On Her Shoulders

03/02/2024

01/11/2024

Our ON HER SHOULDERS database, which is free and accessible to everyone via our website, compiles some of the most incredible women writing plays in theatre history. Today we're highlighting Fumiko Enchi, who is one of many listed in it. Fumiko Enchi was a prominent Japanese writer in the Shōwa period of Japan, known for exploration of sexuality, gender, and spirituality. Her literary career began in 1926, with a one-act stage play Birthplace, published in the literary journal Kabuki, which was well received by critics who noted her sympathies with the proletarian literature movement. In 1945, Enchi's home and all her possessions burned during one of the air raids on Tokyo towards the end of the Pacific War. One year later, she received a uterine cancer diagnosis and stopped writing until around 1951. When she returned, she transitioned to writing successful novels that combined elements of realism and erotic fantasy.

01/11/2024

A newer addition to our ON HER SHOULDERS database, which compiles women who write plays from all around the world for free and public access, is the Turkish playwright Gülten Akin! She was a poet, lawyer, and playwright. Akin moved around frequently within Turkey due to her husband’s position as a governor. Eventually, Akin and her family stayed in Ankara. Here, she was able to work at the Turkish Language Association and the Ministry of Culture. Akin’s poetry was often inspired by folklore and is considered very culturally significant in Turkey. She also wrote short plays, which were known to be deeply connected to her poetic voice. She won many awards for her literary works.

06/21/2021

FEATURE FRIDAYS: Meet one of our lovely summer interns: Ellis Stump!

Ellis (she/her/they/them) is a NYC-based but world-traveling Columbia University Playwriting MFA (2023), screenwriter, and theatremaker, inspired by dark comedy, human resilience, and self-conducted interviews. Ellis’s Czech contemporization THE PEOPLE’S TOAST won 1st in Vaclav Havel Library Foundation Playwriting Competition, earning premiere and residency at Prague Performing Arts Academy (Nov 2019). It was published, produced by Untitled Theatre Company #61 and Bohemian National Society (April 2021), and selected to open the University of Toronto Global Legacy Conference (Oct 2021). At Wallace Stegner House Canada (Residency, Feb-March 2020), Ellis wrote Diane Arbus biopic WHERE I’VE NEVER GONE, an Athena Project Finalist (2020) debuting off-Broadway by Westbeth Artists Community (Fall 2021, 50th Anniversary). Other full-length productions: NY Theater Festival, Over Due Theatre, Main Santa Clarita, Iowa State, and Penn State, where Ellis graduated (May 2019) with degrees in English, Film/Media, Psychology, Gender, and International Studies.
Website: theellisstump.com

06/10/2021

THESPIAN TUESDAYS: Nancy Cárdenas was a writer, feminist, and actor. She received her PhD in Mexico and would study at Yale University and in Poland, and became a radio announcer when she was a young woman. By the 1960s, she completely transitioned into becoming a writer, and began writing journalism, plays, and poetry. It was during this time Cárdenas became the first woman to declare herself a le***an on live television in Mexico. Cárdenas then took a large role in gay rights movements throughout Mexico, founding the first gay organization in the country: Frente de Liberación Homosexual Mexicano.

06/10/2021

A sneak peak of one of our upcoming productions from the Women's Work Short Play Festival—coming to a screen near you soon!

06/10/2021

THESPIAN TUESDAYS: Pu Shunqing was a screenwriter, playwright, and feminist. Pu is considered to be the first woman in China to become a screenwriter, and with her husband, the film director Hou Yao (depicted here with her in the image), they created films that advocated for women’s rights in the mainland. She is best known as a screenwriter, but she began her career as a playwright while studying at university. With the acquisition of the company she worked with in 1930, she ended her creative career, instead choosing to become a lawyer.

05/27/2021

FEATURE FRIDAYS: Meet Rachel Navarro!

Rachel Navarro first worked with NPTC a few years ago in a reading of TRIBE by Jennie Contuzzi, a new play from the Women's Work LAB. This relationship led to several other projects over the past 3 years, including more work on TRIBE as the play has progressed and a trip to Central New York to perform in a short play and suffragist-themed concert reading. Most recently, she portrayed two separate characters in Slaves in Algiers for the ON HER SHOULDERS program. Rachel goes by the moniker Leaveascar, where she produces experimental dance songs.

music: https://songwhip.com/leaveascar
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1SeYavBOBmYAAwYc3VhALA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leaveascarr
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/

05/27/2021

THESPIAN TUESDAYS: Norah Richards was a playwright and theatre director. She was originally born and educated in Ireland, but moved to Punjab while it was still a part of the British Empire. Her husband had accepted a teaching job in the area, and so Richards devoted the rest of her life to cultivating a theatre scene that showcased the vibrancy of the culture. She opened a theatrical school that produced many big playwrights and directors of Punjabi drama.

Thespian Tuesdays is a campaign run by NPTC as a part of the On Her Shoulders project, which spotlights the impact of women in theatre history. Learn more about the project on the NPTC website (http://ow.ly/hHIE50Cmo3B).