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2024 Voices of Women Theatre FestivalOpening Night & Launch Party Photos & Video ClipsMeet the Playwrights - 10-Minute Self-ProducedMeet the Playwrights - 60-Minute Powerstories-ProducedMeet the Playwrights - 60-Minute Digital Plays

2024 VOICES OF WOMEN THEATRE FESTIVAL

Celebrating 12 local, national, and international womens’ voices.

After receiving submissions from all over the world, Powerstories Theatre is proud to present the fourth annual Voices of Women Theatre Festival, showcasing twelve local, national, and international playwrights to a global audience. The festival is a combination of 60-minute and 10-minute staged readings.

The festival runs from March 21 through March 30, 2024; however, guests can enjoy the first week’s shows live at the theatre, and beginning the second week, guests can watch both the digital submissions and the recorded live shows beginning on March 25, 2024 and EXTENDED THROUGH APRIL 5!

Powerstories hosted a Kickoff Celebration of the Voices of Women Theatre Festival for theatre attendees, playwrights, cast, and crew to talk about their plays. The special event provided drinks, light appetizers, Women’s History trivia, and camaraderie to launch its fourth annual Voices of Women event on March 21 at 6-730 PM.

Join Powerstories on April 1 at 7 PM EST on Zoom for the awards celebration and presentation in the three categories, digital, self-produced, and Powerstories-produced.

Although there is a general admission ticket with ticket checkout, please wait for your email from Ticketleap.

For the digital performances, you will receive an email on Sunday, March 24 with a link to enjoy your shows.

2024 selected plays are:

THURSDAY, MARCH 21

10-minute Self-Produced

  • I’m (Not) Okay by Kimberly Schwartz (Florida)
  • High Occupancy Detour by Karen Campion (Florida)
  • Rose by Janet Scaglione (Florida)
  • Color Theory by Aurora Peugh (Florida)

60-minute Powerstories-Produced Staged Readings

FRIDAY, MARCH 22

  • Too Woke To Book by Krystle Dellihue (Michigan)

SATURDAY, MARCH 23

  • The Wives; A Post-Roe American Abortion Odyssey by Alli Hartley-Kong (District of Columbia)

SUNDAY, MARCH 24

  • The First Step by Kathleen Maule Holen (Kansas)

60-minute Digital

This will also feature recorded live shows from first week of the festival.

MONDAY, MARCH 25 – SATURDAY, MARCH 30

  • Purdah by J.Lois Diamond (New York)
  • Diary of a Bastard Child by Nikki Luellen (Texas)
  • Diversifications by Natalie Ekberg (United Kingdom)
  • Beholden by Susan Lily Jackson (California)
  • The Memories We Keep by Ada Cheng (Illinois)

EXTENDED THROUGH APRIL 5!

ENJOY ALL RECORDED, LIVE-IN-THEATRE & DIGITAL SUBMISSIONS WITH A FESTIVAL PASS

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO JOINED US AT THE VIP LAUNCH PARTY AND OPENING NIGHT!

2024 VOW
VIEW PHOTOS FROM RECEPTION AND THURSDAY-SUNDAY NIGHT

MEET THE PLAYWRIGHTS!

10-minute self-produced plays

Live In-Theatre Thursday, March 21

Recorded version available to view March 25-30

Kimberly Schwartz

I’m (Not) Okay

FLORIDA

Nora is a normal girl. She has a family. She has friends. She has her own hopes and dreams. But Nora also has something else. Depression eats away at her in secret. Anxiety is a constant, albeit unwanted, companion. So, what happens when that depression, that fear, takes a physical form? How can she cope when coming face-to-face with her own mind?

RATED: PG-13, mental health, suicidal idealation

Karen Campion

High Occupancy Detour

FLORIDA

Three 20-somethings in a carpool take a detour through self-discovery and a little innocent adultnapping to return as the people they might have been.

RATED: PG-13

Janet Scaglione

Rose

FLORIDA

During the summer of 2020, a white woman, raised in the South, is challenged to confront the past, consider her choices, accept her privilege, and create the future.

RATED: G

 

Kimberly Schwartz is an aspiring new playwright from Florida. This is her first finished work. Kimberly was born in North Carolina and is the youngest of three children. Born paralyzed from the waist down, she is no stranger to adversity and the social issues that are prevalent in our society. As someone with mental illness herself, this one-act is very important to her.

Karen Campion is passionate about drama! She uses drama along with a splash of humor to examine dynamics in relationships, families, trauma, tragedy, triumph, all things everyday life in hopes of creating a more compassionate, connected, and caring world. She has written two fiction novels, three award-winning TV Drama Pilots scripts, and is incredibly proud of her soon-to-produced one-act play, Poppy in Bloom.

Janet is an award-winning educator turned playwright, composer, activist, and entertainer. She founded The Broad’s Way to create and produce works that celebrate womanhood. Her experience developing and teaching courses on Diversity has led her to write about race and privilege. She continues to write and perform locally to support theater, explore new work, and enjoy the stage. She is the winner of the Tampa Bay Theater Festival Short Play Competition 2022.

Ada Cheng

The Memories We Keep

ILLINOIS

This piece, a solo performance about an interaction with my mother, is about making peace with childhood trauma, particularly generational trauma, about making choices about the kind of memories we want to keep about people and for ourselves.

RATED:

 

Aurora Peugh

Color Theory

FLORIDA

“Color Theory” is a one-act play set in Cheyenne, Wyoming, during the summer of 2016. This story revolves around Samantha Reynolds, a retired swimmer, and her son, Oliver, as they are attempting to escape an abusive situation. As his mom navigates these challenging circumstances, Oliver’s “colorful” imagination begins to intertwine with his harsh reality, causing him to fall deeper and deeper into his imaginative “safe space.” This play explores themes of abuse, resilience, and the representation of emotions through color. 

*Trigger warnings: Domestic violence, violence against children, death, and harsh language*

 

An educator-turned storyteller and curator, Dr. Ada Cheng has utilized storytelling to illustrate structural inequities, raise critical awareness, and build intimate communities. Committed to amplifying and uplifting marginalized voices, she has created numerous storytelling platforms for BIPOC and LGBTQIA community members to tell difficult and vulnerable stories. As an emerging playwright, she has written and published short plays to explore urgent social concerns of our time. Dr. Cheng has been a speaker for Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau since 2019. She is named 2023-24 Lund Gill Chair at Dominican University. Her interests encompass academia, storytelling/performance, and advocacy.

Aurora Peugh is a 19-year-old college student majoring in Theatre Arts at the University of South Florida. She has a focus in Stage Managment, minoring in Communication, and is attempting a certificate in Business. She is full of gratitude to be included among all of these incredible women. This festival is so important, and she is beyond excited for Color Theory to have its very first audience!

MEET THE PLAYWRIGHTS!

60-minute Powerstories-produced staged readings

Recorded plays available to View March 25-30

Live In-Theatre Friday, March 22

Krystle Dellihue

Too Woke to Book

MICHIGAN

Payton hasn’t booked a theater gig since 2020. She believes the new “woke” DEI initiatives have prevented her from thriving like her roommate who’s been booked and busy. At what lengths will she go to accomplish her dream of being on Broadway.

RATED: PG

Live In-Theatre Saturday, March 23

Alli Hartley-Kong

The Wives; A Post-Roe American Abortion Odyssey

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Two couples facing a harrowing “choice.”

RATED: PG-13, nonviable pregnancy

Live In-Theatre Sunday, March 24

Kathleen Maule Holen

The First Step

KANSAS

The First Step tells the story of how four women were changed for good by a secretive young man who became their personal fitness coach. For the past fourteen years Dotty Paulson and her three friends, Cassie French, Brenda Underhill and Susan Marcus, have been driving to the top of Veterans Hill on New Year’s Day. They salute the dawn of the new year, cook breakfast on a grill and affirm their resolutions. They affirm the same ones every year—lose weight, quit smoking, cut back on drinking, get more exercise—and promptly break all of them. Finally, they admit that they are middle-aged and out of shape. But 2014 is going to be different if Dotty has anything to say about it. She’s met the new personal trainer in town, Glen Duncan, and signed herself and her friends up for fitness training. Now all she has to do is convince them to forget their worn-out resolutions and make just one: by next year they will be strong enough to climb the steps to the top of Veterans Hill. Glen may not be the perfect trainer. After all, his motto is “do as I say, not as I do”, and it’s obvious he has some serious emotional baggage. Why else would he be taking large doses of pain killers with alcohol? Despite his dangerous personal habits, over the next nine months he sets all four women on the path to strength, both physical and emotional, and then tragically leaves them but not without an enduring sense of purpose.

