{"id":82190,"date":"2021-10-14T15:43:25","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T19:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfa\/?p=82190"},"modified":"2022-10-28T08:48:27","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T12:48:27","slug":"live-plays-return-to-the-boston-playwrights-theatre-stage","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfa\/news\/articles\/2021\/live-plays-return-to-the-boston-playwrights-theatre-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Plays Return to the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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October 14, 2021<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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The cast of Lorena: A Tabloid Epic at Boston Playwrights\u2019 Theatre, including Gabriela Medina-Toledo (CFA\u201921) as Lorena Bobbitt (second from right) and Valyn Lyric Turner (CFA\u201921) as The Playwright (right). Photo courtesy of BPT<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article was first published in <\/em>BU Today on October 14, 2021. By Joel Brown.<\/em><\/p>\n

EXCERPT<\/h5>\n

Usually the students in BU\u2019s MFA playwriting program get a production of their play in their third year. But the five playwrights in the Class of 2021 got a pandemic instead.<\/p>\n

But now they\u2019re returning to campus to see their shows hit the stage at the <\/span>Boston Playwrights\u2019 Theatre<\/a> <\/span>(BPT)\u2014a year later than planned\u2014beginning with <\/span>Lorena: A Tabloid Epic<\/em> <\/span>by Eliana Pipes (GRS\u201921). The theater is back with live, in-person productions after being shuttered since the pandemic erupted in March last year. <\/span>Lorena<\/em> <\/span>runs from October 14 to 24, 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great to be back live,\u201d says <\/span>Kate Snodgrass<\/a> <\/span>(GRS\u201990), BPT artistic director. \u201cI get a little weepy from time to time, just because I\u2019m so happy to see everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

BPT is doing everything according to the University\u2019s COVID protocols. <\/span>Lorena<\/em> <\/span>will be produced in the \u201cblack box,\u201d or front theater, with capacity held to 50 percent (50 seats) to allow for social distancing. Audience members must be masked and show proof of vaccination. The actors will be unmasked for performances, but there\u2019s a safe distance between them and the audience, Snodgrass says. The theater even got new ventilation equipment during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a thrill to be back in person in rehearsal, having the bodies in the room and the energy that provides, which is so positive,\u201d says Snodgrass, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of the practice of playwriting. \u201cI am so looking forward to sharing these plays with an audience. Even if it\u2019s five people, I\u2019m happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Normally BPT alternates between seasons featuring plays by MFA students and work by alumni. This time around, it\u2019s both, because the five MFA playwrights graduated last May and are now alums.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t get a production, and that\u2019s pedagogically important for them, to be in there with an audience and go through that whole process,\u201d Snodgrass says. They were able to see their plays in private Zoom workshops with actors and a director, so the plays are \u201ccloser to a finished product than in any other season.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the pandemic, BPT kept busy producing two virtual installments of the annual <\/span>Boston Theater Marathon<\/a>, which together raised more than $75,000 for the <\/span>Theatre Community Benevolent Fund<\/a>. That\u2019s \u201cpretty wonderful,\u201d says Snodgrass, who is also artistic director of the marathon, especially given the heightened need by arts organizations during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

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Lorena: A Tabloid Epic, by Eliana Pipes (CFA\u201921), brings live in-person performances back to Boston Playwrights\u2019 Theatre. Photo courtesy of BPT<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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There were other Zoom programs, including panel discussions with the MFA playwrights, but no virtual productions of their plays, because of Actors Equity rules.<\/p>\n

Lorena: A Tabloid Epic<\/em> <\/span>is a whizbang satire of the sensational 1990s true-life story known as the Bobbitt case. After years of what she said was rape and other abuse, Lorena Bobbitt cut off the penis of her sleeping husband, John Bobbitt, with a carving knife and threw it in an open field. Later, it was retrieved and surgically reattached. Unsurprisingly, the case became a huge tabloid sensation as well as a staple of late-night comedians.<\/p>\n

Playwright Pipes was too young to remember the case, and knew nothing about it until a friend recounted the story in a phone call.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought my friend was pitching an original idea, and it blew me away,\u201d Eliana Pipes (CFA’21) says. \u201cI said, \u2018Oh my god, that\u2019s the most incredible story I\u2019ve ever heard\u2014you have <\/span>got<\/em> <\/span>to write that,\u2019 and she had to stop me and say, \u2018No, no, this really happened.\u2019 Then I dove into researching to learn more about Lorena myself, and I immediately understood why her story had captured the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full article<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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