Br!nk New Play Festival has Women Playwrights Take the Lead

By BONNIE NORTH • SEP 8, 2017

Playwright Gwendolyn Rice and Renaissance Theaterwork's Suzan Fete speak with Lake Effect's Bonnie North.

Renaissance Theaterworks began a quarter of a century ago as a way to both produce good work and also promote women in theatre, both onstage and behind the scenes. In those 25 years, the company has mounted 66 full productions and 40 staged-readings. Nine of those productions were original works by Wisconsin playwrights and seven were World Premieres.

This weekend’s Br!nk New Play Festival expands on Renaissance’s commitment to nurturing and promoting work by women. Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, the company will present staged readings of several new plays by Midwestern women.

Madison-based playwright Gwendolyn Rice is part of this year's festival, which will feature her new, 10-minute play, I Hear Everything. Suzan Fete is one of the founding members of Renaissance Theaterworks and will direct Rice’s play.

Rice says her plays have taken her around the country, but, in particular, 10-minute play festivals like this one are special for her.

"You don't get to go to the rehearsal. You don't know the director. You don't know the actor ahead of time," she says. "You just kind of show up, and see what your words have turned into."