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Dolly Parton and Judy Ogle... Still Together
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"Find out who you are and do it on purpose." --Dolly Parton
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2016 in Review
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Dear Friends...
I am in an
weird place in my life right now and I am confused about what is going on. Nothing scary... just weird. I want to share this with you, because you have been followers and supporters of my work. I feel like this is your business, too.
So, let me start with the beginning of 2016... which was an unusually productive year for me:
Also, in September, I worked with Julia Reddy, directing her in
The Second Coming of Joan of Arc. She performed in Somerville and Northampton, and then I traveled with her to the
Lesbian Artivisms Conference at the University of Ottawa. She did the show in English, while there was a simultaneous reading of the French translation. In November, Julia performed at the Unversity of Boston.
In November, I flew to Phoenix for a concert/reading of
Babe! by
Arizona State University's Musical Theatre/Lyric Opera Dept. It was an amazing production.
And then... all of a sudden...
- I bought a house in a tiny village on a island.
- I left my apartment of 13 years.
- I left Portland, the city that had been my home for the last 20 years.
- I gave away nearly a half ton of books.
- I gave away nearly all of my furniture.
- I moved to a place where I did not know a soul.
- I moved where the only theatre appears to be a small summer stock company operating out of an old schoolhouse.
- I moved to a place that is difficult to get to.
- I have made a point of not telling people here what it is that I do/did.
- I only check my email twice a day.
- After 36 years of radical commitment to my playwriting, I feel ambivalent, distant, strangely disconnected from what was a passion for so long. It crosses my mind that I was not a particularly good writer and the work was perhaps not relevant or important. That would have been heresy a year ago. Or even three months ago.
So... Here I sit in Southwest Harbor, Maine. The dust has settled. I am here. I have a new phone line, a new address, and I am registered to vote in Hancock County. I don't want to write plays. I don't want to talk about my work or who I am. I don't want anyone to know what I do. I am calm but confused. I'm happy. I'm not depressed. I spend a lot of time in nature. I go to 12-step meetings, the UU church, yoga classes and senior fitness classes. I do a lot of cooking. I do crossword puzzles. I am reading an old book by E. B. White's wife that is a collection of essays about 1959 seed catalogs.
I am as confused as you are. But there is no doubt in my mind that this was the correct move to make. Not even a trace of a doubt.
When I try to understand what is going on with me, several things stand out:
1) Last year, Smith College acquired my papers... 22 banker boxes of them. Sorting through all of those and shipping them was kind of like being alive for your own death.
2) On July 5, 2014, I survived a near-fatal car accident that left me with serious PTSD. I experienced "depersonalization," (feeling like I was not in my body) for a year.
3) This was the first summer without the Michigan Festival, which I had attended for 14 years, and where I had done 10 hours of programming for each of the last 9 years. This lost is incalculable.
4) There was a national election that divided me painfully from most of the women in my community and that left me and much of the country in shock and filled with apprehension about our collective and individual futures. So much of what I gave my life to seems at risk as much as ever.
So... anyway, here I am. I feel that I am in some kind of serious but healthy transition, but I don't know what it is. I am surrounded by incredible natural beauty (Acadia National Park). This has been my "sacred place" for 20 years, and now I live here.
I don't feel lost. I just don't recognize the terrain.
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In the Media...
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Happy New Year... ?
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I missed it, but back in November, there was an event in New York called
"Queer Readings: Exploring the Work of Carolyn Gage."
It appears to have been sponsored by New York Creative Arts Therapists/ Art Spa. Wish I had known!
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Calendar of Gage Plays and Appearances
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January 10, Freeport, ME:
"Playwriting Techniques for Poets and Writers," Stonecoast Writers Residency Program, 1:30-3PM.
January 21, Portland, ME:
24-Hour Play Festival, Acorn Productions, Portland Ballet Studio.
April 29, Bethlehem, NH:
The Second Coming of Joan of Arc with Julia Reddy (second act with playright talk-back), Highlands Inn. (Lesbian B & B)
May 29, Rome:
Giovanna d'Arco - la rivolta, Festival Primavera dei Teatri, Castrovillari.
May (TBA), NYC:
Giovanna d'Arco - la rivolta,
In Scena! Italian Theatre Festival.
September 2, Amelia, Italy:
Giovanna d'Arco - la rivolta, TBA.
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Corrections
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Valentina Valsania
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I have been posting about the Italian production of my Joan of Arc play,
Giovanna d'Arco - la rivolta... but I have neglected to credit the director or the company...
So let me do that right here:
Directors:
Luchino Giordana and Ester Tatangelo
Company:
Compagnia pupilunari
Star:
Valentina Valsania
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Babe Competition and Rachel Project Cancelled
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As many of you knew, the producers of the National Women's Music Festival and I were co-sponsoring a competition to spotlight the musical theatre talents of butch performers. Part of the prize was the chance to audition for the lead role in the musical
Babe! that is being showcased at the Festival in July.
The competition was cancelled for two reasons: First, there was a need and an opportunity to precast the role. Second, the competition was launched on too tight a timeline and without the resources to make it go viral. A good idea, but poor timing.
The good news is that the concert and reading of
Babe! at the Festival is going to be wonderful.
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The Rachel Project has been cancelled also.
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