by M.J. Moneymaker, board member of The Bechdel Group
Thanks to your fabulous support we are able to continue our new works readings that pass the Bechdel test. Join us in one week for our next reading on Monday, October 30th. Let us know that you are attending via our Facebook page. Siblings, politics, grief, physics, and fraud all come together for a fabulous night of new work. We are hugely excited to be featuring selections from two amazing playwrights, with two very different takes on family bonds. In Claudia Haas' Making Some Noise, three sisters gather for the anniversary of their mother’s death on 9/11. Having sat shiva every year since 2001, they ask themselves: what is the make-up of a life? And what happens when one no longer wishes to continue the tradition of grieving? And in Lolly Ward's Theory of Nothing, once upon a space-time continuum, a scientist married a sculptor and had two kids who lied. In one wild night of discovery, secrets unravel to reveal lost ambitions, lost loves, and lost minds. Please join us on Monday, October 30th from 6-9 pm. We are thrilled to be holding this month's reading in the basement room of Mr. Dennehy's Irish Pub, at 63 Carmine Street in the West Village. Have a drink, have a meal, and have a festive chat about our two fantastic scripts.
In the meantime, you can listen to one of our 10 minute play podcasts. This play was part of our 24hr Writers' Challenge this year. The prompt for writers - write about love, but not romantic love. The challenge culminates into an evening of 10 minute play readings. In addition to the readings, we have been working on turning them into podcasts. We are also working to develop book anthologies of these plays.
So, let's review The Bechdel Group criteria before you listen to this play:
We present: "For Mr. Cuddles" by Erin Moughon Actors
The Torn Letter by Martijn de Boer (NiGiD) (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. dig.ccmixter.org/files/NiGiD/51329 Ft: Doxent Zsigmond The Crime by reiswerk (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. dig.ccmixter.org/files/Reiswerk/55464 Ft: Anchor Sounding mixing and editing (improving with each podcast) MJ Moneymaker
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by M.J. Moneymaker, board member of The Bechdel Group Our next new works reading is October 30th at Mr. Dennehy's Irish Pub & Restaurant. Please join us, details are available on our Facebook page. In the meantime, you can listen to one of our 10 minute play podcasts. This is another 10 minute play that was part of our 24hr Writers' Challenge this year. The prompt for writers - write about love, but not romantic love. The challenge culminates into an evening of 10 minute play readings. In addition to the readings, we have been working on turning them into podcasts. We are also working to develop book anthologies of these plays. So, let's review The Bechdel Group criteria before you listen to this play:
We present: "Vanessa" by Hope Johnson Special thanks to our writers and actors contributing their talent for the readings. Credits:
Writer: Hope Johnson Actors
Music Reflections in Bossa by Martijn de Boer (NiGiD) (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. dig.ccmixter.org/files/NiGiD/49652 Ft: YusefFarah
by M.J. Moneymaker, board member of The Bechdel Group
Our next new works reading is October 30th at Mr. Dennehy's Irish Pub & Restaurant. Please join us, details are available on our Facebook page. In the meantime, you can listen to one of our 10 minute play podcasts. This 10 minute play was part of our 24hr Writers' Challenge this year. The prompt for writers: write about love, but not romantic love. The challenge culminates into an evening of 10 minute play readings. In addition to the readings, we have been working on turning them into podcasts. We are also working to develop book anthologies of these plays. So without further ado, we present: "The Visitation" by Renee´ Flemings Special thanks to our writers and actors contributing their time and talent for this podcast: Actors
Sounding mixing and editing (doing my best) MJ Moneymaker
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by M.J. Moneymaker, Board Member of The Bechdel Group The Bechdel Group hosts a bi-annual event that challenges writers to write a ten minute play that passes The Bechdel Test in 24 hours. The writers select choose a cast from actor headshots and then they are off to write. I've had the opportunity to participate in two of the challenges. As a writer, it's helped me discover ... I can write comedy. I don't think I'd have had the guts to test out my humor without such an inclusive and safe environment like the workshop space that The Bechdel Group has created. This is one of the reasons I suggested turning the plays into podcasts. I think it's clear, on hearing, the fun writers and actors have had creating something almost improvisational. The following podcast is from our February 2017 24 Hour Writing Challenge. For this event, we challenged our writers to write a play inspired by "love" - but not by romantic love. Some of the plays used the word in dialogue, some as a theme, some merely as inspiration. We recorded several of the plays after the event and gave the writers an opportunity to do any editing if they wanted. Then we recorded - no rehearsal. Some were done in one take - that's how stellar our actors are. So without further ado, The Bechdel Group presents... A Quick Skit About Quitting - by Tommy Grimly Credits Writer Tommy Grimly Actors Amanda - Pam Karp Mitch – Anthony Scavone Kat – Laura Winters Music Mosquitoes by Zapac (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. dig.ccmixter.org/files/Zapac/30469 Ft: Mind Map That! (mindmapthat) Sounding mixing and editing MJ Moneymaker (tried... I'm still learning)
by M.J. Moneymaker, Board Member of The Bechdel Group
It's time for another podcast reading from our 24 Hour Writing Challenges. This reading of "Get Leo" by Janani Sreenivasan is a short play about celebrity casting. It's a bit fitting with recent current events about Hollywood's casting choices for their 'blockbuster' films, more specifically, "The Great Wall." Actors are speaking up, asking producers and investors to do better than perpetuate stereotypes. More specifically, Constance Wu, had me cheering from the sidelines on Twitter with her tweet: "Can we all at least agree that hero-bias & "but it's really hard to finance" are no longer excuses for racism? TRY". At The Bechdel Group, we take our mission statement to 'challenge the portrayal of women in film and on stage' to heart and that includes casting, even if it's only audio. Have fun listening.
Podcast credits:
Podcast post-production:
Download to read script >> Listen on SoundCloud.com/thebechdelgroup ![]() by M.J. Moneymaker, Board Member of The Bechdel Group Twice a year The Bechdel Group has a 24 Hour Writing Challenge where writers and actors collaborate to put on an evening of ten-minute plays that pass the Bechdel test. Our current challenge will take place July 24-25th. Last month, we decided to turn some of the plays ( with the permission of the writers ) into podcasts. We started the ball rolling with a ten-minute play by M.J. Moneymaker called, “Untitled," which is a story about an interview with God. Below are a few questions we asked the writer. Q&A What inspired this piece? Friends on Facebook had helped me with writing prompts. I choose: documentary, heaven, that weird sour liquid candy that comes in a tube. So, the jump to an interview with God wasn’t far. How did the reading make you feel? They laughed. Actors played. The audience joined in. It was as funny as it was in my head. Was the experience motivating? Very much so, I had had a writer’s block. I found having a deadline and getting to play reminded me that… it’s suppose to fun. And to push through a block I needed to just write. Why do you think your play passes the Bechdel test? It’s an interview with God, and all the players are women. Plus, romance is only hinted at… Enjoy listening to the podcast. Podcast credits:
Original cast for the Monday night reading:
Music credits: |
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