In honor of March being Women’s History Month, SWAN Day has been created as a new international holiday that celebrates women artists. The No Name Players will be hosting Pittsburgh’s SWAN Day Event on March 27 & 28 at 7:30 PM at the Grey Box Theatre in Lawrenceville. SWAN Day is a grassroots effort that is being coordinated by The Fund for Women Artists.
The evening will consist of short plays, poetry, dance, music and film by local women artists. They will be showcasing paintings and photography by women artists as well. It promises to be a truly inspiring night! Open Thread can personally vouch for poets Molly Prosser and Michelle Stoner, who’ve both appeared in our Poetsburgh reading series with Weave Magazine.
Reservations are encouraged and can be placed via email: nonameplayers@gmail.com or call 412.207.7111.
Tickets are $15, payable by cash at the door.
Producing Artistic Director of the No Name Players, Tressa Glover, gave Open Thread a sneak peak into the SWAN Event.
OT Blog: What can we expect from this year’s SWAN event? Who is performing?
Tressa Glover: Well, the Celebration of Women Artists is a collection of short plays, music, poetry, dance, film and visual art by local women artists. There are over 35 artists involved in the event.
Plays:
“Accessories,” by Carol Mullen, Directed by Joanna Lowe, Featuring Jaime Slavinsky and Rachel Shaw
“Dry Cleaning the Soul,” by Tammy Ryan, Directed by Don DiGiulio, Featuring Tawnya Hall and Eric Anderson
“Stockholm,” by Jeanne Drennan, Directed by Tami Dixon, Featuring Laura Lee Brautigam, Don DiGiulio and April Kitchen
“Pieces,” by Vanessa German, Featuring Tressa Glover and Vanessa German
Poetry:
Vanessa German, Maggie Glover, Molly Prosser, Michelle Stoner, Arlene Weiner
Dance:
Kaitlin Dann and Gretchen LaBorwit, Nandini Mandal
Films:
Cecile Desandre-Navarre, Julie Mink
Visual Art and Photography:
Sally Bozzuto, Allison Hoge, Lauren Zurchin
Music:
Joy Ike (Saturday March 28th only), the young women from Act One Theatre School’s Professional Training Program
OT: How did you/Pittsburgh become involved with the SWAN events that happen all over the country?
TG: I first read about SWAN Day last year on www.womenarts.org and loved the idea. Don and I (We’re married, by the way!) were living in Chicago at the time and working as actors. In June of last year we moved back to Pittsburgh, and I knew once we began producing shows again that No Name Players would somehow take part in the SWAN celebration of 2009. From the beginning planning stages, we knew we wanted to take part in SWAN Day by celebrating local women artists. We wanted to make sure that the extremely talented female artists here in Pittsburgh received recognition and that Pittsburgh itself was rightfully included in this worldwide celebration—and not only artists in the theatre, which is our comfort zone and the field with which we’re most familiar, but also artists from other disciplines: visual art, poetry, dance, film and music.
We wanted to create the most eclectic group of women artists possible, providing for them a safe venue in which they can foster their diverse creative sensibilities and exhibit their extraordinary talents.
This broad mix of artists and disciplines will, we think (and hope!), attract an equally broad demographic of audience members. We feel that the program we’ve assembled will appeal to women (and men) of all ages and backgrounds. We know that people within the thriving arts community here in Pittsburgh will be extremely interested in this type of event. We also hope to attract an audience that spans the multiple disciplines that we will have on display to encourage an environment of mutual appreciation of art in its many forms.
OT: Can you tell me more about the No Name Players?
TG: No Name Players’ tenure here in Pittsburgh began in August of 2004 with our critically acclaimed Pittsburgh premiere production of “Big Love,” by Charles Mee, which earned us a spot as one of the Top Ten Plays of 2004 in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Subsequent productions have included the American premiere of “This Hotel,” by Alex Poch-Goldin, and most recently our crowd-pleasing production of “Wonder of the World,” by David Lindsay-Abaire, in December of last year.
No Name Players is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to presenting unique and challenging theatrical productions by both new and established playwrights with an emphasis on the collaborative nature of theatre through ensemble. We focus on works that appeal to our own uniquely eclectic creative sensibilities. We work together as a group, where no individual is greater than the whole. Actors, directors, playwrights, designers and stage personnel play equally important roles in achieving our artistic vision. There is no fear in exploring a vast array of styles and genres. There are no boundaries that will not be pushed. There is no limit to what we can achieve.