RATED: PG

Krystle Dellihue is a playwright from Detroit, Michigan. She graduated from Eastern Michigan University and that’s where she found her passion of writing stories based on historical events. In 2018 she wrote her first play based on her and her friends’ early financial struggles in college. During the 2020 social uprisings she found her writer’s voice by telling the untold stories of her family and iconic black historical figures. Since 2020 she’s had multiple short plays produced: Hattie: A Seat At The Table, White Coat and a host of staged readings. All of her plays address social justice issues that center Black people as leads.

Alli Hartley-Kong is a playwright and public historian based in Washington D.C. Her full-length play People Should Talk About What’s Real is a Bay Area Playwright’s Festival semi-finalist and Henley Rose finalist. She has been commissioned by Single Carrot Theatre and Central Square Theatre, and has written over a dozen ten-minute plays that have been performed all over the U.S. as well as Ireland and Australia.

Kathleen Maule Holen has participated in Community Theatre since 2015. Her Award-winning plays include The First Step; Detective Weston’s Last Case, Second Place in the Mixing It Up Spring Festival 2021, Nobody Kills Sherlock, first place, Julian Playwright Festival 2023 and Love’s Labour’s Lost & Found, third place, Robert J Pickering/J.R. Colbeck Award for Playwriting Excellence 2023. She has contributed two plays to Drama Notebook, Dorothy’s Adventure in the Magical Kingdom of Oz and Benjamin the Hiding Bunny. She is a current member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

MEET THE PLAYWRIGHTS!

60-minute digital plays

Plays available to View March 25-30

Recordings of live plays are also available to view.

J.Lois Diamond

Purdah

NEW YORK

It is India under the Raj. Kamala marries into the most powerful family in the country but is treated cruelly by her in-laws. She struggles to end the evil custom of Purdah. Will anyone follow her lead?

RATED:  PG-13

Nikki Luellen

Diary of a Bastard Child

TEXAS

Diary of a Bastard Child is a story about a 16-year-old teen who gets raped at a party and ends up pregnant. Her son grows up without his mom or dad and begins to question his reason for living.

RATED: PG-13

Natalie Ekberg

Diversifications

UNITED KINGDOM

‘Diversifications’ is a female-centric play, about three women who meet in the waiting room to receive the results of their genetic testing. With emotions running high and the clock ticking, they share their most intimate thoughts and yearnings. They soon realize that each of them has something the other one craves: children, career, freedom. Three women. Three generations. Same desire: change.

By the end of their encounter, they decide to walk out of the clinic without getting the results. Playing ‘genetic roulette’, they start living by new rules and follow their dreams. However, their decision has dire consequences. A year after they have passed, their husbands/partners meet to try and understand the logic behind that spontaneous, yet fatal decision.

The play, full of ‘laugh out loud’ moments, is structured as a ‘back and forth’ of opinions: male versus female perspective on marriage, love, and parenthood. This is a heart-warming story about tough life choices, love, and forgiveness. A highly emotive piece, it is peppered with humor and a deep understanding of humans and their complicated relationships.

RATED: PG-13

Susan Lily Jackson

Beholden

CALIFORNIA

Sarah, from San Francisco, is visiting the nursing home in Liberty, NC, where her mother has just died; Basil was Sarah’s mother’s caregiver. Terry (Sarah’s wife) is also in attendance for the funeral. A confrontation occurs when Sarah tries to right a wrong. Unbeknownst to all of them, is that Sarah’s family, the Camaan’s, owned Basil’s family during the Civil War.

RATED: PG-13

J.Lois Diamond’s work has been performed off-off Broadway, regionally, in Canada, @ The International Human Rights Art Festival & The Inge Festival. Her play “Growl” was produced @ The Downtown Urban Arts Festival, & Theatre Odyssey, (runner up for best play). Staged reading 2021 Valdez Theatre Conference. Her play “I Feel Good!” was scheduled for production @ N.Y.’s Signature Theater, 2020 as part of DUAF Festival, cancelled due to pandemic. Her monologues have been published in Smith & Kraus’ Monologues Anthologies 2021, 2022, and 2023 and in Applause Books’ “She Persisted”. She has written over ten plays for the 365 Women A Year Project, and is committed to telling the stories of historic women, as a way to promote the value of all women. She is a proud member of Honor Roll!, Polaris North and The Dramatists Guild, where she recently studied with Tina Howe. jloisdiamond.com  https://newplayexchange.org/users/20210/jlois-diamond

Nikki Luellen is a multi-talented artist, writer, and community advocate. Since 2012, she has written, directed, and produced over 100 stage plays, short films, and documentaries, which center on issues impacting the lives of black people such as poverty, drug abuse, gentrification, and mental illness. She uses her art as a tool to educate people on the history of oppression in America and challenges the audience to work together to find a solution to these problems.

Her poetry has been featured on news and radio stations in Texas, including KXAN News, 90.1 kpft, and Texas 101 Jams. Today, she continues to advocate against racism and brutality in the criminal justice system and continues to perform her poems at community events and protests in Texas.

She is the Founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit organization, Black Liberation Movement.

Natalie Ekberg, a renowned Screenwriter and Playwright represented by Madeleine Cotter at WGM Literary Agency, is adept at crafting compelling characters and narratives across film, TV, and theatre.

Her upcoming murder mystery feature film, ‘SAVASANA,’ is currently in pre-production. In TV, ‘MOTHER UNKNOWN’ is actively developed with Spirit production company, and ‘The Small Print’ was shortlisted for the C21 Media Drama Competition in 2022.

As the head writer for the TV musical drama ‘Hackney Central’ produced by Uzong production company, Natalie exhibits creative leadership. ‘Espousal,’ a TV comedy-drama series, has been optioned by Wave Films, emphasizing the global appeal of her work.

In the short film domain, ‘That Girl, Peugeot,’ and ‘The Colours Within’ secured global recognition, with the former attaining a distribution deal with Gonella Productions. Additionally, her co-writing contribution to ‘Amor Martis’ highlights her versatility.

Natalie’s commissioned Nordic Noir psychological thriller for director Tim James Brown. She had a successful three-week run of her play ‘Diversifications’ at the Old Red Lion Theatre in June 2022.

Jackson received the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Original Play. Work: staged- read/produced New York City, Bay Area, Eugene O’Neill Foundation, William Inge Festival, Sydney, London, Red Curtain International Theatre. DEATH BE NOT LOUD! –Best of Capital Fringe—Washington Post positive review. Published: Smith and Kraus, (2017-2023) Applause, Hello, Godot! Finalist: Creede Repertory Theatre; Henley Rose Competition for Female Playwrights; Fusion Theatre Company; Centre Stage; 3Girls Theatre Co. (SF). Participant: Mid-America Theatre Conference, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Powerstories: Voices of Women Festival; Equity Library Theatre Festival-Sparks Creative Works, Believability; A LIPSTICK CALLED PROTAGONIST; NICE: Shiny Unicorns Productions. Jackson was part of SF Festival for Young Playwrights developed by Lauren Yee.

THURSDAY - Virtual Playbills (10-Minute Self-Produced)FRIDAY - Virtual Playbill (60-Minute Powerstories-Produced)SATURDAY - Virtual Playbill (60-Minute Powerstories-Produced)SUNDAY - Virtual Playbill (60-Minute Powerstories-Produced)Virtual Playbills (60-Minute Digital)

THURSDAY – VIRTUAL PLAYBILLS

LIVE, IN-THEATRE

10-Minute Self-Produced Live-In-Theatre Play

I’m (Not) Okay by Kimberly Schwartz (Florida)

CAST BIOS

Kayla Miller: (NORA): Kayla Miller is a native Virginian who moved down to Florida to embark on a new journey. She discovered her passion and love for acting by making Florida her home. Since then, Kayla has had the opportunity to star in several student and independent film projects, comedy sketches, and commercials. Kayla is excited at what her journey has become and can’t wait to see what’s up ahead.

Chelsea Nina Ramirez: (INNER VOICE) Chelsea Nina Ramirez is an actress/writer and director from the Clearwater/Tampa Bay Area. Chelsea studied Theatre at St.Petersburg College and University of South Florida Tampa earning her Bachelors in Theatre Arts. Some plays Chelsea has been seen in such as Laughing Stock, Noises Off, Madea, and most recently in House Of Desires with USF. Chelsea is grateful to be a part of a great cast and crew to tell an important story.

Jarrah Bautista: (THE SHADOW) More likely to be seen in various stage fight shows in the Tampa Bay Area, Jarrah Bautista has been doing reenactment fairs since 2011 as a stage combatant and has only really started doing the occasional stage play since 2017.

