Two OU affiliated artists will have plays workshopped in Chicago this month with the awesome 20&% Theater Company! Current second year playwright, Rachel Bykowski’s first year full-length play “Tight End” as well as OU alum Sarah Bowden’s play “Lively Stones.” Rachel is the literary manager for this awesome women’s theater company and helped develop this new works series!
The plays will be featured in 20% Theatre Company Chicago Dark Room New Play Development Series. 20% theater writes about this exciting event: “The artists of 20% Theatre strive to create a home for strong female voices in the field, thus strengthening the presence of women in the Chicago theatre community; and we feel our Dark Room is a vital part of this mission. Our fourth annual new play workshop will feature two plays by a couple of awesome local lady playwrights. Join us to hear a reading of these new works and provide feedback for the playwrights on the development of their scripts.”
Here is a synopsis for the two plays! Rachel’s play “Tight End” was presented last year at the Seabury Quinn Festival: Ash (believe me, you do not want to call her “Ashley”) Miller’s dream is to catch the winning touchdown pass for the Westmont High Titans’ Homecoming game. Football is in her blood, but in order to make the team, Ash will have to prove she is one of the guys even if that means sacrificing her body for the love of the game.
Sarah’s play “Lively Bones” is about this: Tired of delivering babies and doling out witch hazel in her living room, midwife Anne Hutchinson pines for Planned Parenthood: circa 1636. When Massachusetts founder John Winthrop announces his plans to run for governor, Anne agrees to support his election — if he’ll grant her the land to build a women’s clinic in Boston. Amid mounting campaign promises, she becomes one pebble in a full bucket, and Anne must figure out how to lay her clinic’s cornerstone while stemming the suspicions of the colony’s most important citizen.
If you are in Chicago January 27th – 30th, come check out our new works! Congrats to these two talented women!!
More details on the event
January 27th – 30th @ 7:00
Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro (3905 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago)
More about Rachel
Rachel Bykowski was born and raised in Chicago. She writes plays that examine the masks people wear to conceal their true identities to blend into society and explores the repercussions when the masks are ripped off. Her work often includes proactive female characters that raise awareness to issues surrounding women. Rachel received her BFA in Playwriting from The Theatre School of DePaul University. Her playwriting credits include her full length plays: Original Recipe produced by DePaul University; staged reading of Got to Kill Bitch presented by Cock and Bull Theatre in Chicago; and staged reading of Glory vs. The Wolves presented by 20% Theatre Company Chicago and hosted by Women and Children First Bookstore as part of an event to raise awareness about rape culture. Her one act plays include: The Best Three Minutes of My Life produced by Bradley University; Break-Up Court and Pay Phone produced by 20% Theatre Company Chicago; The Invisible Onesproduced by Fury Theatre in Chicago; and She Sings For You produced and published by Commedia Beauregard in Chicago. Rachel is also a proud company member of 20% Theatre Company Chicago. She is very excited to continue her writing career and pursuing her MFA in Playwriting under the tutelage of Ohio University.
More about Sarah
Sarah Bowden is a playwright, raised right, who writes about kryptonite. Her plays have been produced in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Stockholm. Her work has been developed and presented by the Painted Bride Art Center, the Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, the Nylon Fusion Theatre, Monkeyman Productions, the Chicago Madness Collective, the Dandelion Theatre Company, and Ohio University. Her full-length The Magnificent Masked Hearing Aid was listed as a semi-finalist in several theatre festivals, including the Capital Repertory Next Act! New Play Summit, the Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte’s nuVoices Festival, the Activate Midwest New Play Festival and the Elgin Cultural Commission Page to Stage Program. The script received Honorable Mention in the American Blues Theater Blue Ink Playwriting Award. Sarah has won the White-Howells English Prize for Drama and the Margaret W. Baker Prize for Fiction, was a semi-finalist for the Stage Left Theatre Playwright Residency, and has developed her work as a finalist in the International Thespian Festival’s Playworks program. She has completed internships with Chicago Dramatists, Northlight Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, the Wilma Theater, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and the Adirondack Theatre Festival. Sarah holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Ohio University and B.A. in directing and creative writing from Beloit College, and teaches theatre and composition at Benedictine University and Prairie State College.
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