Women on the Verge: Overtones and Fourteen
Two One-Acts by Alice Erya Gerstenberg

Directed by Melissa Attebery, Dramaturgy by Mari Lyn Henry

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

(NY, NY) On Her Shoulders is pleased to present Women on the Verge, a FREE staged reading of Overtones (1915) and Fourteen (1920) by Alice Erya Gerstenberg, directed by Melissa Attebery on Wednesday, September 23, 2015. Doors open at 6:30pm. The Play in Context, which situates the script in its historical time and place, kicks off the evening at 6:45pm with an Introduction by dramaturg Mari Lyn Henry. Running time, including a post-performance Q&A is 90 minutes. The performance is at The New School, Wollman Hall, 65 West 11th Street. R.S.V.P to OnHerShouldersReservations@gmail.com.

ALICE ERYA GERSTENBERG (1885 – 1972) was an American playwright, best known for her experimental, feminist drama and her involvement with the Little Theatre Movement in Chicago. She enjoyed an upper middle class childhood in Chicago and graduated from Bryn Mawr in 1907. In 1913, Gerstenberg wrote Overtones,  her second stage play, a one-act, and her most frequently performed and printed. It was first produced in November 1915 by the Washington Square Players The play’s experimental form—Gerstenberg introduced the split protagonist to the American stage—initiated what would become a significant trend in 20th Century American drama, notably in Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude. In addition to Gerstenberg’s influence on dramatic form, she played a crucial role in the foundation and success of several theater companies as well as the Little Theater Movement in Chicago. Throughout her life she was committed to making non-commercial opportunities available to new playwrights and to providing theatrical experiences to children—as actors and writers in addition to audience members.  Gerstenberg was one of a handful of women invited to speak at the National Drama Council and National Theatre Conference in 1936 and won the Chicago Foundation for Literature Award in 1938. She continued to write plays throughout her life, later on publishing several radio plays as well as several commissioned dramatizations of children’s stories.

MELISSA ATTEBERY (Director) began in LA in series television at Paramount, Viacom and Granada Entertainment before moving to the NY stage. She assistant-directed for Tina Howe at the 24 Hour Plays on Broadway and directed the award-winning comedy Larry Gets the Call by Matt Casarino, which was then featured at DaDaFest International (Liverpool). She produced A Celebration of Women in Theatre: Miss Representation at The Players. BA, Dramatic Art and Film Studies, UC Santa Barbara; MFA, Directing, Actors Studio Drama School. Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director, Emerging Artists Theatre; Producer, On Her Shoulders; Member, The Actors Studio Playwright/Director Workshop and League of Professional Theatre Women; Associate Member, SDC. www.melissaattebery.com

MARI LYN HENRY (Dramaturg) is the founder of The Society For The Preservation of Theatrical History dedicated to forgotten artists who had a major impact on the development of the modern Theatre, especially in New York City. It brings together historical scholarship on the people, circumstances and societal forces that shaped the modern era, along with a performance element that allows the voices of these innovative and important figures to be heard again by today’s audiences. She holds a Master’s Degree in Theatre History from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and is the co-author of five editions of How To Be A Working Actor which for over 25 years has been considered the ‘bible of the biz’ by industry professionals, educators and celebrities. Mari Lyn is on the Board of the League of Professional Theatre Woman, and founder and chair of LPTW’s Heritage Committee.

ON HER SHOULDERS was founded in 2012 to present rehearsed, staged readings of plays by women from across the spectrum of time, with contemporary dramaturgs contextualizing–and in some cases adapting–them for modern audiences. The program seeks to make it impossible to deny or ignore the 1,000-year great tradition and value of women’s contribution to the theatrical canon. OHS became a program of NPTC in November 2013.

NEW PERSPECTIVES THEATRE COMPANY (NPTC) is an award-winning, multi-racial company now in its 25^th season. The Company’s mission is to develop and produce new plays and playwrights, especially women and people of color; to present classic plays in a style that addresses contemporary issues; and to extend the benefits of theatre to young people and communities in need. Our aim is not to exclude, but to cast a wider net.  www.nptnyc.org

THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DRAMA: The creative home for the future of performing arts. Agile. Engaged. Innovative. Multi-disciplinary. The New School for Drama is home to a dynamic group of young directors, writers, actors, creative technologists, and award-winning faculty. With a core belief in rigorous creativity and collaborative learning, our programs embrace civic awareness across performance disciplines to create work imbued with professionalism, imagination and social context. For more information, please visit www.newschool.edu/drama

The Play in Context, the dramaturgical and scholarly presentation component to the program, is sponsored in part by the League of Professional Theatre Women, a non-profit organization promoting visibility and increasing opportunities for women in theatre since 1982. www.theatrewomen.org