PRODUCTION CREW

Kimberly Schwartz (DIRECTOR/PLAYWRIGHT) Kimberly Schwartz is an aspiring new playwright from Florida. This is her first finished work. Kimberly was born in North Carolina and is the youngest of three children. Born paralyzed from the waist down, she is no stranger to adversity and the social issues that are prevalent in our society. As someone with mental illness herself, this one-act is very important to her.

Andrew Brunner: (STAGE MANAGER) Normally being one on the stage, this is Andrews’s first time behind the scenes as stage manager, and he is excited to be a part of this cast and crew. On top of being in the theater world, Andrew has also ventured into film both on and off screen as director and screenwriter. Andrew is a veteran of the US Navy and is looking forward to retiring at the end of this year.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

TBD – March 2024

10-Minute Self-Produced Live-In-Theatre Play

High Occupancy Detour by Karen Campion (Florida)

Rowan DuPriest

CAST BIOS

Rowan DuPriest: (KRISTY KAY) Rowan DuPriest is very excited to perform in High Occupancy Detour! Her last role was as the Escapologist in Matilda the Musical with Wharton Theatre Company. Rowan would like to give a big thank you to the playwright and director for the opportunity to be a part of this production.

Elle Mientek: (NATASHA) Elle Mientek is NOT a barista! She’s a legal assistant at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. However, more importantly for this bio, she is also an avid participant in the community theatre scene with recent roles including Ashley (Hotbed Hotel) and Sheila Birling (An Inspector Calls), both through Carrollwood Players. Thank you to the audience for taking a chance on original works and supporting local artists!

Seth Henley-Beasley: (SETH) Seth Henley-Beasley loves theater and is happy to be apart of “High Occupancy Detour”. Seth is a performance major at USF and had the pleasure of recently performing in the USF production of “In the Blood” as Dr/Trouble. He loves working with his fellow cast mates and actors in creating entertaining and moving stories.

Carson Brown: (ASHLEY) Carsen Brown is very grateful for the opportunity to perform High Occupancy Detour. Her most previous performance was Mimi in Guys and Dolls at the Cocoa Village playhouse. She wants to thank the cast, playwright and director.

PRODUCTION CREW

Kennedy Engasser: (DIRECTOR) Kennedy Engasser is a freshman theater major at USF. She has been directing for two years, including self-produced original work at TheStudio@620 in St. Pete. In her last production, she appeared as Hayley in Hotbed Hotel at Carrollwood players. In addition, Kennedy is also an award winning poet and playwright. She is very excited to be working with Powerstories and Karen Campion to tell the story of High Occupancy Detour.

Karen Campion: (PLAYWRIGHT) Karen Campion is passionate about drama! She uses drama along with a splash of humor to examine dynamics in relationships, families, trauma, tragedy, triumph, all things everyday life in hopes of creating a more compassionate, connected, and caring world. She has written two fiction novels, four award-winning TV Drama Pilot scripts, and three produced stage plays…in that order.

Karen is thrilled to be a part of such an impactful festival and is overflowing with gratitude for the time and energy invested by Powerstories Theatre, her extraordinary director, their powerful and playful cast, and to talented-beyond-their-young-years Dylan and Vysakh for sharing their music.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

I would love to give a huge thank you to all the people that made this production possible. Karen Campion, for writing an amazing play. Deb Kelley, for thinking of me when looking for a director. The cast, for their hard work, dedication, and positive attitudes throughout the entire show. Kristen Kerti, for her assistance in building the set. And, of course, Powerstories for making the whole festival possible. High Occupancy Detour is the first show that I have directed which I did not write myself, and it has been an incredible journey for me. Karen Campion has written a story that is, more than anything else, about real people. It was incredibly important to me that these characters were portrayed as real and raw, complete with both admirable qualities, as well as flaws. I imagine every audience member, just like each character, has some sort of struggle that they are grappling with— a struggle they keep hidden in order to go about their busy lives. It is my hope that everyone watching this play gets to take an emotional detour along with the cast, and leave the theater feeling liberated and inspired. The world can be a scary place, it is through the beauty of art, collaboration, and communication that we find a way to make it through to the next day.

10-Minute Self-Produced Live-In-Theatre Play

Rose by Janet Scaglione (Florida)

SETTING

Tampa, FL Livingroom

CAST BIOS

Janet Scaglione: (ACTOR/PLAYWRIGHT) Janet is an award-winning educator turned playwright, composer, activist, and entertainer. She founded The Broad’s Way to create and produce works that celebrate womanhood. Her experience developing and teaching courses on Diversity has led her to write about race and privilege. She continues to write and perform locally to support theater, explore new work, and enjoy the stage. She is the winner of the Tampa Bay Theater Festival Short Play Competition 2022.

PRODUCTION CREW

Gigi Jennewein: (DIRECTOR) is a theatre veteran who – after a 40+ year hiatus – has recently landed back in town. In the Bay area, Jennewein recently directed Drift for Lab Theatre Project, two Stageworks Impromptu Players productions, and served as dramaturge for Stageworks’ When the Righteous Triumph. In February she returned to her old stomping grounds in Indianapolis to assistant direct The Bad Seed with Betty Rage Production. Back in the 1980s, she was active with Playmakers Theatre and USF and served in 2010-2011 as the chair of the theatre department at Patel Conservatory. Jennewein is a Professor Emerita in Communication and Theatre at DePauw University. Additional professional acting and directing credits include Indiana Repertory Theatre, The Phoenix Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Summit Performance, and American Lives Theatre. She is most proud of her work with the Indiana Women’s Prison education program, wherein she advised the creation of and directed the original play The Duchess of Stringtown, featured in the award-winning book Who Would Believe A Prisoner? Jennewein is married to retired DePauw University head men’s basketball coach Bill Fenlon; they have two children and a grandson, Frankie.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

Directors don’t often get do-overs. Yet, here I am directing Rose for the third time. Lucky me.  This 10-minute piece is a gem.  Each time I engage with it, it asks me to look deeper: each time I notice even more. I love how thoroughly this piece discourses – in such a short snippet of time – about history, experience, love, relationships, truth, and that pervasive theme of our time, racism.  As Janet the character says in the play, we (we white people) must remember the past. For things to change, we must remember the attitudes we grew up in, the aggressions we perpetrated and accepted, and the privilege we continue to enjoy. We must remember in order to foster the kinder, gentler, more accepting, more nurturing world we all want to live in.

10-Minute Self-Produced Live-In-Theatre Play

Color Theory (Florida)

SETTING

Motel, Cheyenne Wyoming, Summer of 2016

CAST BIOS

Kyle Duncan: (CHARLIE REYNOLDS) Kyle is very excited to be part of the Color Theory cast for the Voices of Women Theatre Festival. He transferred to USF in the fall of last year and is quite thrilled to be along for the ride. Kyle’s most cherished roles would be Argan in The Imaginary Invalid and The Count of Rocca Marina in The Fan. Both of which are from IRSC, the state college he transferred from. Kyle is also an aspiring writer and looks forward to the opportunity of learning more. He thanks Aurora and Kaitlyn for their hard work and masterful direction of this piece.

Ava Meyer: (SAMANTHA REYNOLDS) Ava Meyer is so happy to get the opportunity to portray Samantha Reynolds in Color Theory! She is currently a sophomore at the University of South Florida and majoring in Theatre Performance. Ava’s done theatre since she was in elementary school but her favorite roles have been Little Red from Into The Woods and the Nurse from Romeo and Juliet. She would like to thank her family and friends who have helped her and supported her as she continues to grow into this career. She can’t wait to show everyone the hard work that has been put into this production by the entire team!

Sam Lipsey: (OLIVER) Sam is a second-year theatre major at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa. Sam has been performing in theatre since middle school, and he is so excited to be a part of this play as Oliver. Recently Sam has worked playing Ricky in USF’s production of Ride the Cyclone this past fall, and he is currently cast in USF’s upcoming production of As You Like It the Musical. He would like to thank Aurora Peugh for the opportunity to be a part of the process and the entire production team and cast as well for all their work.

Shawna Hopper: (HENRY/BURGLAR) Shawna is very excited to be a part of this staged reading of Color Theory! She is a double degree student at the University of South Florida, studying Theatre Performance & Communications. Her most recent role, which is her now forever favorite, is Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz! She looks forward to bringing Color Theory to life, and is so thankful for this opportunity to be a part of it!

PRODUCTION CREW

Kaitlyn Oravec: (DIRECTOR)Kaitlyn Oravec is a 20-year-old college student majoring in Psychology with a minor in Theatre Performance at the University of South Florida. She has been involved with theatre since she was 8 years old. Some of her favorite roles include Paulette in “Legally Blonde” and Eddie Harknell in “Decision Height”. Directing has been a passion of hers and she is beyond thrilled and honored to be making her official directing debut with “Color Theory.”

