Wisconsin Wrights 2022

May 18-21,2022

WRITTEN BY Various

DIRECTED BY Various

Forward Theater Company and Wisconsin Wrights support and develop new theatrical work, awarding three Wisconsin playwrights with the rare opportunity to develop their plays in a professional public reading series.

WHAT IS WISCONSIN WRIGHTS?

The goal of Forward Theater Company and Wisconsin Wrights is to support and develop new theatrical work, via a biennial new play festival that features up to three works by Wisconsin playwrights. After a submission and selection process, selected playwrights communicate with professional directors, dramaturgs, and actors to develop their plays, culminating in public readings at the festival. Each night is dedicated to a single play.

Edgewood College | Diane Ballweg Theatre

1000 Edgewood College Dr
Madison, WI 53711

About the show

Runtime:
N/A

Performance Dates:
May 18-21,2022

Age Recommendations:
N/A

Accessibility

We strive to make our performances available to the entire community. This guiding principle captures the theater we aim to be.

We’re proud to be a resident company at Overture Center, which provides practical accessibility for a variety of needs.

Visit accessibility page >

VIRAGOS – A PLAY WITH FOUND TEXT

by Katherine E. Norman (Madison)

Wednesday, May 18th @ 7:30pm

Run time: 1 hour, 40 minutes (no intermission)

Viragos follows a group of young Englishwomen as they rehearse a play at The Institute—Mary Ward’s school for girls founded in early 17th-Century France. Through their rehearsals, the girls test the boundaries of art, science, love, and politics, as the shadow of the Inquisition looms. Verbatim text illuminates this factually-inspired fiction of a story too-long buried by history.

Director: Jessica Lanius

Dramaturg: Bridget Anderson

Stage Manager: Nina Kenefick

Cast:

Liz Cassarino as Mary Ward
Kendra James as Anna
Libby LaDue as Winnifred
Jordynn Ennis as Emma
Dasi Green as Julia
Alexandra Asmuth as Helen

CIVIL UNION

by Amy Hanson (Racine)

Thursday, May 19th @ 7:30pm:

Run time: 1 hour, 45 minutes (includes one 15-minute intermission)

In Act One, Anna and her husband Graham are throwing her daughter Sophie’s civil union celebration in their home. The preparations get complicated when Anna’s ex-husband and Graham’s ex-law partner, Henry, arrive early. Act Two revisits that same day, but in a world where the personal histories of each of the characters played out very differently than before. The ways in which the present is (and isn’t) affected by the changing past unfold in some surprising ways!

Director: Dana Pellebon

Dramaturg: Bridget Anderson

Stage Manager: Jahana Azodi

Cast:

Kiki Moritsugu as Anna
Dave Durbin as Henry
Natalie Lall as Sophie
Jim Buske as Graham
Alyssa Hannam as Zoe
Jackson Rosenberry as Noah

LIFERS

by Quan Barry (Madison)

Friday, May 20th @ 7:30pm:

Run time: 2 hours (includes one 15-minute intermission)

A group of employees at a tech company are called in to collaborate on a mysterious project. That project’s unsettling ramifications become clear over the course of their time together. Lifers is a story that examines what is gained and what is lost when we unthinkingly check Big Tech’s “I agree” acknowledgements box.

Director: Mary MacDonald Kerr

Dramaturg: Deanie Valone

Stage Manager: Sarah Marty

Cast:

Selena Rose Deer as Sage
Shannon Coltrane as Rain
Alka Nayyar as Piyall
Baron Kelly as Devon
Danny Jones as Boogman
David Lee Huynh as Marty

BONUS READING

ARTEMISIA

by Lauren Gunderson

Saturday, May 21st @ 7:30pm

Run time: 1 hour, 15 minutes (no intermission)

Forward Theater is proud to present the first public reading of Artemisia, a new play by Lauren Gunderson (author of Silent Sky and I & You). Artemisia Gentileschi was the most celebrated female painter of the 17th century, yet her name is remembered by few. A work of humor and warmth that celebrates the courage, artistry, and humanity of a woman who attacked the glass ceiling with every brush stroke. This is your chance to be among the first to hear this exciting new play!

Director: Jen Uphoff Gray

Dramaturg: Deanie Valone

Stage Manager: Sarah Deming Henes

Cast:

Samara Frame as Prudenzia
Clare Arena Haden as Artemisia
Madison Uphoff as Artemisia
Michael Herold as Orazio
Matt Daniels as Francesco

HISTORY

Wisconsin Wrights was created in fall 2006 through a partnership between the UW-Madison Division of Continuing Studies in Theatre, the UW-Madison University Theatre, and Madison Repertory Theatre. The founding partners were joined by Milwaukee Chamber Theatre in 2007 and Forward Theater Company in 2009. Edenfred/Terry Family Foundation supported the Wisconsin Wrights New Play Development Project from the beginning by providing one-week residencies for the three finalists in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2013. Forward Theater Company accepted stewardship of the Wisconsin Wrights program from the UW-Madison Division of Continuing Studies in the summer of 2014 and will continue to coordinate the program as a reading series for new works.

Follow Forward Theater on Facebook or sign up for our e-newsletter for future festival announcements and calls for submissions. Or contact WisconsinWrights@forwardtheater.com for additional information.

PREVIOUS AWARD RECIPIENTS

2020 AWARD RECIPIENTS

The Mytilenian Debate by Quan Barry

The Year Without a Summer by Greer DuBois

Sapiens by Eric Schabla

2017 AWARD RECIPIENTS

Hamm in Love and War by Eric Appleton

No Wake by Erica Berman

Dionysus on the Down Low by Michael Proft

2015 AWARD RECIPIENTS

In a Clearing by Karen Saari

Faithless by Michael Proft

Learning to Stay by James DeVita

2013 AWARD RECIPIENTS

Waiting by Kimberly Megna Yarnall

Discovering Austen by Kristin Hammargren

Coyote Moon by Sam D. White

2011 AWARD RECIPIENTS

Oatesland by Sam D. White

October, Before I was Born by Lori Matthews

The Kid Thing by Sarah Gubbins

2009 AWARD RECIPIENTS

Broken and Entered by Kurt McGinnis Brown

The Lightning Bug by Rand Higbee

Kiritsis by David Ray Schanker

2008 AWARD RECIPIENTS

Choke Cherry Corners by Ludmilla Bollow

The Front Steps by Marcia Jablonski

A Thousand Words by Gwendolyn Rice

2007 AWARD RECIPIENTS

The Queen of Janesville by Greg Lawless

Recovering the Real Me by Kurt McGinnis Brown

Normal Human Beings by Bruce Murphy