Blog30

Celebrating the members of the League of Professional Theatre Women

Search Results for: “Penny Jackson”

07 Apr 2012

Penny Jackson

published novelist and playwright
New York, New York USA

Paula Vogel said that “Theatre is perhaps one of the few places left where we are in dialogue right now.” Dialogue outside a play is as important as what is heard in the theater. Women must make their voices heard and right now our voices are very quiet. It is so difficult right now for a female playwright to be produced, and I am ashamed that many of my favorite theaters here in the city have not produced any plays by women this year.

My most recent inspiring moment is when the transcendent Rosemary Harris explains in A Road To Mecca how her art is her salvation, particularly in a difficult political landscape. I believe her speech is relevant to all women artists today.

My best escape is of course theater. Theater, for me, is travel. A great play will take you to places where you never believed you could go. I am a compulsive theater fanatic. Watching plays to me is as necessary as breathing. Even with a bad play, there is something to be learned.

The one thing that nobody knows about me is that I’m TERRIFIED of acting. I would faint if I had to go on stage to perform. Every actor is a hero.

My favorite male playwright is Tom Stoppard because his women are always so intelligent. Arcadia features a female adolescent genius! Lillian Hellman wrote about ferociously smart women as well.

Favorite line from a play: “Blow out your candles, Laura, and so goodbye” from The Glass Menagerie. So sad and heartfelt and tragic. A line that is like an explosion in such an exquisite work.

I love writing plays, and I made a vow this year that I would write plays with powerful women who are in charge of their destinies.Thus my first play in 2012 is about Hera, the great Greek Goddess.

Penny Jackson is a playwright and author of the novel, Becoming The Butlers. Her play, SAFE, will be part of The Planet Connections Theatre Festivity in June. She is currently developing her full-length play, All Alices, with Ego Actus Productions. Penny is a proud member of The Dramatists Guild and LPTW. www.pennybrandtjackson.com

Posted in Dramatist (Playwright) and tagged League of Professional Theatre Women, New York, Paula Vogel, Penny Jackson, Rosemary Harris

08 Apr 2012

Week in Review, April 2 – 8, 2012

LPTW’s Blog30 was created to highlight the diversity, passion and brilliance of the individual members of the League of Professional Theatre Women in celebration of the organization’s 30th Anniversary. Every Sunday, the women featured in the previous six days, as well as three others from our first two months, receive a little more attention, a second chance for readers to learn about them. Sunday is often a day for reflection, offering the opportunity to catch up on the previous week’s activities. Now, the Week in Review gives our readers the opportunity to experience a week’s entries in one easy sitting. We hope you enjoy the latest addition to Blog30.

How could anyone actually sit down and write South Pacific?? – Sheilah Rae, April 2

I also like my heroine Eleanor Roosevelt’s motto: “It is better to light a candle than to curse at the darkness.” – Sondra Gorney, April 3

If there is one thing I’d still like to do, it’s become Miss America. – Elizabeth Ireland McCann, April 4

Favorite cocktail: ginger martini. It’s a very, very rare treat. – Andrea Caban, April 5

I dream of going to Patagonia to meet whales and penguins, or the Great Barrier Reef to snorkel among the corals. – Marcy Arlin, April 6

Theater, for me, is travel. A great play will take you to places where you never believed you could go. – Penny Jackson, April 7

From the Archives:
I once asked Judith Malina what she does when she’s not working, and she answered, “I work”. – Anne Hamilton, January 6

Although my young parents were struggling financially at the time, my father gave me a huge bouquet of roses for the opening; I still have the card that came with them, addressed to “Sir Davey Little Boy.” – Laura Annawyn Shamas, January 13

Of the many things I’m blessed with that give me inspiration, the lessons my mother taught me for the stage and for life continue to inspire my drive to not give up. – Angelica Page, January 20

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