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Developing Fresh Voices and PRODUCING THEATRE for the 21st Century
THAT WOMAN - THE MONOLOGUE SHOW - Full Length Production
Coming in October 2024...click poster for tix
Coming in October 2024...click poster for tix
Coming in October 2024...click poster for tix
Darkhorse Theatre Production - 2022
Coming in October 2024...click poster for tix
Coming in October 2024...click poster for tix
The history you didn’t learn in school. Broken dreams. Deportation. Murder. Courage. Strength. Resilience. That Woman - The Monologue Show is a series of stories imagined from the perspectives of women involved with President John F. Kennedy -- stories that in the past have often have been dismissed or deliberately silenced.
Past Productions:
Darkhorse Theater and East Room, Nashville, TN 2022
Alabama International Fringe Festival 2023
Nominated for three Nashville First Night Awards, including OUTSTANDING PLAY, OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL WORK AND OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE
"Several of Nashville’s finest creatives conceptualized, wrote, produced, directed, designed, stage managed, crafted and performed pieces that reach beyond decades of headlines, books and broadcast documentaries regarding President Kennedy’s extramarital affairs for the humanity, and individuality, of the women either revealed or alleged to have been involved with him as well as his wife of 10 years." Evans Donnell, Stagecritic.com
“It's a must-see production for anyone who supports and appreciates original theater, as well as anyone with a genuine interest in some forgotten or unknown events in recent American history. Moreover, That Woman should be required viewing for anyone eager to witness frank and personal interpretations of the women whose lives are connected because of their relationships with the President whose life was ended tragically and abruptly on November 22, 1963.” Jef Ellis, BroadwayWorld Nashville
Read full reviews HERE
FULL PRODUCTiON 2022-2023 CAST & CREW
Rachel Agee
Rachel Agee
Rachel Agee
Rachel Agee (Script Editor) is a native Nashvillian whose favorite things are developing new plays and helping women come to voice. So naturally she was excited to be involved with this project. Rachel is also a playwright and director but is most often an actor you may have seen in shows with Nashville Rep, Act I, Circle, 3P's, Broadaxe, and Actors Bridge Ensemble where she is a founding Board member. Big thanks to Molly and TPS for this opportunity!
Renee Brank
Rachel Agee
Rachel Agee
Renee Brank (Stage Manager - Nashville) is thrilled to be a part of this production! While co-hosting The Leisure Hour podcast a few years ago, she met the cast and crew of Gadabout Theater Company, which led to a serious case of the theater bug. She has been stage manager for multiple Gadabout stage productions since 2016, including Clown Bar, Trevor, and Offices. When she’s not stage managing, Renee loves to scheme for new podcast ideas, cheer on the Tennessee Titans, and plan events, such as 2019’s Gainesfest: A Celebration of the Life of Chris Gaines. She loves working with others to bring a creative idea to life and is honored to be joining this team of amazing women!
Molly Breen
Rachel Agee
Brittany Childers Nelson
Molly Breen (Co-Creator/Producer/Playwright & Actor for Mimi Alford Monologue) directs Tennessee Playwrights Studio. As an actor, she has worked with Nashville-area theatre companies in over 40 productions, as well as performing in plays in New York, DC, Birmingham, Atlanta, and Los Angeles She loves originating roles in new plays and working on projects that have social impact. She is represented by the McCray Agency for film, tv, and commercial work. As a writer, she has received fellowships to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Mary Anderson for the Arts.
Brittany Childers Nelson
Brittany Childers Nelson
Brittany Childers Nelson
Brittany Nelson (Actor for Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis Monologue - AIFF/Aftyn Behn Benefit) is so excited to reprise the role of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis with Tennessee Playwrights Studio! She has had the privilege of reading for several new works with TPS and is grateful for the opportunity to be on the stage again. Previous favorite stage productions include The Jonah People: A Legacy of Struggle and Triumph with The Nashville Symphony, SISTAS: The Musical and Natural Shocks with Tennessee Women’s Theater Project, God of Carnage with 4th Story Theater as well as The Christians with ACT 1. Brittany would like to thank Aftyn Behn for the opportunity to support her campaign! Please vote!
