Shadows-on-the-Teche held a community writing workshop Saturday that gave a sneak preview of the dramatic work “First Light.”

Led by Ifa Bayeza, who had previously worked on “Bunk Johnson Out of the Shadows!,” a production presented by Shadows-on-theTeche, the work took place at the Shadows Visitors Center with a full room of interested attendees.

Bayeza was chosen by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to present a play about New Iberia jazz trumpeter Bunk Johnson, and was chosen again for “First Light.”

The piece is part of a larger effort called “Telling the Full History,” which will be released next year. The work was filled with people involved in the workshop who took part in the dramatic piece.

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“First Light” presents African-American experiences in New Iberia, from its African, Native American and European roots to the Civil Rights Movement.

Participants in the workshop included Charles Porter, Kelly Porter, Elton Broussard Jr. Jackie Reedom, Mary Margaret Bell and Phebe Hayes. The hour-long event Saturday was presented in five movements.

“Telling the Full History” showcases homegrown talent and the traditions, cultural impact and history of New Iberia’s black neighborhoods and families in an original performance to be presented in September 2020 at The Shadows.

The full article available by Corey Vaughn from the Daily Iberian here.

Not far from where playwright Patricia Cotter lives in the Castro District, a bronze plaque in the sidewalk reads: “1953: Lesbian couple Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon move into their first home together in San Francisco on Castro Street. They help establish the Daughters of Bilitis, the first national lesbian rights organization, in 1955.”

Just a few blocks away, on 19th Street, is where the Lexington Club, affectionately known as the Lex, served cheap drinks from 1997 to 2015, when its closure marked the end of the last lesbian bar in San Francisco.

These two chapters of local lesbian history comprise the two acts of “The Daughters,” Cotter’s comedy whose San Francisco Playhouse Sandbox Series world premiere runs through Nov. 2 at the Creativity Theater. The Chronicle met with Cotter at Spike’s Coffee and Teas, also on 19th Street, to talk about the arc of history she traces in the show.

Q: What was the initial impulse behind “The Daughters”?

A: I think it was really at the closing of the Lex, which, honestly, wasn’t my bar. I had come to San Francisco later, so by the time I got here that wasn’t my coming up and coming out, going to the Lex. But it seemed like an icon leaving, its closing.

Q: What gave you that feeling?

A: It was a lot of women I know really grieving that it was closing. And then it’s like, “When was the last time you were there?” “Seven years ago, eight years ago.” … So if we’re not going — but then also the question, “Do we need it? Do we need a lesbian bar?” Because any bar can be a lesbian bar; it doesn’t specifically have to be one. But there’s something lost when you know this is the place where you’re going to be welcome.

I would have people in this neighborhood say to me, travelers, “Where’s the closest lesbian bar?” There isn’t one. Actually, there’s tons of queer bars, but (not one) specifically where you know it’s your place, where it’s created for you.

I think when (the Lex) closed, it got me thinking about lesbian history. I hadn’t really seen my history anywhere. I knew about Phyllis and Del. (They were the first legally married same-sex couple in California in both 2004 and 2008.) The play isn’t at all a biography of Phyllis and Del. It’s more of a tribute to the women who changed the world — in a room, at a party.

I was just so impressed with the risks they took. The women who started the Daughters were so different from each other. That’s all they had in common: that they were gay, that they wanted to meet other gay women, either to date or to just have friends, and they couldn’t do it in bars. They could, but you’re in danger of getting arrested. You’re in danger of a raid. There were tons of tourists at that time who would just come and stare at people.

We had a party for the Daughters, trying to get the word out (about the show). My friends threw it at their house, and there were tons of lesbians and straight people and gay guys. It was just a party, and I thought, “Oh, 60 years ago this was transgressive — to gather in someone’s home.”

It is specifically my history, but I’m kind of embarrassed by how little I knew about it.

Q: How much did you know before you wrote?

A: I think my knowledge was like 25%. I interviewed a ton of different lesbians … younger lesbians, older lesbians, women my age, and, for the second act, trans men, to get a point of view that felt accurate and honest.

Q: What surprised you from the research?