Aurora Peugh: (PLAYWRIGHT/PRODUCTION MANAGER:) Aurora Peugh is a 19-year-old college student majoring in Theatre Arts at the University of South Florida. She has a focus in Stage Management, minoring in Communication, and is attempting a certificate in Business. She is full of gratitude to be included among all of these incredible women. This festival is so important, and she is beyond excited for Color Theory to have its very first audience!

Ray Tobbell: (PRODUCTION ASSISTANT/VIDEOGRAPHER) Although Ray is an Environmental Science major at USF, they have been a part of many productions in high school and have a great appreciation for theatre. Ray is so incredibly proud of their girlfriend, Aurora, for writing and producing this play and is honored to be a part of the process of Color Theory’s production! As a friend of the wonderful cast and crew, Ray is very excited for Color Theory’s debut and for the work put into the important causes associated with this show.

Melanie Merkel: (PRODUCTION ASSISTANT/STAGE DIRECTIONS) Melanie is very excited to be working on this project as a production assistant as well as reading stage directions! She is currently a sophomore and Tech Theatre major at USF. She is very grateful for this opportunity to be involved in the arts with fellow students. She thinks this show is an amazing opportunity to share the voices of women through theatre and to promote awareness about domestic violence.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

“Color Theory” is a beautiful story written and produced by one of my dearest friends Aurora Peugh. There is a part of me that I see in this piece, and I think those will come to find that there is a piece of them in there too. Our team has had numerous discussions about the importance of a festival like Power Stories, Voices of Women. We have made it our priority to handle this script with dedication and care. From the moment we started working on “Color Theory”, my intentions for the piece and the audience became clear. I want the audience to watch the experience of a domestic violence victim, Samantha, through the eyes of her son Oliver, a 9-year-old boy, and see how his protective imagination starts to crack and mix with his reality.

I want to emphasize this child-like perspective in the hopes that the audience will feel their innocence stripped away like Samantha and Oliver’s was. As a psychology student, I really want to show the lengths our brains will go to protect us from trauma we may not want to handle, or are completely unable to comprehend. As a 9-year-old boy, Oliver’s imagination is his safe space and his coping mechanism for the situation he and his mother are in.

Domestic violence stories like “Color Theory” need to be seen, heard, and felt so that the audience may feel even a tiny fraction of the daily interactions’ domestic violence victims’ experience. Our team has been working diligently to give this story the energy and effort it deserves. Considering this show and its contents, me and my producer have decided to work with a local charity known as The Spring of Tampa Bay, a service that provides safe resources for domestic abuse survivors. I hold to my heart a saying, “True art disturbs the comfortable and brings comfort to the disturbed”. I fully believe “Color Theory” does just that.

FRIDAY- VIRTUAL PLAYBILL

LIVE, IN-THEATRE

60-Minute Powerstories-Produced Live-In-Theatre Play

Too Woke To Book by Krystle Dellihue (Michigan)

SETTING

Detroit, Michigan

CAST BIOS

Charlotte Swett: (PAYTON) is excited to perform In Too Woke to Book as Payton. She is an actor, improviser, and artist based in Tampa. She grew up in theater, performing in several plays as a variety of characters that she channels into her improv comedy and film acting.

Danielle Anderson: She/Her (SUNDAY) Danielle T. is your typical creative with one head wearing A LOT of hats. Originally hailing from Queens, NYC but raised in Saint Pete, FL; she found her love for the arts later in life during her high school years. After joining drama club her junior year, she got inducted into the Thespian’s Society and became the first to win the Critic’s Choice Award for ‘When They Speak of Rita’ in a duolouge. Since then, over a decade later, she’s been filming and even took acting into modeling. She lives by the motto “The world is your stage” always make the best of each act and moment.

Toneice Evans: (MOM) Toneice is an Actress, Producer, Director, and Writer. Toneice started writing to create lead roles that highlight women of color in all genres. In 2020, Toneice created, starred, directed, and produced a comedy, web series entitled “My Dating Life Sucks”. In addition, Toneice produced, wrote, and co-starred in an award winning dramatic short film entitled “The Decision”.

Toneice is a graduate of Trinity Washington University, receiving both her B.S and M.B.A.

Regina Belvin: (STAGE MANAGER/STAGE DIRECTIONS) is excited to make her debut in Too Woke To Book for the Voices of Women Theatre Festival. Regina has always had a passion for performing arts and film since she was a little girl. She has taken acting and improv classes at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, where she also works as their Development Associate. Outside of theatre, Regina enjoys museums, yoga and traveling. She wants to thank her parents for always encouraging her to live her dreams.

PRODUCTION CREW

Ivy Sunflower: (DIRECTOR) Ivy is an award winning actress, director, teaching artist, and published model. She is honored to direct an all-female cast in the Voices of Women festival, celebrating the richness of women’s narratives. With a deep commitment to amplifying women’s voices, Ivy brings her passion for storytelling to the stage, creating a space for diverse and empowering stories to be heard. Ms. Sunflower has directed projects such as “Money Matters” (Outcast Theatre Collective) and “Breaking the News” (The Garden of Voices 24 hr Radio Play Festival). As well as the AD for productions such as “Dionyous on the Down Low” (Outcast Theatre Collective) and “FIGHT: Rise for Peace” (Gotcha Film Productions).

As a female director, Ivy values collaboration and empowerment, fostering an environment where her cast can shine. With a background in both theatre and film, she brings insight and emotion to her work, challenging stereotypes and inspiring audiences.

Ivy is grateful for the opportunity to be part of a festival that celebrates women’s experiences and voices. She looks forward to sharing the transformative power of storytelling and thanks the festival organizers for this meaningful opportunity.

Krystle Dellihue: (PLAYWRIGHT) Krystle is grateful that her play Too Woke To Book was chosen to be a part of the Voices of Women Theatre Festival. Krystle started writing during the wake of the social uprisings in 2020. She wanted to have a voice and see more stories written, produced, and directed that centers women. Too Woke is about a complicated friendship. I’m hoping this play will spark a dialogue around social issues. Previous plays produced: Hattie: A Seat at the Table, White Coat, and Match Coat. Thank you Deb Kelley, Fran Powers, Voices of Women Theatre Festival, their staff, and donors for creating a space to celebrate women playwrights. I’m truly honored.

NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR & PLAYWRIGHT

“Too Woke to Book” is a story that brings together two perspectives. The perspective of BIPOC artists who deserve to be seen, heard, and appreciated for their talent and the perspective from a community that has had the opportunities of the world presented to them since the beginning of time and they don’t want that to change. But change is inevitable. As an evolving society, we must do just that..evolve. We must understand that being “Woke” isn’t about leaving anyone out but about seeing everyone for who they are. This play follows two friends and lovers of dance who are trying to make it in the big time, BROADWAY. However, jealousy wavers itself upon Payton and causes her to do the unthinkable to her friend Sunday. This play expresses themes of friendship, desperation, admiration, and commitment to this art. Directing this play spoke volumes to me, considering that I have been in several similar situations. I am a woman of color. My talent and dedication should be the only factors when considering me or any other artist of color for a project. Stories like this are powerful because they create the narrative for the uncomfortable conversations that others may not have thought of.

Our playwright Krystle Dellihue states that her inspiration for writing this piece came from two things: an Instagram video from Debbie Allen’s dance studio where young girls were in dance rehearsal, and sadly the comments were very telling about the performance of the two girls shown. She thought to herself, “what if these were grown women who were friends?”. The second inspiration came from a Fox News article about Broadway becoming “Too Woke.”

“It’s bad enough we’re dying in the streets, but now
we can’t pursue our dreams without people like you thinking we got there because of diversity
initiatives. You need to look within and figure out why you have a problem with people of color
getting opportunities. Deal with that truth, take some classes and leave us out of it.” – Too Woke to Book

I am grateful for this opportunity to bring to life this message and start the conversation.

SATURDAY – VIRTUAL PLAYBILL

LIVE, IN-THEATRE

60-Minute Powerstories-Produced Live-In-Theatre Play

The Wives; A Post-Roe American Abortion Odyssey by Alli Hartley-Kong (District of Columbia)

Setting

The present. A few locations across northern and Western Maryland; a Planned Parenthood outside of Hagerstown, Derek and Madeline’s car, Derek and Madeline’s messy suburban house, a dive bar in Baltimore, and a fancy corporate hotel.

CAST BIOS

Landon Green: (DEREK) Landon Green is a local actor, director, and educator.  You may see them at any given moment on one of Tampa’s many stages, in a classroom at USF guiding the next generation, or on stilts as a local entertainer.

