bond, banter and bicker, laugh, weep, joust and cavort their way through nearly half a collective millennium of living. Politics, religion, feminism, other women, sex, dead husbands and lovers, and what, if anything, lies waiting for them in the great beyond are just a few of the subjects they tackle. The play, a staged reading, is an ideal vehicle for older actresses who are finding that few if any, roles are being written for them. Performance time 90 minutes, no intermission. Script by Suzanne Logan and photographs by Barbara Wilbur.
Knowing Women: A Play in Five Voices by Suzanne Logan
$14.99 – $19.99
Available on backorder
Description
Two women nearing their sixties wondered what was next for them. What if they lived another 30 years? Is 90 a curse? Or cause for celebration? Determined to find out, they commandeered a red pick-up and hit the road to explore the country of old age, traversing back roads, crossing state lines, seeking out 55 women over 90 for an unflinching, up-close view of what it feels and looks like to have attained almost a century of living in a culture that warehouses its old so that their faces not be seen nor their voices heard.
What emerges from this remarkable quest, is a play by Suzanne Logan and series of photographs by Barbara Wilbur that celebrate life in all its complexity and wonder.
Knowing Women transcends documentary or history plays. It’s a rollicking jubilee of voices crackling with life which never fail to captivate the hearts and minds of its audience. The characters are five of the original 55 women, none of whom had met one another until the playwright decided to bring them together in a setting that blurs the line between a cosmic waiting room and modern day nursing home. (One is Sophia Mumford, married to Lewis Mumford for 70 years, and introduced in Berkshire’s edition of The Story of Utopias.)
They form alliances, clash, bond, banter and bicker, laugh, weep, joust and cavort their way through nearly half a collective millennium of living. Politics, religion, feminism, other women, sex, dead husbands and lovers, and what, if anything, lies waiting for them in the great beyond are just a few of the subjects they tackle.
It is Logan’s first play and was written to be performed as a staged reading. It is an ideal vehicle for older actresses who are finding that few if any, roles are being written for them. Performance time 90 minutes, no intermission. There are several 10- to 15-second musical interludes with music to be chosen by the director.
The play received recognition as a semi-finalist in the 2004 Arlene P. and William C. Lewis Playwriting Contest for Women and as a winner in the 2008 Fall Play Festival at Manhattan Repertory Theater.
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.