Women's History Month Recommendations

Summary: "Comprised of a collage of interrelated scenes, the action begins with a reunion, six years after graduation, of five close friends and classmates at Mount Holyoke College. They compare notes on their activities since leaving school and then, in a series of flashbacks, we see them in their college days and learn of the events, some funny, some touching, some bitingly cynical, that helped to shape them. Each of the group is a distinct individual, and it is their varying reaction to the staid, sheltered and often anachronistic university environment (with its undercurrent of sometimes darker personal desires and conclusions) gives the play its special meaning for today's young women as they go forth into the changing and often disquieting world that awaits them after graduation."--Back cover.

Summary: "Della makes cakes, not judgment calls - those she leaves to her husband, Tim. But when the girl she helped raise comes back home to North Carolina to get married, and the fiance is actually a fiencee, Della's life gets turned upside down. She can't really make a cake for such a wedding, can she" For the first time in her life, Della has to think for herself." --Page 4 of cover.

Summary: "Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss, and by fate. As they endure the ever-escalating dangers around them-- in their home, as well as in the streets of Kabul-- they come to forma bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other. It will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation."-- From cover, page 4.

Summary: Nicol̂e Lecky's play Superhoe is a monologue play for a female character, about a generation in their twenties whose aspirations are shaped by social media and reality TV, and who are forced through financial dependence to go on living with their parents. It was produced by Talawa Theatre company and presented at Talawa Firsts in June 2018. It was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, on 30 January 2019. The play opens with a twenty-four-year-old, mixed-race woman from East London, Sasha Clayton, performing her song direct to the audience. But when it is interrupted by her mum, Laura, it becomes clear that Sasha is still living uncomfortably at home, dreaming of becoming a recording artist, unable to secure her own financial independence. Also living in the house in Plaistow, East London, are her stepdad Kevin, and her younger half-sister, Megan. Sasha has gone from being the most popular girl at school, to spending most of her time on her own in her bedroom scrolling through social media. Her boyfriend, Anton, is not answering her calls. Then comes the temptation of sex work, through which Sasha hopes to achieve her dreams. The premiere production was directed by Jade Lewis and performed by Nicol̂e Lecky.

Summary: "The Kilroys are back with a new collection of 67 monologues and scenes by women and nonbinary playwrights. The second volume includes a monologue or scene from each play from the 2016 version of The List (featuring plays that were unproduced at the time of nomination) and the 2017 version of The List (featuring plays by playwrights of color). This collection represents an abundance of excellent new work by women and nonbinary playwrights and reflects a wide ethnic, geographic, and aesthetic diversity. The volume also includes a foreword by Lynn Nottage"-- Provided by publisher.

For amplified string quartet and optional effects pedal.