Kimberly S. Fairbanks Theatre By Retta Blaney Can you name three African-American women who lived before 1865? Valerie M. Joyce asks this question to people young and old and rarely finds anyone who can meet the challenge. “That’s 250 years of women in this country,” she said. “Why can’t we name more of them?” Joyce, an associate professor in … [Read more...] about Name Three
theatre
Luther in the Dock
By Retta Blaney Max McLean expected the Off-Off-Broadway play about Emily Dickinson to be as pleasant as dental surgery. But the producer, writer, and actor set out anyway, to support an actor friend in the cast. As it turned out, what most impressed him was the work of playwright Chris Cragin-Day. He was so wowed, in fact, that he thought she should write the play he had … [Read more...] about Luther in the Dock
Honor for a Vietnamese Heroine
By Retta BlaneyPlaywright Don Nguyen saw potential in a New York Times story about an HIV-positive woman who started the country’s first HIV support group for women in Haiphong, a large port city near Hanoi. But he questioned his ability to capture their reality.“I’m Vietnamese but I grew up in Nebraska,” he said. “They felt very foreign to me. I wasn’t sure how I could write … [Read more...] about Honor for a Vietnamese Heroine