Nick Noelte: (MICHAEL) Nick is honored to be part of this project alongside very talented artists. Nick is an actor/theatre teacher in the Tampa area and is the Middle Division Theatre Director at Berkeley Preparatory School. His past credits include Sgt. Toomey in Biloxi Blues, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, and Justin Trent in an upcoming film, Brooker. Nick holds a B.S. in Theatre from Frostburg State University in Maryland and an M.F.A. in Performance from Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

Alexa Perez: (Madeline) Alexa Perez, a director and actor local to St. Petersburg, holds a Bachelor of Arts in Performing Arts from the University of Tampa. In 2023, she completed the Emerging Arts Leader Fellowship at American Stage, where she served as the Artistic Fellow, further developing her skills as a director, producer, and casting associate. Most days, you can find her working as the Acting Coach for PCCA at Gibbs High School. Past acting credits include No Exit (Estelle), Love, Loss, and What I Wore, Romeo and Juliet in America (Juliet u/s, perf.), and Steel Magnolias (Shelby).

Victoria Flounders: (PHOTOGRAPHER, RADIO ANNOUNCER, ACTIVIST, MORGAN, DOCTOR, STAGE DIRECTIONS) Victoria Flounders is an actress based in Sarasota, a devoted mother to three, and a student at the University of South Florida. With a passion for theatre deeply rooted in her experience as an alumna of the State College of Florida Theatre Program, Victoria has brought characters to life on stage, including the intellectually captivating Dr. Dorothy Watson in ‘Miss Holmes’ and the timeless enchantment of Peter Pan in ‘Peter/Wendy.’ Now, she is excited to work with Powerstories toward the collective mission of sharing meaningful stories and amplifying the voices of women.

PRODUCTION CREW

Jenny Kokai: (DIRECTOR) Jenny is an award winning director and dramaturg. Since relocating to Tampa in the summer of 2022, she has directed Mestiza, or Mixed by Melissan Leilani Larson for American Stage’s Lift Every Voice Festival. She previously directed The Final Debate and Driver’s License Please for Plan-B Theatre in Salt Lake City, as well as Just a Game for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Region 8 for which she won the “Best Director in Service of a New Play” commendation. She has directed extensively at the collegiate level often producing new works including The Impracticality of Modern Day Mastodons by Rachel Teagle, The Class of 94 by Diana Grisanti, and a new adaptation of Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author developed with playwright Steve Moulds. Previous dramaturgy projects include The Refugees with the Adjusted Realists in New York City, Sunday in the Park with George in Ogden, Utah, as well as ongoing new play development with the Utah Playwrights Collective and the Plan-B Playwright’s Lab. She is also an internationally produced playwright and scholar and her day job is as the Director of the School of Theatre and Dance at USF. Her views on abortion are her own, and not to be taken as reflective of the institution that employs her.

Alli Hartley-Kong: (PLAYWRIGHT) All Hartley-Kong is a playwright and public historian based in Washington D.C. Her full-length play People Should Talk About What’s Real is a Bay Area Playwright’s Festival semi-finalist and Henley Rose finalist. She has been commissioned by Single Carrot Theatre and Central Square Theatre, and has written over a dozen ten-minute plays that have been performed all over the U.S. as well as Ireland and Australia.

DIRECTOR NOTES

We want pregnancy and childbirth to be simple, but it’s not. We pretend that birth control is easily accessible and infallible, that if it’s a planned pregnancy, everything will go ok, that miscarriages aren’t common, that women’s bodies “bounce back” from pregnancy and childbirth, that genetic testing gives you all the answers, that doctors can tell you with absolute certainty what is going on with a fetus. We imagine that if it were us, we’d avoid having to make difficult choices through diet, exercise, reading the right books, finding the right doctors, living a good life. None of that is true. There’s even a term for that— the“just world fallacy”—where we convince ourselves that if something bad happens to someone, they must have done something to have earned or caused that bad thing to occur. It’s how we convince ourselves to go on most days, doing our jobs, eating our vegetables, trying to be good people. It’s what gives those we elect to govern us the moral certitude to pass laws. The truth is, bad things happen to good people, bodies are a mess, modern doctors are amazing but not omniscient gods, and any laws or rules we make are probably going to do as much harm as good if they ignore that. This is the messiness of life in contemporary America that Alli Hartley-Kong explores in The Wives. With empathy and nuance, this play illuminates the intersection of class and faith and power and the individuals who find themselves at the center of it all just trying to figure out what’s right.

SUNDAY – VIRTUAL PLAYBILL

LIVE, IN-THEATRE

60-Minute Powerstories-Produced Live-In-Theatre Play

The First Step by Kathleen Maule Holen (Kansas)

SETTING

The play takes place in a small town in western South Dakota. We follow the fitness program of four women in the studio of their trainer, through the streets of Canyon City, and back to the foot of Veteran’s Hill beginning in January of 2014 on that freezing cold hilltop and then through the year until September 11.

CAST BIOS

TIFFANY FAYKUS: (DOTTY) Tiffany Faykus studied theater at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and has experience Off-Broadway, Internationally and at many Tampa Bay theaters.  Her favorite roles include Blanche DuBois in “Streetcar Named Desire”, Britt from the one-woman show “Wednesdays Child” at the Lab Theater, and Aunt Eller in “Oklahoma”. Tiffany is thankful for the love and support from her wonderful husband Preston, and her children Caitlin, Rachel, and Luke. 

LILLIAN ALMODOVAR: (BRENDA) Lillian Almodovar is thrilled to be part of The 4th Annual Voices of Women Theatre Festival, bringing her passion for storytelling and her dedication to the craft of acting to the stage. With a background rooted in theater and a love for exploring complex characters, Lillian is honored to portray Brenda in “The First Step,” a production that celebrates the resilience and strength of women.

MONICA VAN NORT: (CASSIE) Monica moved from Ohio to Florida with her husband and two children during the height of the Covid pandemic in July of 2020. She was bitten by the theater bug in Ohio and loves the many and various theatrical opportunities in the Tampa area. She’s always looking for the next new adventure. Monica has been doing theater since 2008; her favorite roles to date are the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz, M’Lynn Eatonton from Steel Magnolias, and Birdie Hubbard from Little Foxes, a few among many.

DAWN TROUX: (SUSAN) Dawn has performed in productions Tampa Bay area including Angles in America, Medea, The Laramie Project, Talking with, The Trip to Bountiful, Kindertransport, The Memory of Water, The Circle Mirror Tranformation and 10 % of Marta Solano. She has also been seen FreeFall theatre’s production of Midsummer’s Night Dream, Studio@620’s production of Grace, Hattrick’s Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it all to you, and Center Theatre Company’s The Crucible. She is also the director of Stageworks Education Outreach.

PRODUCTION CREW

BRIDGET BEAN: (DIRECTOR) Bridget Bean is an actor, director, and solo artist originally from Yorkshire, England, who now makes her home in Tampa, FL. Previous directing credits with Powerstories Theatre include Steel Magnolias, Calendar Girls, and Conversations in Bed. Bridget’s acting credits include Shirley Valentine, Talking Heads, and Underneath the Lintel – all one-actor plays – and her solo show, Mrs. Bliss’ Titanic Adventure was listed as one of the Orlando Sentinel’s “Best of the Fest”. Recent projects also include acting in Tampa Rep’s production of The Elephant Man, teaching acting classes at Stageworks Theatre, and collaborating on Strange Girls at Tampa Fringe. @bridgetbeantpa.

Kathleen Maule Holen: (PLAYWRIGHT) Kathleen Maule Holen has participated in Community Theatre since 2015. Her Award-winning plays include The First Step; Detective Weston’s Last Case, Second Place in the Mixing It Up Spring Festival 2021, Nobody Kills Sherlock, first place, Julian Playwright Festival 2023 and Love’s Labour’s Lost & Found, third place, Robert J Pickering/J.R. Colbeck Award for Playwriting Excellence 2023. She has contributed two plays to Drama Notebook, Dorothy’s Adventure in the Magical Kingdom of Oz and Benjamin the Hiding Bunny. She is a current member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

It’s always exciting to direct a new work and to bring it before an audience for the first time. The First Step is more than ready to meet its audience. Its characters pop off the page ready to come to life, and its twist ending (no, I will not spoil it here!) is satisfying. What we’re left with after taking these characters’ journeys is a new appreciation of how extremity can lead to goodness and strength. There’s more to life, and the people we meet in it, than we often appreciate. And, as Dotty observes, we can achieve our goals if we slow down, breathe, change for good, and forgive ourselves and each other along the way. Enjoy the play!

