Staged Reading of ‘The Hystericals’
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Professional actors will read Tennessee Williams Playwright-in-Residence Edith Freni’s play “The Hystericals” on Sunday, March 4, at 3 p.m. in the Studio Theatre of the Tennessee Williams Center. The event is free and open to the public. A reception and talk back will follow. This event is sponsored by the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.
The staged reading will be directed by Jessica Holt, a freelance theater director based in New York, and read by actors Diany Rodriguez, Mary Lynn Owen, Olivia Dawson and Cara Mantella. Joining the cast will be Sewanee playwright and professor Elyzabeth Wilder.
In “The Hystericals,” a women’s support group becomes significantly less supportive after the abrupt and unexplained disappearance of the group’s de facto “mom.” “The Hystericals” is a very new play. The playwright will go into workshop this Friday with actors, a director, raw pages, and ideas. We invite you to join the creative process by enjoying the staged reading and then discussing the play during the talk back session that will follow. The playwright, director, and actors will be eager to discuss the new play and hear your feedback as its first audience.
Freni is the current Tennessee Williams Playwright-in-Residence at the University of the South. She holds her B.F.A. and M.F.A. from NYU’s Department of Dramatic Writing, and her work has been produced and developed in New York and nationally at theaters including Steppenwolf, LAByrinth Theater Company, the Williamstown Theater Festival, Ensemble Studio Theater, New York Theater Workshop, Profile Theatre in Portland, Ore.; City Theater in Miami, and Actor’s Express in Atlanta. Edith is a three-time nominee for the prestigious PONY Award and a two-time finalist for the Jerome Fellowship.