A: The women in this group were teachers, government workers, so they really had everything to lose by coming out. If you got arrested, they put your name in the paper, they put your address in the paper, your place of work — that’s everything. That’s one of the things we’ve been working on in the production — to create that sense of danger in the room, like the danger of getting into the room and the danger of leaving the room. Then you get this break when you’re in the physical space.

You’re taking a big risk. I think that was partly one of the things I learned as well: what a need it is to be yourself and have an honest, authentic representation of who you are. How much courage it would take to make that happen and then invite people into your home! It takes courage to go, but they didn’t know who would show up. They had no idea.

Q: And what did you learn from your interviews?

A: For young women, the relationship to the word “lesbian.” Some women were very much like, “I don’t need it. I don’t like it. It doesn’t make sense for me.” Other young women still really wanted to claim it, saw value to it.

Q: What’s your own feeling about the word, for yourself?

A: I like it. It’s never been unappealing to me. My whole feeling about words in general — and that’s basically what the second act is about — is the idea of “you tell me.” Whatever works for you, I want to include. At a certain point, we needed a word to identify each other and find each other. Now what if we don’t need that word any more? But what if you want it?

I’m excited by the changing of language, and I’m excited to incorporate that in my life. I don’t understand a resistance to it. To me, if “lesbian” goes away, which it seems like maybe someday it will, I will miss it. I will grieve it. But if that’s the natural way we’re moving, if that’s where momentum is taking us … .

Q: What do you think of a San Francisco that doesn’t have a bar dedicated to lesbians?

A: I can’t believe it. If there were no gay male bars — Look at my neighborhood! That’s all there is! — it would be front page news. (The Lex) got a little coverage, but not that much.

Q: For the two groups of women from the two different eras in your play, in what ways are their concerns the same, and in what ways have they evolved?

A: Jessica (Holt, the show’s director) has been helping me find the thread, where they connect. The idea in the first act — they’re trying to claim their space. In the second act, they’re losing that space. In just the space of 60 years — that’s not a lot of time to have your space, experience your space and then, “Wait! It’s gone already! It’s gone so fast!”

Also, in the first act, they’re trying to, “If we want to be ourselves, we have to change. We have to be presentable, and we have to not scare the outside world.” In the second act, it’s more, “We are part of the outside world. We don’t need to worry about that anymore, which is why we don’t need this space.”

And then there are the simple connections of wanting to be in love and wanting to find your person and wanting to have fun — and then the other thing is not wanting to talk about politics, but there’s someone saying, “You know what, guys, it is political.” … Even though in the first act and the second act there’s this thing of “Oh my god, can we just have a good time?” it’s like, “Yes, we can, but somebody has to be the person going, ‘Hold up. We have to take this seriously.’”

“The Daughters”: Written by Patricia Cotter. Directed by Jessica Holt. Through Nov. 2. $30-$40. Creativity Theater, 221 Fourth St., S.F. 415-677-9596. www.sfplayhouse.org

Article by Lily Janiak for the San Francisco Chronicle. Link here.

SMALL COUNTRY. BIG PROBLEMS.

TERRA FIRMA—A dark comedy, set in a disturbingly not-so-distant future. Years after a conflict known as the Big War, a tiny kingdom jutting out of the sea wrestles with the problems of forming a nation—and opposing notions of what it means to be a citizen, a country, and a civilization. Inspired by actual events. Directed by Shana Cooper.

TERRA FIRMA, by Barbara Hammond, was originally a commission for the Royal Court Theatre, the premiere venue for new writing in the UK. This production is co-presented with Baruch Performing Arts Center. 

Get you tickets now !

Clutch Productions presents a limited engagement run of THE WORTH OF WATER, a new play written by Tira Palmquist and directed by Mêlisa Annis that will be presented Friday, October 4th through Sunday, October 20th, Off-Broadway at HERE, 145 6th Avenue, (on Dominick St., one block south of Spring St.).

This is the second commission of a new, full-length play from blank page to its world premiere on a New York stage by Clutch, the inaugural commission being the world premiere of Every Good Girl Deserves Fun by Heidi Armbruster (upcoming Dairyland at Playmakers Rep, Mrs. Christie at Dorset Theatre Festival). https://www.clutchproductions.org/theworthofwater

Elle is a struggling singer-songwriter in California. Rebecca is an unhappy homemaker in Wisconsin. And Ethel is bringing her daughters together for her 70th birthday to be momentary mermaids in the springs of Weeki Wachee. But as the fantasy dissipates, will they be able to swim back to shore?

