Elizabeth Heffron in Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival

Posted on April 29, 2013 by elizabeth

Hedgebrook Women Playwrights FestivalElizabeth Heffron joins esteemed playwrights Julia Cho, Dael Orlandersmith and Catherine Trieschmann for the 16th Annual Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival. It includes a two-week residency for Elizabeth at the famed Whidbey Island writers retreat, capped off with public presentations of excerpts from the playwrights’ latest works. Festival Performance: May 19th, 4pm,
ACT Theatre, 700 Union Street, Seattle, 98101
Please reserve your seats online or call the ACT Theatre ticket office at 206-292-7676. Tickets are free but space is limited and an RSVP is required.

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Save the Date: Bo-Nita in Portland Feb. 1, 2014

Posted on March 30, 2013 by elizabeth

Elizabeth Heffron, playwrightElizabeth’s play, Bo-Nita, a favorite from last summer’s JAW playwrights’ festival, will directed by Gretchen Corbett at the Ellyn Bye Studio of Portland Center Stage,  Feb. 1 – March 16, 2014.

The Oregonian says of Bo-Nita: “… this madcap comedy of mid-American family dysfunction carries dark undertones about the effects of poverty and sexual abuse on a resourceful 13-year-old.  Bo-Nita handles such issues with sensitivity — even amid the outlandish characters and situations that had the JAW audience howling with laughter.”

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The Weatherman Project at Rep’s New Play Fest

Posted on December 4, 2012 by elizabeth

Elizabeth Heffron’s The Weatherman Project (working title) continues its workshop process at Seattle Rep’s New Play Festival, Jan. 5 – Feb. 3, 2013.

The Weatherman Project will be directed by Sheila Daniels. Co-written with former Weatherman member Kit Bakke, the play tells the story of five young people in the midst of the Vietnam era and the road that leads them to the Weather Underground, a radical anti-war group.

The Weatherman Project was first workshopped through the Rep’s Writers Group in May, 2012. Read Seattle Rep’s Playwright Profile of Elizabeth about The Weatherman Project.

The Weatherman Project schedule at the Rep: Wed., Jan 30, 7:30 pm; Fri., Feb. 1, 7:30 pm; Sat., Feb. 2, 2:00 pm; Sun., Feb. 3, 2:00 pm.

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Bo-Nita at JAW Playwrights Festival, Portland, Oregon

Posted on July 18, 2012 by elizabeth

JAW is Portland Center Stage’s developmental festival of new work for the stage.

JAW is Portland Center Stage’s developmental festival of new work for the stage. Friday, July 27 at 4pm, JAW will present Bo-Nita by Elizabeth Heffron. The performance is free.

 Thirteen year old Bo-Nita waits outside school for her ride. Seemingly to pass the time, she begins telling us about an experience she had which she believes was the only miracle she’s ever seen: her ex-stepfather having a heart attack while trying to molest her. Bo-Nita’s experiences as she navigates a decidedly sketchy family life—a belly-dancing grandmother, a mother who is less than discreet with her sex life, the predatory step-father—are alternately hilarious and heart-breaking, slapstick and searing. Under Heffron’s skillful hand, Bo-Nita is given a genuine and devastatingly engaging voice in this play performed by a single actor.

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Mitzi’s Abortion Wows Them in Washington DC

Posted on July 17, 2012 by elizabeth

Mitzi's Abortion by Elizabeth HeffronMitzi’s Abortion received a rave review for its five performance run at the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington DC, July 12-25, 2012. Produced by The Washington Rogues, a “focused, connected ensemble cast,” and Elizabeth Heffron’s writing impressed Liz Maestri of the The Pink Line Project. An excerpt:

This is a powerful play that tackles issues of politics and religion not through patronization, but through masterful writing and storytelling. It’s a story about a woman, her loved ones, and personal tragedy—sadly in stark contrast to the crass and vicious public manner in which the topic of abortion is usually discussed. At times it’s brutal to watch, and there was a lump in my throat throughout (despite ever-present bumpin’ tunes from the neighboring NY Ave Beach Bar). Heffron builds the plot expertly, and keeps the script moving with poignant and humorous visits from 12th Century Catholic Saint Thomas Aquinas (John C. Bailey) and Reckless Mary, a burned-at-the-stake 17th Century Scottish midwife (Louise Schlegel).

Mitzi’s Abortion received ACT Theatre’s New Play Award in 2005, and had its world premiere at ACT, Seattle, in 2006. Mitzi’s Abortion was also produced in New York and Florida in 2011.

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The Weatherman Project

Posted on May 30, 2012 by elizabeth

Many thanks to The Seattle Rep Writers Group for all the work on the first staged reading of THE WEATHERMAN PROJECT. Thanks to Sheila Daniels, Jessica Martin, Sara Mountjoy-Pepka, Andre Blackburn Nelson, Adam Standley, Kaitlin Ziehr, and Kaytlin McIntyre, for your fabulous work, and to Kit Bakke, my co-writer. And special love to Braden Abraham, Jerry Manning for feeding the fire on this revolution. Can’t wait to write the last 31.7% of the play!!!

The Weatherman Project

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