These women of the arts hail from different disciplines, but they all have an indomitable spirit and a luminescent spark that makes them amazing human beings who are out there every day, doing amazing work.

Today we continue our series with Kathleen Warnock.

Kathleen Warnock is a playwright and editor. She is company manager of the Playwrights Circle at Emerging Artists Theater, and curates the Robert Chesley/Jane Chambers Playwrights Project for TOSOS Theater. She curates the Drunken! Careening! Writers! reading series at KGB Bar the third Thursday of every month. She is also series editor for Best Lesbian Erotica (Cleis).

She is tired.

I certainly would be too!  I had the opportunity to sit on a panel with Kathleen last year and have been trying to find a time when we could feature her here on The Happiest Medium.  Well, thank you Women’s History Month!  You finally got this very tired, very talented, very wonderful woman to share her story with me.  I’m thrilled that I’m finally able to celebrate all the wonderful things that Kathleen Warnock is doing, every day.  I’ll let her take it from here  …

Kathleen Warnock

As I said, I’m tired. But interested. One thing always leads to another: whether it’s helping produce The Secretaries for TOSOS in last year’s Fringe (and extension), or working with the Playwrights Circle at EAT. My day job, editing travel guides for Frommer’s, also takes me around the world from my cube in Hoboken.

The days that make a difference are always an Opening Night of mine; those are the best days. I also get a similar buzz from attending Opening Nights for friends of mine, particularly when I’ve helped out with the production. The days that make me think “I’m too old for this shit,” are when I have a lot of production-related stuff at the same time I have a big project due at work, or when I’ve got 2 or 3 deadlines within the same, say 72-hour period! Does anyone know where I can get Adderal?

I’ve often been the only girl in the room: I was sports editor of my college newspaper, worked for the Baltimore Orioles and Colts, and became a sports journalist after I graduated from college. I made it my business not so much to be one of the guys, but to focus on the work, and usually ended up with the respect of my colleagues. I’ve tried to operate that way since. Sometimes, when I’m one of the few women at a production meeting, I just do the same thing and say what I need to say, and do it in a constructive, positive way, to make sure that an issue is addressed. And often, I realize that my presence reminds people that there are women playwrights, women who run theaters, etc.

I wouldn’t work with someone who treated me as less than an equal. Of course, I have the “luxury” of working for little or no money off-off, so if someone’s an ass, I can walk away from the project. The people that I choose to work with most often, and who have chosen to work with me are the likes of Paul Adams, artistic director of Emerging Artists Theatre, who has given me many opportunities as a playwright; and Mark Finley, artistic director of TOSOS, who is like my twin-from-another-mother. Doric Wilson, founder of TOSOS is someone who recognized me as a playwright and a colleague, and has often opened doors for me, and promoted my work.

As a playwright who is a woman and a woman who is a playwright, I find resource websites/lists to be extremely helpful. I have a bulletin board that I’ve been maintaining online for 8 years, called “En Avant Playwrights,” on which I list all the opportunities I find in a format based on play length, and whether it’s for production, staged reading, contest, etc. We’ve had nearly 1.7 million pageviews since I started it. I am also a member of the yahoo group “Playwright Binge,” founded by Patrick Gabridge, a smart, talented Boston playwright who has shared his process of marketing his work, and created a place that supports all playwrights who want to know about getting their work out there. The group does semi-annual “Binges” where they commit to sending out their work every day for a month, then reporting back to the group.

I have a short play, Staying Put, running in Series A at EATfest (TADA Theatre, 15 W. 28th St., subway: N/R) through March 20. It runs Monday, Thursday at 7pm and Saturday at 9pm. The other plays in the series are by two playwrights whose work I love: Barbara Lindsay and Audrey Cefaly. Tickets can be purchased here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/154363 and are $18 (reduced for students, seniors). In addition, my latest full-length play, “Outlook,” was just read as part of the “First Taste” series for company playwrights on March 15, at 8:45. It was directed by Mark Finley, and featured Meghan Cary, Robin Cloud, Irene Longshore & Danielle Quisenberry.

