Riot Act, Inc. is thrilled to announce its 2017/2018 production schedule which brings drama, comedy and our annual series of shorts back to Jackson stages for the theater company’s 15th season.
Riot Act, Inc. is very excited to be celebrating our 15th season and continue bringing quality theater to the vibrant community of Jackson, WY. After 15 years we feel it is only appropriate to take a step back and reflect our humble beginnings. Women’s role in theater has been hot topic of conversation in recent months not only in our local community but throughout our nation. Riot Act was formed by five young, ambitious and independent women who all had a common passion for theater. We feel this is a great opportunity to present a season that celebrates women and their contributions to theater. To celebrate women in theater our selections for the 15th season will address one of or all of the following: Was written by a woman, content addresses a woman’s issues or the cast is predominantly women.
The Women by Clare Boothe Luce: What better way to celebrate a season that focuses on women in theater than this large all female cast production. The author carries us through a number of varied scenes and shows us not only a somewhat unflattering picture of womanhood, but digging under the surface, reveals a human understanding for and sympathy with some of its outstanding figures. The plot involves the efforts of a group of women to play their respective roles in an artificial society that consists of vain show, comedy, tragedy, hope and disappointment. ~ Samuel French.
Rapture, Blister, Burn by Gina Gionfriddo: After grad school, Catherine and Gwen chose polar opposite paths. Catherine built a career as a rockstar academic, while Gwen built a home with her husband and children. Decades later, unfulfilled in polar opposite ways, each woman covets the other’s life, commencing a dangerous game of musical chairs—the prize being Gwen’s husband. With searing insight and trademark wit, this comedy is an unflinching look at gender politics in the wake of 20th-century feminist ideals. ~ Samuel French.
Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) by Ann-Marie Macdonald: In this exuberant comedy and original revision of Shakespeare’s Othello and Romeo and Juliet — Constance Ledbelly, a drab and dusty academic, deciphers a cryptic manuscript she believes to be the original source for the tragedies, and is transported into the plays themselves. She visits Juliet and Desdemona, has a hand in saving them, and finds out what these women are about. In true Shakespearean spirit, Constance plunders the plays and creates something new, all the while engaging in a personal voyage of self-discovery. With an abundance of twists, fights, dances, seductions, and wild surprises, the play is an absolute joy of theatricality. ~ Samuel French.
Finally, Riot Act will close the season with its longstanding and popular series of Short Plays and our fifth annual New Play Festival. Always a community favorite, Shorts offers plate of theatrical hors d’oeuvres for artists and audiences with multiple one-act plays sharing the bill. In the past, Riot Act has produced not only well known plays, but several original works by local playwrights, all while providing new actors and directors a chance to stretch their creative legs. In the 2013/14 season the New Play Festival was introduced as a way for regional playwrights to submit work and get it produced.
Riot Act was founded in 2002 to provide opportunities for local actors, directors, designers and playwrights to bring innovative, thought-provoking, challenging theater to the Jackson stage. Riot Act will continue to collaborate with dancers, musicians, videographers, visual artists, and other local non-profits to create great stories for our adventurous audience.
Please join us at the performances!