Young Playwrights Teacher and Board Member Lori Odum has had a playwriting program at Meade Elementary for almost 10 years. She was featured in a great article today in The Philadelphia Tribune! One student interviewed in the article, Qamar Hunt said "...I also like the playwrights program, because we able to write our own plays from scratch.” Check out the full article
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This week, current Paula Vogel Mentors Project fellow Helen Everbach is working with UArts student and PYP intern Shira Berger, to stage Helen's play Better Than Abnormal. They are also using this experience to create a How-To Guide for future students interested in mounting a production of their work. Read below as Helen talks about her process, her play's characters, and the underlying activism in her writing. About the Play Better Than Abnormal is a slice of life comedy about 32 year old Dani- messy, awkward, and the 'token straight friend' of her progressive predominantly queer friend group- and the people in her life. Her recently heartbroken brother is dangerously depressed, her best friend is often busy spending time with her crossdressing boyfriend, and Dani's lawyer colleges seem to be sexist and sleazy. Then she meets Allan- clever, musically talented, Scottish, but also kind of conservative. In a show that explores such themes as gender, sexuality, political differences, and normalcy, it begs the question: can we get past our differences, even when they divide us? BY: Helen Everbach Shira and I first worked together two years ago when she helped me develop my first play, “The Mundane Life of Joe Schwartz”, which I had written for a class at the end of eighth grade. The process of working with her was very important for me. She is a kind and talented director and I was (and am) so lucky to have had the chance to work with her. So when she contacted me about this opportunity to have “Better Than Abnormal” performed, I was overjoyed. |
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