Saviana Stanescu

playgroundzero is a series of works-in-progress curated by playwright Saviana Stanescu for the undergroundzero festival in NYC.

This year Saviana selected a diverse and fierce group of women playwrights/artists who have compelling works-in-progress that would benefit from a public presentation and feedback as they continue their journey towards a production.

Each presentation will be followed by a talk-back with the artists, moderated by Saviana Stanescu.

The program is as following:

July 8 – 1 pm:

SWORD OF SEA by Dawn Saito

Directed by Maria Mileaf

July 15 – 1 pm:

COURTING by Cecilia Copeland

Directed by Matt Dickson

July 22 – 1 pm:

ALL ALICES by Penny Jackson

Directed by Joan Kane

July 29 – 1 pm:

G.E.M.S by Pamela Jackson

SWORD OF SEA

A solo theatre piece based on factual accounts of children and women who were victims of sex trafficking.  The work uses text, Butoh and impressionistic movement to explore multi-layered responses to trauma.  Dawn Akemi Saito (writer and performer) collaborates with director Maria Mileaf to give shape to this production.

COURTING

Madelyn is surrounded by suitors in a ridiculous whirling cesspool of romance, sex, money, and societal constrictions. Her nemesis and alter ego The Cheerleader tries to push her into a cookie cutter version of womanhood. The main problem with this prescribed formula is The Mystery Man. He is Madelyn’s old love and off limits. The play rises to a climax when The Cheerleader auctions off Madelyn to the highest bidder.

ALL ALICES

Jessica, a teenager working as an "Alice" at The White Queen restaurant, may lose her identity and even her sanity in a theme park devoted to Alice in Wonderland. Is Wonderland a place of fantasy and fun, or a darker place, on the wrong side of the looking glass, where all is illusion and danger? This play, in a shorter version, won first prize in The Barnard College One Act Play Contest.

G.E.M.S.

G.E.M.S, part-testimonial, part-fictional, is a 60-minute performance where Jackson portrays three characters – Emma, a mid-20’s wanderlust woman searching for God through sex with a man, Helen, Emma’s long suffering mother and Dread, a drug dealer who prophesizes to Emma about her purpose in the world. This is a story about the pursuit of a perfect-feeling-moment to salve the ones that hurt.