Ibby Cizmar
Brittany Childers Nelson
Karla Dansereau
Ibby Ciznar (Priscilla Wear - Darkhorse Theater/Nashville) (she/her) is thrilled to join TPS and the creative team of That Woman - The Monologue Show. Her past credits Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway include This is Jeopardy, Whiz Kid, Eight Pieces for Peace, Marisol, The House of Yes, and Pterodactyls. Notable regional theatre credits include Samuel Beckett’s Footfalls (Boston) and Howard Korder’s Boys’ Life (Rahway). She also appeared in a season of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” During the height of the pandemic she participated in Nashville theatre in a host of virtual readings and workshops with TPS and the Actors Bridge Ensemble. Ibby holds an MFA in acting from the Actors Studio Drama School/The New School and a PhD in drama from Tufts University. She is a proud faculty member of Vanderbilt University’s theatre department.
Karla Dansereau
Brittany Childers Nelson
Karla Dansereau
Karla Dansereau (Priscilla Wear - East Room/Nashville) Karla received her actor training in theatre and film at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, California. Her favorite roles on stage include: Mrs. Molloy in Hello Dolly, Eve in The Diary of Adam and Eve, Jill in All I Ever Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, and Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. Eight years ago, Karla married her high school sweetheart and moved to Nashville. She has since garnered numerous credits in film and television. In 2019, she made her first venture into the area of Executive Producing. Under her direction and guidance, her team produced Why She Smiles, a moving documentary about a young woman with a rare, incurable, neurological disease. The film won several awards, including Best of Fest, Best Documentary Short, Best Documentary Feature, Most Inspiring Woman in a Film, and Best Picture, and was picked up for distribution by Bridgestone Multimedia Group. Karla has just completed filming her role as leading lady Angela Carmichael in the independent feature film, The Text, by Dreams Come True Films. In her spare time Karla enjoys painting, writing, kayaking on the cove behind their home, and visiting her grown children as often as possible! Karla is thrilled to be returning to live theatre as it was her first love!
Dianne DeWald
Bethany Dinkel
Bethany Dinkel
Dianne DeWald (Playwright/Mary Pinchot Meyer - Nashville) Dianne graduated from Austin Peay State University with a BFA in Acting and Directing, cum laude with honors. Some of her favorite credits include: Maidens (Tennessee Playwrights Studio), Spirit (The Bell Witch Fall Festival), Turandot (Nashville Opera), and The Consequences of Madison Mumbry (Roxy Regional Theatre). Dianne sends all of her love to you, the audience. Thank you.
Bethany Dinkel
Bethany Dinkel
Bethany Dinkel
Bethany Dinkel (Costumer- Nashville) Bethany brings a unique background to our costumes. Sheltering herself from her parent’s divorce, she spent the free time of her youth sewing with her great aunt. Over time, these skills naturally transitioned into creating costumes for various community performances. Upon the encouragement of a few industry leaders, Bethany founded Dinkel Designs in 2022 and is excited about the challenge of creating within a professional space. With an undergraduate and master’s degree in Resource Management, she thrives when working with large casts, costumes with complexity, and in this case imploring the costumes to provide context in lieu of an elaborate set or character familiarity. Bethany would like to thank Molly Breen and Angela Gimlin for taking a chance on the new kid on the block. Thanks also go to the other half of Bethany’s “duo”, Dr. Kimberly Moulds, for her very wise and always spot-on taste as well as the hours she helped hunt for interesting fabrics. Chris, Ava, and Lee should also be thanked for helping establish Dinkel Designs, enjoying all the food delivery without complaint, walking the puppy so Mom can keep sewing, and not burning the house down.
