From 2013’s Class of ’70.
Photo -Looking for Lilith
2014-2015 Will Include Provocative New and Recent Works by Kentucky artists Arlene Hutton and Basil Kreimendahl
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For their 14th season, Looking for Lilith Theatre Company is excited to produce work by two award-winning KY women playwrights, as well as creating and presenting original, devised work. As always, each production will explore historical and current issues of relevance to women and our community at large, living into LFL’s mission to “examine history and interrogate today from women’s experiences, frequently lifting up unheard or under-heard voices”, while doing so in some new and unexpected ways this season.
The season opens with limited engagement runs of two of long-term projects. The touring show CHOICES: An Interactive Play on Cyberbullying and Suicide will have a rare public performance on September 9. In October, the company will share a work in progress based on a current project with a group of women in Guatemala, the origins of which date back to 2005. A visit from some of the Guatemalan partners will be the catalyst for a new short play exploring topics such as the struggle for female leadership in faith communities, health justice, and domestic violence.
In March, 2015, Looking for Lilith’s Women’s History Month production is Arlene Hutton’s As It Is In Heaven, set in the 1830’s society of the Pleasant Hills Shaker Village in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. This utopian religious community is thrown into ultimately transformative upheaval when newcomers have ecstatic experiences, claiming to see angels. As It Is In Heaven has been well received by critics, including American Theatre Web: “Hutton asks some universal questions about the nature of community and belief that are timeless. . .” As It Is In Heaven premiered on September 13, 2001 at the 78th Street Theater Lab in NYC.
LFL’s spring show will be Sidewinders, by Louisville native Basil Kreimendahl. Sidewinders pays homage to the Theatre of the Absurd, with clear derivations from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, and can claim a place in the nascent Transgender Rights Movement. It premiered at San Francisco’s Cutting Ball Theater in October, 2013, where it was described in this way – “In an absurdist-Western romp through gender queerness, Dakota and Bailey are new friends who find themselves lost, possibly upside down, on a vast frontier. Their journey to getting right side up provokes questions of sex anatomy, transgenderism, and who we really are from the inside out.” LFL Artistic Director Shannon Leigh Woolley says, “I think transgender issues are one of the most important and relevant under-heard voices in our society right now, and I think the framework of a “Western” is a really innovative way of exploring the issues with a sprinkle of the ridiculous. Westerns have so much emphasis on archetypes, and this script uses two characters who are simultaneously archetypal “cowpokes,” while defying gender archetypes.” Sidewinders was the winner of the 2013 Rella Lossy Award for playwriting.
Additionally, original work this season will center on the creation of a new play dealing with local environmental issues, to be produced in fall of 2015. With partial funding from Alternate ROOTS, LFL will be researching and devising this project throughout the season, in preparation for the GLI’s Arts and Cultural Attractions Network’s year long initiative, YESFest (Year of Environment and Sustainability). LFL’s play development will focus on environmental issues in our community and paying tribute to Rachel Carson and other women environmental activists. During the spring of 2015 community members will have the opportunity to participate in workshops that will explore area environmental issues through theatre devising techniques. This production will open LFL’s 2015-2016 season in the fall of 2015.
Once again, Looking for Lilith will offer pre-season flex passes, $50 for three shows if purchased by September 1. Individual tickets will be $18 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, with rates for groups of ten or more at $12 per ticket. Information about venues and specific dates will be announced in the near future. For more information about Looking for Lilith’s original productions, previous seasons, and extensive outreach programming – including in Guatemala – go to www.lookingforlilith.org