The Mirror Monologues: A Call For Women Writers To Create Dramatic Monologues

PRLog (Press Release) - Dec. 20, 2012 - Being a woman isn't simple. No matter how well one lives with the other gender, through work and play, they aren't the same. The way women see themselves and the way they are seen by others, is one way females and males differ. Among the most telling differences is how women see themselves, both literally and metaphorically. Whether it’s feeling glamorous in a tutu at age six or a wedding dress decades later, agonizing over a pimple, a scar or “bad hair,” or wondering if whether they look too thin, fat, wrinkled, old, or young, women don’t just glance in a mirror and dash out the door. As Elissa Melamed explains it, men look at themselves in mirrors while women look for themselves.

All women age 16 and older are invited to submit one (only one) monologue of one to three pages in English by mail with a postmark between February 1 and March 31, 2013. Email submissions are not accepted. There is no submission fee, and winners will be notified by email about two months prior to the event.

The invitation and call for submissions should share an experience involving a literal reflection. This may be talking to oneself or to someone else in the bathroom, bedroom, department store or anywhere else looking into a mirror like a compact mirror, a rear view mirror or any mirror that may occur. The audience is expected to include people of all ages. The idea is to create a reflection, whether in a car, or a store window, that is honest and avoids gratuitous profanity.  

While the script will inevitably include both painful and celebratory stories, the intention of the overall message of the script will be positive, affirming, and inspiring.

About the Women Behind the Mirror Monologues

The Mirror Monologues was created by four women Judith Estrine, Nancy Gall-Clayton, Donna Guthrie and Linda Rathkopf. The women met when Gall-Clayton and Guthrie put together a short play festival called “6 Women Turning 60” in 2006 after they met at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.  The “6 Women” festival traveled to six venues across the country. Four of the six playwrights stayed in touch, vaguely thinking they would create a festival around their 70th birthdays. But they didn’t want to wait that long, and they also realized they wanted to tell the stories of many women. They communicated by email and telephone. As they began brainstorming, they almost literally locked themselves (and their laptops) into a house for a three-day weekend in late 2012. The result is The Mirror Monologues.

The three directors they will be working with are: Chris McGinn, Kathi E. B. Ellis and Leah Chandler Mills. For more details about the playwrights, please visit the website (http://themirrormonologues.com).

Media Contact: Contact: Donna Guthrie 858-775-9607

Email: DonnaG6113@aol.com

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/12046976/1