Kristen DuBois
Bethany Dinkel
Kristen DuBois
Kristen DuBois (Lighting Designer - Nashville) is delighted to be a part of this show, and to be back at the Darkhorse. She has worked as a Lighting Designer in Austin and Nashville, her most recent work including Lizzie: The Musical and The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical for Street Theatre Company. She has also worked with Circle Players, designing such shows as A Chorus Line and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as well as Act 1 for The Nightmarium Incident and Jack and the Giant. She loves to work on dance, children's theater and anything with a new, thoughtful perspective. She would like to thank her friends for coming to her shows, and her partner for letting her ramble about lights while offering creative feedback.
LaToya Gardner
LaToya Gardner
Kristen DuBois
LaToya Gardner (Actor for Mary Pinchot Meyer Monologue - Aftyn Behn Benefit) is no stranger to the stage. She has a lengthy history of performing in various television, film and stage productions including The Color Purple, Caroline or Change, Elton John's and Tim Rice's AIDA the Musical, Sister Act the Musical, Dreamgirls, A Raisin in the Sun, Detroit '67, and ABC series Nashville. She loves to sing and perform, considering every opportunity onstage a gift from God. The Nashville native graduated from Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Science in Speech Communication & Theater and is currently enrolled at Pepperdine University to earn her master’s in Psychology. In addition to school, LaToya is also a healthcare professional, a domestic violence and mental health advocate and a mentor. However, her absolute favorite role is being the proud mother of the best two children in the world!
Angela Gimlin
April Hardcastle-Miles
Angela Gimlin
Angela Gimlin (Co-Creator/Producer -Nashville/Playwright/Blaze Starr - Nashville) Angela has been active on the Nashville theater scene for close to 20 years. She is best known for being the Founder and COO of the Inebriated Shakespeare Theater Company. She is a huge fan of improv and, obviously, Shakespeare. Some of her favorite past roles include Queen Gertrude in Hamlet and Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest. Obviously, she gravitates and embraces strong female roles. When she isn’t treading the boards, you can find her cheering on her two favorite teams – the Oklahoma Sooners and the Oklahoma City Thunder. HUGE thanks to Molly for taking the reins of my vision and bringing it to life during such a tumultuous time.
Madison Gunn
April Hardcastle-Miles
Angela Gimlin
Madison Gunn (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - East Room/Nashville) is so honored to be a part of this production and tell such an interesting new story! She is an actor from Mt. Juliet, TN with a BA in Dramatic Arts from Trevecca Nazarene University. Some of her favorite previous credits include Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins), Little Women (Meg March), The Secret Garden (Rose), The Vagina Monologues, Seussical and The Little Mermaid. She would like to thank her amazing family and friends for their constant love and support! @madison.rose.gunn
April Hardcastle-Miles
April Hardcastle-Miles
April Hardcastle-Miles
April Hardcastle-Miles (Playwright/Inga Arvad - Nashville) has been involved in her Nashville hometown theater scene since she was 13-years-old. Some of her favorites are moments that happened off stage, directing Peter Pan and Somebody’s Baby. April is a film school dropout, a former Zamboni driver and was once made fun of by John Goodman. She is very excited to be a part of this project that gives a voice to the other side of the story.
Alicia Haymer
Stephanie Houghton
April Hardcastle-Miles
Alicia Haymer (Playwright/Jill Cowan) A Nashville native and Fisk alum, Alicia has been a part of the Nashville arts scene for 20+ years. In the many years that Alicia has been on stage in Nashville, she’s worked with Nashville Children’s Theatre, The Amun Ra Theater, SistaStyle Productions, Tennessee Women’s Theater Project, Destiny Theatre Experience, and the Nashville Repertory Theatre, among other wonderful play houses in Nashville. Alicia began writing in 2016, with her short play, Power to the People, making its debut in New York, New York in the fall of 2017, as part of the “My America” plays workshop. Her first full length play, Heavy was developed in the Nashville Rep's Writing Room, and her latest full-length play, Free and Public Citizen was written in 2019, as part of the Tennessee Playwrights Studio. She's also written commissioned work for the Nashville Children's Theatre, and the University of Maryland’s School of Music. Alicia has had the pleasure of directing with Actor's Bridge Ensemble (Detroit ‘67), as well as Street Theatre (Eclipsed, Sweat), Infinity Center Presents (The Colored Museum) and Nashville Repertory Theatre (Schoolgirls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play). Whether it be acting, directing, or writing, Alicia is always grateful for any opportunity to express herself with creative authenticity.