And the deadline for Best Lesbian Erotica 2012 is coming up April 1! For submission guidelines, visit my website at www.kathleenwarnock.com.

~~~

More about Kathleen Warnock:

Her works produced in New York include: “Grieving for Genevieve” (MITF); “Rock the Line” (EAT); “Some Are People” (EAT NYC, Ireland); “The Adventures of…” (EAT, NYC, Ireland, Provincetown). She is a member of The Dramatists Guild.

Related Posts:

• Spring EATFest 2011 – Something For Every Taste
• Kathleen Warnock Goes To The Lilly Awards
• Call For Submissions: Putting The “BLE” In Combustible
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Franca Vercelloni
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Emily Owens

Nothing feels better than taking that final bow, and hearing the applause going on and on . . . begging you to come out one more time.  For some very special shows of Fringe, that’s exactly what gets to happen and we at The Happiest Medium are very pleased that some of our very favorites from the Festival are being called back again.

The 2010 Fringe Encore Series

What We Saw:

The Secretaries

Venue: The Lucille Lortel Theater

9/13 @ 10:00
9/15 @ 9:30
9/22 @ 9:30
9/23 @ 10:00

The Hurricane Katrina Comedy Festival

Venue: The Lucille Lortel Theater

9/11 @ 8:00
9/12 @ 5:00
9/15 @ 7:00
9/19 @ 8:00

Jurassic Parq: The Broadway Musical

Venue: The Lucille Lortel Theater

9/9 @ 7:00
9/11 @ 10:30
9/17 @ 9:30
9/18 @ 10:30

PigPen Presents: The Nightmare Story

Venue: The Players Theater

9/10 @ 9:30
9/11 @ 5:00
9/11 @ 9:30
9/12 @ 6:00

Also – Don’t Miss Your Chance To Catch (click on dates to purchase tickets):

Hearts Full of Blood

Venue: The Players Theater

9/09 @ 9:30
9/10 @ 7:00
9/12 @ 3:00
9/14 @ 8:00

South Pathetic

Venue: The Players Theater

9/15 @ 8:00
9/17 @ 9:30
9/18 @ 10:00
9/19 @ 3:00

Saving Throw Versus Love

Venue: The Players Theater

9/20 @ 9:30
9/22 @ 7:00
9/25 @ 9:30
9/26 @ 7:00

When Last We Flew

Venue: The Lucille Lortel Theater

9/9 @ 9:30
9/11 @ 5:00
9/12 @ 8:00
9/16 @ 7:00

POPE! An Epic Musical

Venue: The Lucille Lortel Theater

9/16 @ 9:30
9/24 @ 7:00
9/25 @ 10:30
9/26 @ 4:00

Faye Lane’s Beauty Shop Stories

Amsterdam Abortion Survivor

Venue: Soho Playhouse – Huron Club

9/10 @ 9:30
9/12 @ 8:00
9/16 @ 10:00
9/17 @ 8:00
9/19 @ 8:00

Viva Los Bastarditos!

Venue: Lucille Lortel Theater

9/19 @ 2:00
9/20 @ 9:30
9/22 @ 7:00
9/26 @ 7:00

Made in Taiwan

Venue: The Lucille Lortel Theater

9/10 @ 7:00
9/14 @ 9:30
9/17 @ 7:00
9/18 @ 8:00

Over and Over

Venue: The Players Theater

9/18 @ 8:00
9/22 @ 9:30
9/24 @ 7:00
9/25 @ 5:00

Getting Even With Shakespeare

Venue: The Players Theater

9/21 @ 8:00
9/24 @ 9:00
9/25 @ 7:30
9/26 @ 4:00

Running

Venue: The Players Theater

9/16 @ 7:00
9/18 @ 2:00
9/19 @ 5:30
9/20 @ 7:00

Lost and Found

Venue: The Lucille Lortel Theater

9/18 @ 5:00
9/21 @ 8:00
9/24 @ 9:30
9/25 @ 7:00

How My Mother Died of Cancer, and Other Bedtime Stories

Venue: The Players Theater

9/9 @ 7:00
9/11 @ 7:00
9/12 @ 8:00
9/13 @ 8:00

The Twentieth-Century Way

Venue: The Players Theater

9/16 @ 9:30
9/17 @ 7:00
9/18 @ 5:00
9/19 @ 8:00

BUNKED!: A New Musical

Venue: The Lucille Lortel Theater

9/19 @ 5:00
9/20 @ 7:00
9/23 @ 7:00
9/25 @ 4:00

Just In Time – The Judy Holliday Story

Venue: The Lucille Lortel Theater

9/10 @ 9:30
9/13 @ 7:00
9/14 @ 7:00
9/15 @ 3:00

Related Posts:

• The Hurricane Katrina Comedy Festival: A Festival Of Brightness In The Eye Of The Storm (Fringe Festival 2010)
• The Secretaries – Do As I Say, Do As I Do (Fringe Festival 2010)
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Kathleen Warnock
• Dream Of The Marionettes Is Still Very Much A Dream (Fringe Festival 2010)
• 23 Feet In 12 Minutes: The Death And Rebirth Of New Orleans (Fringe Festival 2010)