DIGITAL SUBMISSIONS – VIRTUAL PLAYBILLS

10-Minute Digital Play

The Memories We Keep by Ada Cheng (Illinois)

CAST BIOS

Ada Chang: (PLAYWRIGHT/DIRECTOR) An educator-turned artist, storyteller, and emerging playwright, Dr. Ada Cheng has utilized storytelling to illustrate structural inequities, raise critical awareness, and build intimate communities. Committed to amplifying and uplifting marginalized voices, she has created storytelling platforms for BIPOC and LGBTQIA community members to tell difficult and vulnerable stories. Dr. Cheng has been a speaker for Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau since 2019. She is 2023-24 Lund-Gill Chair at Dominican University. Her interests encompass academia, storytelling/performance, and advocacy.

60-Minute Digital Play

Purdah by J.Lois Diamond (New York)

SETTING

The play spans from 1909-1936 and takes place in various locations in India as well as in Switzerland and Brighton, England.

CAST BIOS

Gabi Singh: (KAMALA) Gabi Singh is thrilled to be a part of the Purdah cast in the role of Kamala. She has previously worked on various theater productions and collaborated with J. Lois Diamond in other projects, including a solo performance of Slicing an Onion for The International Human Rights Art Festival and a reading of Lady of the Cells with States of Play. Most recently, she completed the feature film Arctic Armageddon and the short film The Housewife, which entered the festival circuit this past fall. Gabi is grateful for the opportunity to bring director J. Lois Diamond’s talented writing to life as well as the opportunity to work with such a wonderful cast.

Anil Joseph: (KAMALA’S FATHER & SYED) Anil Joseph was most recently seen on stage in “Upakatha” at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, New Jersey. His stage credits include “India Pale Ale”, “Dance Like A Man”, “The Girl Who Touched The Stars”, “Baby With The Bathwater”, “The Big Fat City”, “Park”, “The Priest And The Prostitute”, “Chekhov Express”, “Tenali Raman”, “Death In San Francisco” & “Silence! The Court Is In Session”. His screen credits include “Shiv Shastri Balboa”, “The Wandering Earth 2”, “Guy Friends”, “Babysitting”, “Touch Of Debt”, “Restaurant”, “Tenebris”, “Feed”, “Valentine’s Day”, “Kuch Na Kuch”, “Ankahi”, “Do Your Best”, “Bro! Where Is My Wallet!?”, “Ransom Handsome”, “Death Loop”, “In Metuchen”, “The Password”, “Pick Up”, “Lo(w)kesh”, “The Peace Activists”, “Paradise 6-5000”, “Under The Influence”, “The Dead Fish”, “Signed GenRift” and “Something Larger Than Me.” He received training in Method Acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, New York. He is a financial technologist in New York City, an accidental actor and a relative newcomer to the magical world performing arts. He has performed in English, Hindi and Mayalalam languages. He thanks his family for tolerating his craziness.

Natasha Jain: (NAN) Natasha is a British Actor and voiceover artist, who recently made her New York debut in ‘Hoyt St’ at Theatre Row. Credits include; Chickadee (Chain Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (Shakespeare in the Park), ‘The Craft’ and the world premiere of ‘The Butcher’ by Andrew Biss.Natasha has directed four stage plays in prominent Hong Kong theatres. She is also an educator whose work has included designing and delivering syllabi for a prestigious Hong Kong University for its ‘Acting for the Global Screen’ degree. When she is not performing on stage, Natasha works as a corporate role-player and facilitator for theatre-led learning companies.

Kal Mansoor: (JAWHARLAL) Kal Mansoor is a British-Indian actor based in New York. His recent credits include Girls5eva on Peacock, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee on TBS and his own one-man comedy show, A Brief History of Colonization.

PRODUCTION CREW

J.Lois Diamond (PLAYWRIGHT) J.Lois Diamond’s work performed off-off B’way, regionally, Canada, International Human Rights Art Festival & Inge Festival.“Growl”  presented Downtown Urban Arts Festival, Theatre Odyssey, (runner up best play), Valdez Theatre Conference. Monologues published Smith & Kraus’ Anthologies & Applause Books’ “She Persisted”. She is committed to telling the stories of historic women, as a way to promote the value of all women. She is a proud member of Honor Roll!, Polaris North and The Dramatists Guild, where she recently studied with Tina Howe. jloisdiamond.com, https://newplayexchange.org/users/20210/jlois-diamond

John McDonnell Tierney (VIDEO PRODUCER/EDITOR) John McDonnell Tierney, aka “Jack McT” is a composer and playwright with an Off-Broadway track record and numerous plays and musicals in his portfolio. His musical, “Humanity’s Child,” premiered at the New York Theater Festival and played four weeks at the Players Theatre Off-Broadway in 2019. “Extraordinary Hero,” Jack’s full-length musical for virtual theater, was streamed on the Rogue Theatre Festival, 2022 and a trio of his comedies will play at the 2023 Festival in July. Jack’s most recent works include numerous Short Plays, One-Acts, and full-length dramas. Jack’s first non-musical “Keepers of the Secret” had a professional “Virtual Staged-Reading” with costumes, props, music, sfx, and scenery on July 6, 2022. And, Jack’s most recent full-lengthy play, “Interview With Archie” had a live staged reading in June of 2023 to enthusiastic audience response. He is a contributing playwright to several on-line theater groups and is an in-demand director and actor as well. Jack works out of his home studio in Heath, Massachusetts where he lives with his wife Patricia and cat Willow.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

I had a live reading of this play in N.Y.C. at Polaris North on March 12, 2020, which happened to be the same day that they shut down Broadway because of Covid. Within days, everything I had been part of had closed. It was a scary and confusing time. I soon realized that if I had scheduled the reading for even a few days later, I would have had had to cancel. I spent the first few months of the pandemic feeling tremendous gratitude to everyone who made that reading possible, especially the actors as well as the audience members who provided constructive feedback.
I focused on revising Purdah as well as my other play Clare, which I had paired it with. I am not exaggerating when I say that working on these projects saved my sanity.  Now, four years later, I am once again grateful to have the opportunity to present this play to a wider audience with two of the actors who created their roles, Gabi Singh and Kal Mansoor. I’m delighted to welcome Anil Joseph and Natasha Jain into the Purdah world.
I hope you will enjoy having them transport you to a critical time in Indian history when the contributions of women like Kamala Nehru were often overlooked.

60-Minute Digital Play

Diary of a Bastard Child by Nikki Luellen (Texas)

CAST BIOS

Ambre Muhammad: (LATRICE ROBERTS) Ambre is a native of Irvine, California, and moved to Texas in her late childhood. She currently holds a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre and a Master’s Degree in Administration of Justice from Texas Southern University. She grew to love Theatre and has worked on many shows as both cast and crew. As a teacher of 9 years, she not only advocates for students inside the classroom but is a community advocate.

Jessica Cotton: (WHITE ANGEL) Jessica, born and raised in Houston, Texas, is an educator and musician. She is a proud graduate of THE Prairie View A&M University. She enjoys helping the youth understand the importance of their voices when it comes to voting, and when not teaching she enjoys spending time with her family and making music.

Vi Patel: (RED ANGEL/CINEMATOGRAPHER) Vi is an activist, abolitionist, and media maker. They have a deep passion for justice and enjoy philosophical discussions centered on community uplift and politics.

Prince: (SLIM) Prince was born and raised in Houston, TX. He is a talented singer, actor, and community advocate.

Onyeka Onyekwelu: (LESANE ROBERTS) Onyeka was born in Nigeria and grew up in Missouri City, Texas, with his parents and 4 brothers. He graduated from Texas Southern University in 2017 with his Doctorate in Pharmacy. He serves as an assistant Debate Coach in his spare time, writes music, and occasionally participates in local theatre shows.

Zenia Jones: (BEA) Zenia, known by her stage name Soultry Luvjones, is a seasoned poet, performer, and multi-talented creative force. In addition to her prowess as a poet, she is the driving force behind Soultry Production, where she serves as director, producer, and editor of real-life videos. Through her company, she brings stories to life, capturing the essence of human experiences with authenticity and finesse.

Idris Delaney: (NARRATOR) Idris, is originally from Akron, Ohio, and was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He’s been in Houston, Texas, for the past 10 years and is an actor and writer. He also went to Houston Community College for filmmaking.

