Erica Fae

 

June 14 - July 2, 2010

Writer/performer Erica Fae returns to the solo form with Take What Is Yours, an original play inspired by the life-work of American suffragist Alice Paul who brazenly did whatever it took to get women the right to vote. In 1917, Alice was arrested during a peaceable protest in front of the White House and sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment for allegedly “obstructing traffic”. While in prison, Alice was tortured, deprived of sleep with lights shone in her face, and violently force-fed with rubber tubes; but she did not relent, and it is on Day 30 of her hunger strike, on the floor of her jail cell, that our story unfolds. With a text composed entirely from her own words and the words of her contemporaries, Take What Is Yours tells a timely story of grassroots democracy, civil disobedience, domestic torture, and the pursuit of the American dream through the lens of one woman’s brave, eloquent, and brilliantly strategic battle to secure enfranchisement for all women.

Two work-in-progress showings:

Thursday, July 1 at 8pm
Friday, July 2 at 2:30pm

Free and open to the public.

Reservations: karaktar@gmail.com

Prior to development time at IRT, Take What Is Yours was supported by residencies at Naropa University and New Georges’ The Room, funding from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and public readings at New York Theatre Workshop and New Georges.

“Fae’s thrilling performance. She is an amazing talent that has grasped the ability to use her body, her singing and her speaking voice to create a fictional world around her. A Girl Joan is an exquisite work of art.” – Show Business Weekly

“… totally possessed by spiritual powers… striking.” – The New York Times

ARTISTS

 

(writer/performer) Erica Fae’s first solo play A Girl Joan, based on the imagined heart-life of Joan of Arc, was commissioned by and performed at Dance Theater Workshop, with subsequent performances at The Culture Project, NYTW’s Just Add Water Festival, The Present Company and HERE, where she was also awarded a one-year residency in their HARP program for the development of new work. As writer/director, her short films have screened at festivals worldwide; including the Salento International Film Festival Italy (BEST SHORT), Brooklyn Museum’s BAC Film Festival at the Elizabeth Sackler Center for Feminist Art (BEST ACTRESS), Cambridge Film Festival UK, and the SOHO House’s “Best of New Filmmakers” Series. As a performer, she has worked with Martha Clarke, Ripe Time, and Ping Chong, among many others; and can be seen in feature films Synecdoche New York, The Savages, Little Children, Please Give, Trainwreck, and the upcoming Mr. Tambourine Man. Erica teaches physical acting at the Yale School of Drama and The New School for Drama, and is in development on her first feature film.

Jill A. Samuels’ original work as a writer, director, choreographer, performer and designer has appeared in over 40 venues and festivals across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. She has worked for and with the Museum of Modern Art, the Public Theater, Ideal Film, Reverse Angle, The Obama Campaign, The Democracy Collaborative, Boca del Lupo Theater, Ripe Time, The South Wing Theater, Hotel Savant, Wax Factory, Meredith Monk, JoAnne Akalaitis, Deke Weaver, and many others. She’s a graduate of Brown University and a current member of The Actors Studio Playwrights and Directors Workshop.

Erica and Jill have met in the studio and worked together briefly in others’ projects, though are delighted to be collaborating together for the first time on bringing Take What Is Yours from the page to its feet. We welcome you to one of our work-in-progress showings, and look forward to your thoughts.