Stephanie Houghton
Stephanie Houghton
Stephanie Houghton
Stephanie Houghton (Director - Nashville/Alabama Fringe) fell in love with theater in high school and acted in numerous high school and college productions in her Missouri hometown. After graduating from college, she moved to New York City and got involved behind the scenes as the company manager for Folding Chair Classical Theatre, which produced classical plays and modern adaptations of classic stories. She moved to Nashville in 2012 and founded Gadabout Theater Company in 2014, where she continues to direct many of the productions. Gadabout brings theater to people who don’t know they like theater — unconventional, often comedic shows performed in nontraditional environments.
Nettie Kraft
Stephanie Houghton
Stephanie Houghton
Nettie Kraft (Playwright/Priscilla Wear) received her MFA from Roosevelt University in Chicago, where she interned at Steppenwolf, working with Tracy Letts and Amy Morton. Prior to that, she studied theater in England, eventually attaining a BFA from The University of Colorado at Boulder, where she worked with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival for four years and began a theater company. While in Tennessee, she has worked in TV, film, and on stage with SistaStyle Productions, Blackbird Theater, Nashville Rep, TWTP, Actors Bridge Ensemble, and Nashville Shakespeare Festival,. She routinely teachers at various local universities, was the dialect coach for four seasons of the TV drama Nashville, acted in the film Novitiate, which premiered at Sundance, coached and acted in the film Above Suspicion with Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) and Jack Houston (Boardwalk Empire), played Mama Cash on CMT’s Sun Records, and is a proud co-founder of Verge Theatre Company.
Alexis LaVon
Alexis LaVon
Alexis LaVon
Alexis LaVon (Sound Designer - Nashville) Alexis is an arts enthusiast who grew up in Nashville by way of Chicago. She works in Nashville & Atlanta as a Stage Manager and Production Manager for various projects. She also serves as 1st Assistant Director on Feature Films locally and out of state. She is thrilled in her new position as Production Manager with 353 Media Group and stays busy in their partnership with NMAAM. She has numerous productions to her credit and has worked with some of the best theater companies in Nashville: Kennie’s Playhouse Theatre, Sista Style Productions, Tennessee Women's Theatre Project, Circle Players, Street Theatre, Nashville Children's Theatre, Chaffin's Barn, Humanity Theatre Project and Tennessee Playwrights Studio.
Ang Madaline-Johnson
Sofia Hernández Morales
Ang Madaline-Johnson
Ang Madaline-Johnson (Playwright/Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - Darkhorse/Nashville) Ang is delighted and honored to be part of That Woman as both a writer and performer! Previous Nashville credits include Nashville Rep, Nashville Shakespeare Festival , Humanity Theatre Project, Pipeline-Collective, Chaffin’s Barn Theater, Street Theatre Company, & Verge/Woven Theatre Co. Ang was also part of the original casts of Golf-The Musical (Off-Broadway) & Wild Dust-The Musical. She is the Artistic Director of Nolensville Performance Collective’s Stoke, a singer-songwriter, & the proud mother of Murphy & Mack. Infinite thanks to Mike for his steadfast love and endless support of her artistic pursuits.