PRODUCTION CREW

Nikki Luellen (PLAYWRIGHT/DIRECTOR/MAMA) Nikki is a poet, playwright, actor, and community advocate. Since 2012, she has written, directed, and produced over 100 art and media productions. Her work has been featured on local news and radio stations which include 90.1 KPFT, KXAN News, and Texas 101 Jams. She has performed in the Houston Ensemble’s Youth Touring Education and was the director for the Fade to Black Festival Reading Series in 2016. She is also the founder of the non-profit organization Black Liberation Movement and uses her art to raise awareness and protest injustice. This year, Nikki was the runner-up for the Texas Civil Rights Project Cover Art contest on racial disparities in traffic stops. On November 10th, she premiered her first poetry show, Tears of a Revolution, which included other formerly incarcerated artists and community advocates. She is excited to showcase her work in the Powerstories Theatre: Voices of Women Theatre Festival.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

Synopisis: A story about a 16 yr. old teen who gets raped at a party and ends up pregnant. Her son grows up without his mom or dad and begins to question his reason for living.

This play looks into the life of Latrice, who lives in poverty and raised by her grandmother. Though her grandmother tried to be a support system for her, she was dealing her own trauma and stress and was not able to effectively support Latrice. Instead of responding in a supportive manner, the grandmother blames Latrice for getting pregnant and never addressed the fact that she was raped. LaTrice’s son Lesane, grows up with his adopted mother, Bea, who addresses her sons feelings with love and understanding. He is given the support he needs to understand why his mother gave him up and took her life. This play shows the various outcome of children that grow up with support juxtaposed to those that do not have that support system. What I want people to take away from this play is that each character in the story has their own trauma that they must face but it is critically important that we are sensitive and attentive to our youth and support them in the best way we can. This play deals with the issues of drug abuse, rape, depression and suicide. Though it focuses on black youth, these are issues that impacts all humans from various backgrounds and cultures.

60-Minute Digital Play

Diversifications by Natalie Ekberg (United Kingdom)

SETTING

Current day, London,  in a doctor’s waiting room and a pub.

CAST BIOS

Saria Steyl: (PAMELA) Saria Steyl is a Royal Conservatoire of Scotland graduate and associate of the Pascal Theatre Company.

Theatre Credits: Devisor/Performer/Sarah in SARAH (Camden People’s Theatre), Herself/Lydia/Dr Tamara in Still Alice (UK No.1 Tour), Emma Hamilton in The Emma Hamilton Project (Southwark Playhouse), Mary/Peta/Jacinta/Nurse Burns in I am of Ireland (Old Red Lion), Lucy Grendle in Sherlock Holmes and the Invisible Thing (Tabard Theatre), Maya/Anika in Flight Lessons (Jermyn Street Theatre, Theatre 503, Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Varvara in Black Monk (Playwrights Studio Scotland), Girl in Enemies and Apathies (National Theatre of Scotland’s Five Minute Theatre), Rebecca in Immaculate (The Arches, Glasgow).

TV credits: Natasha Hill in Silent Witness (BBC), Martha in Finding Jesus (CNN), Vicky Weir in The Wives Did It (Discovery ID), Kaylynn Hankey in Dead or Alive (National Geographic)

I was drawn to this show because it offers a powerful insight into a subject I care deeply about. I’m also excited to be a part of a female-centric play that follows a poignant and moving journey thought the lives of three incredibly strong women.

Alvaro Flores: (JUAN) Alvaro is a London-based actor musician of Mexican origin. He performs in English, Spanish and Portuguese, and works between the UK, Latin America and US. He trained at the Royal Academy of Music (MA Musical Theatre Performance) and at the Italia Conti Academy (BA Acting).

Musical Theatre: Hawthorne/Segura in Our Man in Havana (Watermill Theatre); Antonio in ClubMex (Hope Mill Theatre); Chess in Concert (Royal Albert Hall); Melman in Madagascar Live (Brazil and Latin America tour); Guido Contini in Nine (Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre); Anthony in Sweeney Todd (Shawford Mill Theatre); Manny Munoz in City of Angels (Jack Lyons Theatre); Raul in Fidel the Musical (Actor’s Church); Glanconer in Something Strange (Arcola Theatre).

Theatre: Day of the Living / We Are Arrested (Royal Shakespeare Company); Wig Out (Royal Court Theatre); The Time of Our Lies (Park Theatre); Love in the Time of Corona (Jermyn Street Theatre); Don Quixote in Algiers (White Bear Theatre); The House of the Spirits (Cervantes Theatre); Elektra (Camden People’s Theatre); La Expulsión (Mexico national tour); Qaddafi’s Cook (US tour).

Nick Morrison-Baker: (ALAN) Nick entered the profession late, graduating from the Bridge Theatre Training Co. in 2021. Despite the pandemic, he has already appeared in tv commercials and immersive theatre.

So far his jobs include: Gotham City PD lieutenant, in an immersive Batman experience. Father Christmas for Anya Hindmarch’s Christmas Grotto. Commercials: Yoga Guy for David Lloyd clubs and Proud Gardner for Tesco Mobile. Stage, was all at the Bridge, so student productions. Polonius in Hamlet and Marullus in Julius Caesar.

Would we live our lives differently with a terminal diagnosis? Certainly. The idea of being freed from this knowledge resonated with me and my life experience. For those that live on, there is often regret and guilt. That life without the one you loved, that will always be a different challenge.

Janine Wood: (SAMANTHA) Trained at The Drama Centre.

Theatre: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer night’s Dream, Arms and the man (Regents Park) Her Sister’s Tongue, The Wasp Factory (Lyric Hammersmith) Mrs Warren’s Profession (Leeds Playhouse) The Kiss (RSC) The Hired Man (Theatre Royal Northampton) Les Liaison Dangereuses, The Lucky Chance (Derby Playhouse) Things We Do For Love (Harrogate) Twelfth Night (Oxford Stage Company) Two Storm Wood (Theatre 503) The Merchant Of Venice (Ludlow) Season’s Greetings, Black Coffee, (Windsor)The Secret Rapture (Northern Stage Company) Dealing With Claire, All In The Wrong,The Artifice, The Return Of The Prodigal, Penny For A Song, Nice Dorothy, Romeo and Juliet (Orange Tree Theatre) His Majesty (Orange Tree Theatre & Edinburgh Festival) Regolith (Finborough Theatre) Murder In Bridgeport, Waiting For The Angels (The Old Red Lion)

TV: Innocent 2, Call The Midwife, Silent Witness, Whitechapel, The Inbetweeners, Camelot, Krakatoa, The Last Days, Identity, Harley Street, Spooks, Never Better, Rocketman, Down To Earth, Holby City, Doctors, Powers, Waterloo Road, Attachments, Bugs, This Life, Identity, Trial and Retribution, After Henry, Boys From The Bush, The Bill, Bad Girls. Film: Cuban Fury, Wuthering Heights, Elephant Juice, The Best Man, Mark Radio King Street Junior, The Countess Who Told Tales, Stars Of Wonder

I wanted to explore immediately this beautifully crafted play of complex, interwoven human relationships that sway back and forth between past and present emotional decisions that impact the future in ways I hadn’t imagined. It made me want to question everything!

Jermaine Dominique: (PATRICK) Jermaine Dominique trained at Rose Bruford Drama School.

Theatre: The Great Gatsby (Immersive LDN) The Motherfucker With The Hat (Tron Theatre & Sherman Theatre) Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (National Theatre), Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre) Repast 2, Asylum and Coming Home (Theatre503), Terms and Conditions (White Bear Theatre), Don Quixote (Bred in the Bone), The Making of Moo (Orange Tree Theatre), Little Sweet Thing (Outreach), The Taming of the Shrew (No Pigeon), Hamlet & As You Like It (Dark Cloud), and The Island (Rose Bruford Productions).

Films: The Pugilist, Salvage and Turtle Eggs.

TV: Hard Sun (BBC)

The play took me on a simple, yet questionable emotional journey about losing someone close to me. What clear impact it would have and most importantly, the effects and traumas we try to bury. Patrick finally has a forum to discover and communicate how he really feels, even if he doesn’t initially know. The simplicity of “Men” from different backgrounds, conversing and finally over-standing is a beautiful and powerful thing.

Kaara Benstead: (CORINNA) Kaara Benstead trained at Anna Scher Theatre.

Theatre: Tracey in Higher Ground (Omnibus Theatre) Susan in Door to Door (Finchley Youth Theatre) Betsy in Reunion (Finchley Youth Theatre) Anne Hathaway in Shakespeare Tonight (Theatro Technis) & (Paradise in Augustines – Edinburgh Fringe) Mary in Dante- The Inferno (Baron’s Court Theatre) & (Leicester Square Studio Theatre)

TV & Film: Detective Elizabeth Conner in Out of The Blue, Security Guard in Champion of The World (Channel 4), Student in Hope & Glory (BBC)
After reading the first draft I knew the play was special. The journey that we get taken on through the play is a rollercoaster of emotions and why they made the choices that they did. As a mum of 4 myself, I could understand Corinna not just wanting to be a mum and feeling like she had lost her own identity since having children.

