Events
ROSE OF ST. THERESE
A new Play by Katie Cappiello
Spring & Summer 2022 @ St. Ann & the HolY Trinity Church
In the pre-Roe years, when sex education was almost non-existent and birth control difficult to obtain, girls who “got themselves pregnant” were often sent to maternity homes. Upon giving birth and under duress, they surrendered their babies for adoption. It's estimated that between 1945 and 1973, more than three million girls and young women were filtered through this coercive system—banished from their homes, enduring their pregnancies in secret, birthing alone, babies taken without their consent—all in the name of preserving the “American family.”
It's 1963. Rose, teenaged and pregnant, has been sent away to St. Therese's Home for Unwed Mothers in Worcester, MA-- where nuns rule, bodies are forced into transformation and labor, and babies are surrendered. As Rose and the other girls navigate this wild exile, a life-affirming sisterhood is forged. All they have is each other, and together they dare to regain control over their destinies.
Featuring Ella Stiller, Allegra Leguizamo, Lola Blackman, David Iacono, Amalia Yoo, Mirabella Raschke Robinson, Nicole Petersen, Emma Rosemond, Pearl Zeldin, Una Clancy, Sam Grobmeier, Mike Menendez, Kea Trevett and Adrián Burke.
“The Rose of St. Therese is set in the past but feels urgently poignant to the here and now. Katie Capiello’s work tackles big issues in a way that’s nuanced, hilarious, and tragic, daring us to fall in love with conflicted characters who are expertly drawn and achingly human. Her latest play is no exception.”
“In the hugely entertaining Rose of St. Therese, Katie Cappiello captures what it feels like to be a young woman in a man’s world. Rose is moving, disturbing, and funny all at the same time, but the play’s real feat is in how it ignites conversation by framing a problem in our past to reveal how we are living in a society that doesn’t value women’s rights today.
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“As the mother of an adopted child, Rose of St. Therese took me to emotional places I rarely visit—through laughter, tears, and unexpected insights. As a woman who has spent my life fighting for women to be free to make reproductive choices without force or stigma, Rose filled me with anger over the particular suffering of girls deemed sexual heretics. As we are being force-fed propaganda about the ease of adoption for women who must give up their children, this play speaks truth to power—and honors the strength of the maternal bond in the hearts of mothers.
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“Timely and illuminating, Rose of St.Therese shatters the bromide that adoption is a kinder, gentler option. Both bleak and gaspingly funny, Cappiello (again) shines a light on the indelible experiences our culture conspires to forget.”
The BROOKLYN CONference
THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM, 200 Eastern Pkwy, Brooklyn, NY
Friday October 20 @ 6:00pm (featured speaker, in conversation with House of Cards creator Beau Willimon, excerpts from SLUT & Now That We're Men)
Saturday October 20, 1:30-4:30pm, STAGE CHANGE: The Fusion of Theater Arts and Activism, FREE THEATER WORKSHOP, Ages 14-19. REGISTER TODAY by emailing BrooklynConference@BrooklynMuseum.org.
Storytelling is a powerful form of activism. This 3-hour workshop will guide teens in the creation of theater for social justice. Through acting exercises, group discussion and creative writing, participants will collaborate to devise original performance pieces that shed light on the challenges they and their peers face locally, nationally, even worldwide.
NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY. w/ Katie Cappiello, Charlotte Arnoux and Marquis Rodriguez
JOY
Official Selection of the First Annual International Fridge Festival
IRT THEATER, 154 Christopher Street, New York, NY
Saturday September 2 @ 7pm
Tuesday September 5 @ 9pm
Friday September 8 @ 7pm
Sunday September 10 @ 9pm
Jesus first. Others second. You last. In a rundown farmhouse in an isolated Christian community in upstate New York, adopted sisters Joanie and Jessa Wade go to desperate lengths to please their God, their mother and their bodies. Can their faith and purity be preserved when puberty takes hold and the girls begin journeys of self-discovery?
Featuring: Mirabella Raschke-Robinson, Rebecca Renner, Kea Trevett, Mike Turner
$18 (9pm shows are FREE with the donation of canned goods. Enter FILLOURFRIDGE at checkout! Just make sure to bring a non-perishable item with you to the performance. All donations benefit CITY HARVEST.)
AFTER 18
PROSKAUER, Eleven Times Square (41st Street and 8th Avenue), New York, NY
Tuesday March 14 @ 6:30pm
18 didn't green light the sale of her body. 18 didn't make this about "choice." 18 didn't mean fighting alone.
Inspired by the real experiences of survivors, After Eighteen gives us a glimpse into the lives of 5 women impacted by the commercial sex trade. Diverse in background and history, these women are linked by their will to regain freedom and their quest for justice.
FREE.
SLUT & NOW THAT WE'RE MEN: The IMPACT Performances
LATEA THEATRE, 107 Suffolk Street, New York, NY
Thursday January 26 @ 7pm – SLUT
Friday January 27 @ 7pm – NOW THAT WE'RE MEN
Saturday January 28 @ 1:00pm & 6:30pm – DOUBLE-HEADERS
"We were too young to vote– but we're not too young to make an impact. Our goal with these performances is to raise awareness and funds in support of our peers who are now in danger of losing access to health care, counseling, and a range of other services under the new administration. We are determined to use our art to rise-up, resist and create safe spaces for conversation."
THIS IS A BENEFIT PERFORMANCE SERIES. All proceeds support: PLANNED PARENTHOOD, THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER, ACLU
**If you can't join us, but would still like to support please contact Alessandra Clark at Alessandra@bernsteinnyc.com to arrange a donation or to gift tickets to students.**
Now That We're MEn
Maroney Theater at St. Francis, 180 Remsen St, Brooklyn, NY
Thursday 10/20 @ 7pm
Saturday 10/22 @ 7pm
Thursday 10/27 @ 7pm
Saturday 10/29 @ 7pm
This 60 minute performance is followed by a 30 minute talkback with creator & cast.
FRESH TALK: Righting the Balance—How can the arts advance body politics?
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC.
Sunday November 13, 4:30-8pm
The conversation explores howartists—particularly those working in performance art, film, and theater—address issues of discrimination, sexism, andsexual violence to effect change.
JOINING THE CONVERSATION:
Katie Cappiello, writer and director, SLUT: The Play and Now That We’re Men
Aishah Shahidah Simmons, creator of the award-winning feature length film NO! The Rape Documentary (2006)
Emma Sulkowicz, artist/activist, recipient of National Organization for Women’s 2016 Woman of Courage Award
Moderated by: Tanya Selvaratnam, Emmy-nominated and Webby-winning producer, and author of The Big Lie.