Boy, do I remember what it was like to be the new gal around the office – to not have the routine down yet, to get sneered at for ordering from wrong place for lunch (“We don’t use them ever since the egg salad incident . . . but that was before your time”) or to be thought of as stuck up for taking lunch alone in the park  . . . or (even worse) not taking a cigarette break with the other girls from the admin pool.  One false step and you’re branded some sort of outcast who thinks she’s better than everyone else.  Offices can be tough, and a Clique of Secretaries who treat the office like High School all over again can be murder.  And in this new production of The Five Lesbian Brothers’ 1994 dark comedy The Secretaries(directed by Mark Finley) Murder is exactly what it is.

In the mill town of Big Bone, Oregon opportunities are scarce so you’ll take the best job you can get – even if you’ve got advanced degrees and a decently high IQ.  When we first meet The Secretaries of the Cooney Lumber Company they’re as synchronized as Swiss watches. They speak in stereo, have the same goals and dreams (among them – To be Secretary of the Month), and all gulp down that can of Slim-Fast for breakfast lunch and dinner (although for some it goes down a littler easier than for others).  When newbie Patty (Elizabeth Whitney) arrives on the scene she’s at first confounded by, but also mesmerized by the shorthand these gals have with each other.  Will she ever fit in?

As the days move forward  (the passage of time is marked on the “_______ days with out an accident” chart) the clique grows a little more ominous with each day.  There’s the typical “All About Eve” type backstabbing: Girls are quick to point out each other’s flaws – pleasantly plump Peaches (Elizabeth Bell) is so distraught by her own inability to fore go the “sensible dinner” which the Slim-Fast meal plan recommends that she actually asks to be punched every time she’s observed eating solid foods.  Alpha Bitch Ashley (Karen Stanion) who’s been secretary of the month every month running now has to hand over her crown to Patty which obviously drives her a little crazy.

This play simultaneously celebrates and skewers the female rituals – and all of them are represented here, from the desire to dress alike to the sudden way every moment is spent together to the odd physiological mystery of how women who stick with each other long enough all wind up on the same cycle.  There are slumber parties, games of twister, impromptu bi-curious experiments with the resident lesbian, Dawn (Virginia Baeta) and they’re all lead by – and in league with – their boss Susan (Jamie Heinlein) who gives them pointers on how to dress, what to do, where to go . . . and ultimately even makes them sign contracts promising they’ll stay celibate.

So, what happens when five woman who don’t have an unexpressed thought hit that certain day of the month?  Why hasn’t there ever been more than 29 days without an accident?  How did these gals all wind up with a Lumberman’s jacket?  What’s the little secret that keeps them all so bonded?  What’s the best way to get blood out of a towel?  And what is that chainsaw doing in the corner?

Fun from start to finish The Secretaries will make you laugh at old stereotypes, new rituals, and the concept of how far one will go just to fit in.

~~~

The Secretaries

TOSOS
Writer: The Five Lesbian Brothers–Maureen Angelos, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey and Lisa Kron
Director: Mark Finley

1h 30m

www.thesecretariestosos.com
VENUE #12: Lucille Lortel Theatre

Related Posts:

• Doric Wilson – Gone But Not Forgotten: Help Celebrate His Life
• They’re Baaaaaaaack! The Best Of Fringe Festival 2010 Returns For Fringe Encore
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Kathleen Warnock
• Dream Of The Marionettes Is Still Very Much A Dream (Fringe Festival 2010)
• The Hurricane Katrina Comedy Festival: A Festival Of Brightness In The Eye Of The Storm (Fringe Festival 2010)