Mary McCallum
Sofia Hernández Morales
Ang Madaline-Johnson
Mary McCallum (Playwright/Ellen Rometsch - Darkhorse/Nashville) received her B.S. and M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University. She is the founder of SistaStyle Productions. Her theatre acting credits include The Mountaintop, Fly, Girl!, The Face of Emmett Till, Never Been Home, Waitin’ 2 End Hell, A Raisin in the Sun, The Story, Lysistrata, The Desire, Pretty Fire, Long Time Since Yesterday, Louie and Ophelia, Hunger in Paradise and The Dance on Widow’s Row. She has also appeared in several films & T.V. One’s Fatal Attraction. Writing highlights: Her play SingleVille was a winner of the D.C. Black Theatre Festival One Act Battle and was a mainstage selection for the National Black Theatre Festival. Her play Six Triple Eight took top prize at the Atlanta Black Theatre Festival and Tampa Bay Theatre Festival. The movie version of SingleVille (writer, co-director, actress) won several awards in 2018 including Best Feature at the Twin Cities Black Film festival and the International Black Film Festival. Chasing Jeremy was a screenplay winner at the British Urban Film Festival and a finalist at the Urban World Film Festival. In 2019, she was a winner of the “Women Who Rock Nashville” award for the arts. In 2020, she was selected as librettist for Nashville Opera’s first mainstage commission One Vote Won.
Sofia Hernández Morales
Sofia Hernández Morales
Sofia Hernández Morales
Sofia Hernández Morales (Jill Cowan - Nashville/Priscilla Wear - AL Fringe) was born in Mexico City and lived three years in Victoria, Canada, before coming to Nashville for school. In Mexico, she was part of the musical Aladdin, playing the character of the female version of Jafar; she also played Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast. She joined "Compañia de Repertorio de Roberto Escobedo", a theatre company in Mexico City. In Canada, she was able to further her education and took voice lessons from the "Victoria Conservatory of Music". She is currently a student at Lipscomb University studying acting, where she has had the opportunity to be part of student films, staged readings, and singing performances.
Rachel Penner
Elizabeth Turner
Sofia Hernández Morales
Rachel Penner (Gunilla Von Post - Alabama Fringe Festival/Aftyn Behn Benefit) is a Nashville native and is a senior at Lipscomb University. She is excited to be reprising her role in That Woman - The Monologue Show after performing as Guinilla Von Post at the Alabama Fringe Festival. Her recent roles include Rosencranz in Hamlet with Nashville Shakespeare Festival, and Mohr in Antigone with Lipscomb University Theater. She would like to thank her family for their love and support. To God be the glory!
Silva Riganelli
Elizabeth Turner
Elizabeth Turner
Silva Riganelli (Inga Arvad - East Room/Nashville) started her acting career in the rose theater lights of Rome’s burgeoning performing arts scene ten years ago. She debuted in a production of The Bald Soprano, a light comedy production directed by Chiara Casarigo, in 2014 and since then has fallen madly in love with acting. After moving to Nashville in 2016, she joined the 4th Wall Acting Studio, as a testament to her love for learning and expanding her repertoire in theater arts. She has since been casted in several commercials, music videos, and amateur and Indie films. Her latest projects include radio plays in Italian by Agatha Christie, Achille Campanile, and some American movies from the s.40s, as well as a series, Mt. Mystic Rangers produced locally in Nashville and won the Golden State Film Festival in 2022 as Best Pilot, among other kudos received from other Film Festivals. Always a student in search of mastery of her craft, this is one dedicated pupil of the arts just rearing for another adventure to prove her skill
Elizabeth Turner
Elizabeth Turner
Elizabeth Turner
Elizabeth Turner (Playwright/Judith Exner) is excited to flex her creative writing muscles and perform alongside so many of Nashville's talented actresses. She’s been fortunate to work with multiple Nashville and Middle Tennessee theatre companies over the years. Past roles include Mrs. Wormwood in Matilda: The Musical, Val in A Chorus Line, and Karen in August: Osage County, among others. She was also one-fifth of the professional U.S. touring company of the comedy Old Jews Telling Jokes. (Fun fact: she’s neither old nor Jewish.) But her favorite roles ever are mommy to Eleanor and wife to Toby. Many thanks to Angela and Molly for spearheading this project. Enjoy!
Kysa Siovan
Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva
Audrey Venable
Native Nashvillian Kysa Siovan (Jill Cowan - AL Fringe) is an award-winning screenwriter, filmmaker and actress. She is the creator of Nashville's first and only urban soap opera, Stirred Not Shaken and has served as creative director of commercials for local businesses shown on television in the Southeastern region.
Audrey Venable
Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva
Audrey Venable
Audrey Venable (Ellen Rometsch - East Room/Nashville) is a senior Musical Theatre Major and Dance Minor at Lipscomb University. Mainstage credits include When She Had Wings, Mamma Mia, Songs for a New World, and As You Like It. She was also a Student Company Member at Yale University’s Cape Cod Theatre Project, and has most recently played Maia in a staged reading of Lauren Ferebee's Star Girls directed by David Ian Lee (The Pipeline Collective) at Lipscomb University. This is her first production with the Tennessee Playwrights Studio. Audrey also works in film, as seen in the short film Audrey Austen (The Chicago Film Festival Nominee). Many thanks to her family, friends, Alex, and the Lipscomb Department of Theatre for their support as she pursues what she loves. Thank you! AudreyVenable.com, @Audrette
Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva
Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva
Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva
Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva (Playwright/Marilyn Monroe - Nashville) Credits include: Stepmother, Cinderella (Studio Tenn); Mrs. Phelps, Matilda (AtPro) Madame De La Grande Bouche, Beauty And The Beast (Studio Tenn); Mae Tuck, Tuck Everlasting (Nashville Children’s Theatre); John Wesley Powell, Men on Boats (Actors Bridge Ensemble); Callie Carter, The Battle of Franklin; Alice, Big River; Viney, The Miracle Worker; Christmas Present, A Christmas Carol (Studio Tenn) Old Woman, The Difficulty of Crossing a Field; Priest, Tosca; Amazon, Turnadot (Nashville Opera); Mama Morton, Chicago; Francine/Lena, Clybourne Park; Ronette, Little Shop of Horrors; Calpurnia, To Kill a Mockingbird (Nashville Repertory); Roberta, Sistas the Musical (Tennessee Women's Theatre Project); Lady Day, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Wild Card Productions); Ms. H, 7 Ways to Sunday (The Theatre Bug); Mrs. Greer, Annie (Chaffin’s Barn); Motormouth Maybelle, Hairspray; Lula/Landlady, Violet; Aunt Ethel/Mama, The Colored Museum (Street Theatre Company). Tasha, Motherhood: The Musical (Faby Baby Productions). Jennifer received her BA in Theatre Performance and Dance from Austin Peay State University. She is thankful for the love and support from her friends and family.
Lauren Wilson
Lauren Wilson
Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva
Lauren Wilson (Graphic Designer) is a full-time art director and graphic designer based in Nashville, TN. A native New Yorker, she fell in love with theater and performing at a young age and performed in many New York productions over the years before attending C.W. Post University to study art and design. Lauren moved to Nashville back in 2012 and immediately felt at home in Nashville’s growing theater and art scene. She loves being able to work and collaborate with other Nashville creatives and local organizations, and continues to provide design services and creative direction for theater companies, independent businesses, and artists all over the city. (www.lwilsondesign.com)
CJ Walton
Lauren Wilson
CJ Walton
Chandra or CJ Walton (Ellen Rometsch - AL Fringe) is an actress and stand-up comedian. She's been performing since a child and graduated with a degree in Theater from Tennessee State University. She has been on stages with the likes of Dave Hollister and Gary Jenkins, to Bernadette Stanis and Regina McCrary. As a comedian, she has traveled from Chicago to New Orleans to do comedy, and she won the 2018 Actress of the Year for her stage performance in Clybourne Park as Lena/Francine and was also nominated in Nashville Broadway World for best actress. From hosting the very first Music City Talent show to managing a camp for youth, The YES MA’AM NO MA’AM Int., Chandra loves kids and people and to help. She gives every credit and all performances to her late grandmother who was one of the funniest, sweetest and most honest person I know. “Without my granny, I would never know how to really love people. Even when they are not the nicest.”.
