The Archives
keepingabreast street interviews
shown in between scenes during the show...enjoy!!
Keepingabreast Rehearsals:
by Jackie Rosenfeld
November 2006
There is great irony in our collective love of breasts and our inability to be grownups about them. We dress them up, call them names, and treat them as toys all while revering their beauty and honoring their life-giving functionality. It is this incongruity that gives Mina and the
thousands of young women diagnosed with breast cancer every year their greatest struggle.
In writing keepingabreast it was my aim to create a play about a single young woman facing a potentially terminal illness. I wanted to explore the ways in which this trauma would affect her outlook on life and, more importantly, her sense of self. Young women face many different obstacles that are not necessarily relevant to older breast cancer patients. They are still in their child-bearing years and the impact of cancer treatment not only affects their ability to breastfeed but can also prevent them from conceiving. Many young breast cancer patients are single and have a very different perspective on their sense of self worth and beauty.
Jackie Rosenfeld is a recent graduate of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, where she earned an MFA in Playwriting. She will be teaching undergraduate and graduate playwriting classes at Texas Tech next year.
thousands of young women diagnosed with breast cancer every year their greatest struggle.
In writing keepingabreast it was my aim to create a play about a single young woman facing a potentially terminal illness. I wanted to explore the ways in which this trauma would affect her outlook on life and, more importantly, her sense of self. Young women face many different obstacles that are not necessarily relevant to older breast cancer patients. They are still in their child-bearing years and the impact of cancer treatment not only affects their ability to breastfeed but can also prevent them from conceiving. Many young breast cancer patients are single and have a very different perspective on their sense of self worth and beauty.
Jackie Rosenfeld is a recent graduate of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, where she earned an MFA in Playwriting. She will be teaching undergraduate and graduate playwriting classes at Texas Tech next year.
The Broke Hotel Rehearsals:
THE RATUTU RETREAT
I can't wait for the next retreat. :) how about Jamaica? ~ Rebecca
BROKE HOTEL
June 2006
Where employees have baggage, too...
The Millennium Manhattan Mega-hotel has seen better days. What was once a beautiful refuge for the rich and powerful, is now a magnet for the certifiably insane and criminally stupid. With management taking a sick day, the employees try to keep their heads above water and their smiles on high wattage. No, this isn't just a job -- it's a hellhole. In the middle of everything stands Rachel, a hotel worker and artistic talent with one foot out the door, and one hand clasped tightly to the ladder of corporate success. While she struggles to find her way, Rachel stumbles upon life's biggest questions. What does enough feel like? Who to love? How much time is too much time?
Broke Hotel is a hilarious and touching new play by Shanara Teumba McKeever that examines what it takes to make a stand and walk out the door. Bring your baggage and stay all night to see what happens when things really start to break down. Broke Hotel is the maiden voyage for the Ratutu Collaborative, a brand new theatre company with lots of promise and pluck. Made up of a crew of very talented misfits, this company is sure to make a splash for years to come.
Where employees have baggage, too...
The Millennium Manhattan Mega-hotel has seen better days. What was once a beautiful refuge for the rich and powerful, is now a magnet for the certifiably insane and criminally stupid. With management taking a sick day, the employees try to keep their heads above water and their smiles on high wattage. No, this isn't just a job -- it's a hellhole. In the middle of everything stands Rachel, a hotel worker and artistic talent with one foot out the door, and one hand clasped tightly to the ladder of corporate success. While she struggles to find her way, Rachel stumbles upon life's biggest questions. What does enough feel like? Who to love? How much time is too much time?
Broke Hotel is a hilarious and touching new play by Shanara Teumba McKeever that examines what it takes to make a stand and walk out the door. Bring your baggage and stay all night to see what happens when things really start to break down. Broke Hotel is the maiden voyage for the Ratutu Collaborative, a brand new theatre company with lots of promise and pluck. Made up of a crew of very talented misfits, this company is sure to make a splash for years to come.
February - March 2007
'THE SPRING SLIPS' by Finnegan Ripley
Claire and John, a couple in their late twenties deal with what their relationship has become. Reminiscent of A.R. Gurney in darkness and humor.
'FINDING THE WONDER' book by Gwynne Watkins, lyrics by Betina Hershey, music by Denver Casado
A 10 minute musical comedy about what happens when Wonder Woman loses her sense of self and how 2 fisherman, a little girl, and an unsuspecting duck help her regain her heroic nature.
'THE SECRET SERVICE' by Adrian Quihuis
Abraham Lincoln had secret service men...right? So how the hell did he end up shot in Ford's Theatre? With guards like these, who needs assassins.
'DUMMY' by Tanya Ritchie
A ventriloquist falls in love with his dummy who is less than enthusiastic about the relationship.
'WELCOME HOME MOLLY DECANDIA'by Carl Danielson
Molly is stuck in the world of a John Hughes movie. Can a mysterious voice save her from herself, or is she doomed to chase the cool boy and loose him to the hot girl forever?
'NOT WHAT NOT TO WEAR' by Serena Makofsky
Getting $5,000 to buy a new wardrobe and being on a TLC hit seems great in theory. But who really knows best what not to wear?
The Short Plays: