Festival51 Is for and About Women’s Voices and Choices

Festival51 is a new performance vehicle for original theater work in Rhode Island to showcase women playwrights and directors. The population is 51% female, thus the 51, but only 17% of produced plays are written by women. Even fewer plays showcase women directors. This festival helps to even the odds a bit. Festival51 producers, Leann Heath and Terry Shea, and participants are feverishly working to prepare performances for the public, and you are guaranteed to experience something different at Festival51 every Friday through Saturday, July 31 through August 15 at Pawtucket’s Mixed Magic Theater.

Festival51 is designed to provide opportunities for the “non-traditional student,” so to speak. Once off the college campus and on with life, fewer and fewer opportunities are offered for women who for one reason or another, cannot devote their creativity to a full-time theater career. An open call was made earlier this year, and the chosen pieces are “Bone to Pick”  by Eugenie Chan, “The Waitress” by Ainslie Caswell, “Hope Throws her Heart Away” by Susan Goodell, “Echoes on the Peaks” by Deborah DeGeorge Harbin, and a short piece by Shannon McLoud called “Therapy,” which will be on film.

“I noticed there are fewer opportunities for women like me,” said Leann Heath, the woman behind the festival who is also a mother working to support her family. Since Perishable Theater in Providence closed, there is no annual Women Playwrights Fest in the state. “We wanted to create more opportunities for women to tell their stories in their own way. Material for the stage can look very different when presented from the female point of view.” Continues Heath, “That’s why we insisted that women direct in Festival51.”

Heath has a master’s degree in theater and community from Emerson, although she has a resume many pages long with performances in all type of roles in many different theaters. Her heart lies in serving the community through theater. Terry Shea, actor, director, sound designer and theater critic for Motif, is her partner helping to pull together all the elements to make Festival51 a success.

To help support the fest, a fundraiser will be held at SEEN Gallery, 38 East Ave, Pawtucket, on Tues, Jul 7. Expect live performances, special guests, and auctions for arts-related goods and services, including season passes to select RI theaters. It is open to the public. Tickets and more information about the fundraiser, the festival and performances can be found at festival51.org.