Lauren Wilson
CJ Walton
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NOTES FROM Co-Creators Angela Gimlin & Molly Breen
A bout of insomnia had me flipping through the television one evening when I stumbled onto a badly produced documentary about the women romantically linked to President John F. Kennedy. I couldn’t watch for long because it wasn’t about the women as much as it was demonizing them. I started digging deeper on my own and found that the women in his life were, frankly, much more interesting than the man himself. These women were strong, brilliant, courageous and their stories deserved to be told. No, they must be told. What better way to accomplish this than through the eyes and ears of the women of today? When I first went to Molly Breen with the idea for a monologue show, she took my vision and made it more than superb. The result was a show produced, directed, written, acted and completed by women. I hope you will not just see the brave, intelligent and beautiful women in JFK’s life, but the ones on stage in front of you and behind the scenes. – Angela Gimlin, Co-Creator
American theatre and film are rooted in misogyny and racism. Many of us are so used to people of an extraordinarily high beauty standard portraying ordinary people on our stages and, in particular, on our screens, that we may not even question this blatantly incongruent norm. For women, the default for this so-called “beauty” standard has been young, small and white, which, in turn, has created barriers for many talented women to pursue acting careers, which are historically and primarily cast from these types. Unfortunately, this gate keeping has caused us to miss great talent on our stages and screens. Fortunately, this is changing a bit; but the change is far too late and slow in my opinion. When Angela brought me her idea, I knew it was something special, but we both agreed we did not want to create this show that way. Although some of these historical figures exemplified the current beauty standard of their times, they were also human beings who experienced the same range of emotions that we all navigate in our daily lives. By recruiting writers and casting actors of varying ages, ethnicities, and who experience the world in a range of body types, we hope that the audience can further appreciate the shared humanity of each woman’s story. Only a few of us women will actually serve as a First Lady, or become a film icon, but we all have felt loss, betrayal, joy, and a range of sexual experiences along spectrums of desire and fulfillment to abuse and assault. I believe all women can relate to something in each of these stories.
Prior to this project, I knew next to nothing about the history of women involved with JFK, other than that he cheated on his wife and that there were rumors of an affair with Marilyn Monroe. Through co-creating this show, I have learned much history that, I believe, is not common knowledge and that has been - in many cases - deliberately and systematically kept from the public. I also believe that every interaction we have as human beings changes us, at least in some small way. The President of the United States is not immune to this. The interactions he had with these women helped to form his character, and thus, affected him and his policies as leader of the States (in some cases, quite directly). They are important to history, and I am happy to share some of their stories with you.
Some of these women, such as Mimi Alford, Blaze Starr, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Judith Exner, gave us their thoughts, feelings and experiences in the form of books and interviews, on which our playwrights have based these monologues. For others, such as Priscilla Wear (full-length version) and Ellen Rometsch, very little about their personal feelings about their romantic/sexual relationships with John F. Kennedy, along with other details of their lives are known. Thus, the feelings expressed in these monologues have been crafted by the playwrights as historical fiction that supposes what the women might have been feeling in light of facts that are public knowledge. Circumstances surrounding Mary Pinchot Meyer remain a mystery, and the playwright has used artistic license to imagine various scenarios and possible feelings for this character. We believe this all adds up to a fascinating night of theatre, and I hope you agree. I hope that the women of history depicted here tonight would be pleased by how their stories have been told in THAT WOMAN - THE MONOLOGUE SHOW – Molly Breen, Co-Creator