PRODUCTION CREW

Jess Barton: (DIRECTOR) Jess is a critically acclaimed fringe theatre Director, Artistic Director of Fight or Flight Productions, and an Associate Artist of the Lion and Unicorn Theatre.

Directing credits: Don’t Forget My Face (London Pub Theatre Standing Ovation nomination), Like You Hate Me, Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons

The Last Five Years with Flight Productions:

Refuge and Mnemonic for The Space theatre; AAAAA (London Pub Theatre Standing Ovation finalist), Feel More (OffComm), and At Last (OffComm & London Pub Theatre Standing Ovation finalist) with Proforça Theatre Company.

Natalie Ekberg: (SCREENWRITER/PLAYWRIGHT) Natalie is equally passionate about working on projects for film, TV and theatre. She has a flair for highly commercial projects with strong female leads. Her slate of work is varied and includes drama, thriller and comedy drama genres across a spectrum of subjects that explore current issues. Natalie graduated with an MA in Screenwriting and Playwriting from City University, London in January 2018.

Credits: ‘That Girl, Peugeot’- short movie (writer) (Global distribution deal with Gonella Productions)‘AMOR MARTIS’– short movie (co-writer) Commissioned to write a Nordic Noir psychological horror (feature) for director Tim James Brown. TV comedy-drama series ‘Espousal’ optioned by Wave Films, a Singapore-based production company. Head Writer for a new TV musical drama: ‘Hackney Central’, produced by Uzong production company.

Kaara Benstead : (PRODUCER) Kaara is a working-class artist, theatre and filmmaker, director and producer. She is also the founder of Gingerstripes Productions which holds a weekly drama class for beginners and professionals in the industry. Kaara has been on the project, Diversifications, as a Producer since its first inception. She is happy that her role as Producer on this project can also highlight and raise awareness about the lack of working-class female Producers in the Theatre. She is very pleased to be making her debut as a Theatre Producer in Islington, North London which is the area she was brought up in and where she still lives.

Constance Villemot: (SET DESIGNER) Constance is a set and costume designer based in London. What she really appreciates about theatre and performing art in general is the collective effort leading to a performance. She designs meticulous and poetic spaces to enhance and engage with the audience’s imagination beyond what they can see.

She recently designed Who you are and what you do (dir. Tom Ward, Bread and Roses Theatre), Remote (dir. Ellie Wright, Marlowe Theatre), The Magic Circus (dir. Nigel Munson, Bernie Grant Theatre), NoMad (dir. Sandra Preciado, Arcola Theatre), Love, Genius and a Walk (dir. Leah Townley, Theatro Technis), Divide & School (dir. Catherine Palmer, Young and Talented), @emele (dir. David Willcock, Oxfordshire Contemporary Opera), Misfits (dir. Bethany Sharp, The Space), Labyrinth Diet (dir. Charlotte Everest, The Space), Look who’s all grown up (dir. Ella Murdoch, The Space), Refuge (dir. Jess Barton, The Space), I and the Village (dir. Rebecca Pryle & Velenzia Spearpoint, Bread and Roses Theatre), Tell it Slant (director Erica Miller, The Hope)…

Constance holds a master’s degree in scenography from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, a bachelor’s degree in technical theatre, specialising in design realisation from Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She has also completed a bachelor’s degree in spatial design, focussing on set design, architecture, and landscape design at École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et des Métiers d’Art.

Beth Bains: (LIGHTING DESIGNER) Beth is a London-based Lighting Designer, Technician and Operator. Beth’s career in theatrical lighting stemmed from her early work in the live music and festivals industry, which led her to explore other elements of technical work and was a catalyst in her going to college to learn about the theatre industry. She has toured her work within UK , as well as travelling internationally with the Broadway show ‘Grease’. Beth is currently resident Head of Lighting at Doctor Who Time Fracture alongside freelance work around London.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

It is always challenging, yet rewarding to direct a play with multiple time lines. Add the complexity of the topic, female themes and brilliant characters and you can count me in! I enjoyed exploring all the varied storylines, I found them unbelievably relatable! I sincerely hope that the audiences connect to this highly emotional piece of theatre and they feel the urge to discuss it long after it has finished.

60-Minute Digital Play

Beholden by Susan Lily Jackson (California)

SETTING

Liberty, Western North Carolina

 Nursing Home, 2007, room of the deceased mother of Sarah

CAST BIOS

Diana Brown (SARAH CAMAAN) Diane is an actor, improv artist, teacher/coach, producer and writer. She’s appeared in theater productions in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and D.C. She leads the improv program at Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s School of Theater, teaches with Leela Theatre in San Francisco, and presents workshops at festivals both nationally and internationally. She’s also a communications consultant and private acting coach. At the San Francisco Improv Festival, Diana was voted most valuable mentor and teacher. Diana is half of the touring comedy duo Bingewatch.

Chelsea Bearce (BASIL CARTER) Chelsea is a TBA award winner for “outstanding actor in a principal role” playing Savannah in Bamboozled at Central Works. She is a Benicia native and some of her favorite roles include Risa in Two Trains Running, Ronnette in Little Shop of Horrors and Esther in Intimate Apparel. She is a two time “Lead Actress” Arty Award Winner, an actor and instructor with the SF based sketch comedy group, Killing My Lobster, has performed stand up comedy for over fifteen years all over the country and came in third place in the 45th SF International Comedy Competition. Chelsea is also a contributing playwright for Brooklyn Children’s Theater in New York. www.chelseabearce.com

Susan Lily Jackson (TERRY CAMAAN) Susan is a BATCC award-winning playwright and Featured Actor in Bamboozled (with Chelsea Bearce) in Bamboozled. She wrote BLESSING HER HEART which featured Diana Brown and was the beginning of the Southern Railroad Theatre Company. Work: staged- read/produced –New York City, Bay Area, Eugene O’Neill Foundation, William Inge Festival, Sydney, London, Red Curtain International Theatre. DEATH BE NOT LOUD! –(with Diana Brown)-Best of Capital Fringe—Washington Post positive review. Published: Smith and Kraus, Applause, Hello, Godot! Finalist: Creede Repertory Theatre; Henley Rose Competition for Female Playwrights; Fusion Theatre Company; Centre Stage; 3Girls Theatre Co. (SF). BEHOLDEN is Susan’s and Diana’s second performance for POWERSTORIES.

PRODUCTION CREW

Susan Lily Jackson: (PLAYWRIGHT) Jackson received the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Original Play. Work: staged- read/produced New York City, Bay Area, Eugene O’Neill Foundation, William Inge Festival, Sydney, London, Red Curtain International Theatre. DEATH BE NOT LOUD! –Best of Capital Fringe—Washington Post positive review. Published: Smith and Kraus, (2017-2023) Applause, Hello, Godot! Finalist: Creede Repertory Theatre; Henley Rose Competition for Female Playwrights; Fusion Theatre Company; Centre Stage; 3Girls Theatre Co. (SF). Participant: Mid-America Theatre Conference, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Powerstories: Voices of Women Festival; Equity Library Theatre Festival-Sparks Creative Works, Believability; A LIPSTICK CALLED PROTAGONIST; NICE: Shiny Unicorns Productions. Jackson was part of SF Festival for Young Playwrights developed by Lauren Yee.

PRODUCER’S NOTES

Diana Brown and Susan Lily Jackson formed the Southern Railroad Theatre Company over ten years ago:  their motto: “where we bring the Real Southern Experience to the Bay Area…and Beyond.”  They’ve performed plays written by Jackson/Brown in New York, Washington, DC, and the Bay Area.  Susan had the pleasure (ha!) of portraying a Trump supporter with  Chelsea Bearce, who portrayed a liberal Lesbian. Now, Jackson performs the Liberal Lesbian.  Diana and Susan have played sisters, friends, therapist and therapee, but never lovers until now.  BEHOLDEN brings the talents of all three together.

Locations

Here’s where we will be bringing theatre to you next!

  • JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2025 – CADILLAC CREW
    The Studio @620,
    620 1st Ave S, Saint Petersburg
  • MARCH 2025 – VOICES OF WOMEN THEATRE FESTIVAL
    USF College of the Arts,
    School of Theatre and Dance,
    3837 USF Holly Drive, Tampa
  • JULY 2025 – WITCH HUNT
    Stageworks Theatre,
    1120 E Kennedy Blvd., Tampa
  • SEPTEMBER 2025 – ADA AND THE  ENGINE
    Stageworks Theatre,
    1120 E Kennedy Blvd., Tampa

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