“After receiving submissions from dozens of playwrights throughout the country and a rigorous vetting process, Clutch was thrilled to select Tira for our second commission cycle,” says Producing Artistic Director, Christianne Greiert. “Not only is she a skilled collaborator, playwright, and dramaturg, she is also an inspirational bad-ass. We were drawn to her pitch for The Worth of Water, not just because it involved mermaid camp and all the theatrical delight that could provide, but also because of the timely and provocative juxtapositions she was eager to explore with her narrative.”

The cast of THE WORTH OF WATER features Kim Crow (Wit, American Stage; Doublewide and Golda’s Balcony, Florida Studio Theatre); Clare Latham (Currently in the Soho Rep company of Fairview (TFNA) // Two-time Off West End Award Nominee for Best Female Performer (Danny and The Deep Blue Sea; Southwark Playhouse, 2012) and Best Supporting Female Performer (Doubt, A Parable; Southwark Playhouse, 2017); Christianne Greiert (Every Good Girl Deserves Fun, Clutch/Walkerspace; Foreign Bodies, NYTW); dL Sams (Dietland on AMC); Michael Billingsley (The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, dir. Estelle Parsons, La Mama); Miranda Noelle Wilson (Ryan Rafferty is the Most Powerful Woman in Fashion, Joe’s Pub); and Morgan Sullivan (Aunt Jack, Theatre for the New City).

The creative team features scenic design by Jessie Bonaventure, costume design by Johanna Pan, lighting design by Kelley Shih, and sound design by Brian Heveron-Smith. Lisa Stafford is the Production Stage Manager. 

Playwright Tira Pamlquist is known for plays that merge the personal, the political and the poetic. Her most produced play, Two Degrees, premiered at the Denver Center, and was subsequently produced by Tesseract Theater in St. Louis and Prime Productions at the Guthrie (among others). Her newest play The Way North was a Finalist for the O’Neill and an Honourable Mention for the 2019 Kilroys List. While working on THE WORTH OF WATER for Clutch Productions, Tira was also working on a commission for Lower Depth Theater Ensemble in Los Angeles. Safe Harbor, a play about sex trafficking, will premiere in November in LA. Tira has also been commissioned to write new work for the University of California, Irvine graduate acting students. Her play Hold Steady was workshopped at UCI in January 2019, and she is currently working on All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, to be workshopped in January 2020. Her other plays include Ten Mile Lake (Serenbe Playhouse), Age of Bees (NYU Stella Adler Studio, MadLab Theater, Tesseract), And Then They Fell (MadLab, Brimmer Street, New York Film Academy) and This Floating World.

Director Mêlisa Annis has had the pleasure of working with and at Primary Stages, The Ambassadors Theatre Group (London), The Arcola Theater (London), Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Shadowland Stages, Tangent Theater, Queens College, Rebellious Subjects, The Playground Experiment, New York University, and Theater Masters FL as a director and dramaturg. As a writer, Mêlisa’s plays have been developed at and with Parity Productions, The Lark and Dorset Theater Festival at the Theresa Rebeck Writers Colony, The New School, Primary Stages, ESPA*Drills (2014), The Lark, The National Arts Club NYC, The Playground Experiment, and RAL. She also had the joy of writing an episode for Amazon Studio’s upcoming series for children (to be announced soon). Mêlisa is currently working on a new musical with Grammy Award Nominee Jamie Floyd (details to be announced soon). Personal essays have been published in several major publications, and she is a frequent contributor to the BBC. Mêlisa also teaches at the NYU Tisch Dramatic Writing program in NYC. 

Performances of THE WORTH OF WATER are on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 6:30pm, Saturdays at 1:30pm and 6:30pm, and Sundays at 1:30pm. There is no 1:30pm performance on Saturday, October 12. HERE is located at 145 6th Ave. (Enter on Dominick St., 1 Block South of Spring St.).

Article from Broadway World.