Schedule announced for The Bechdel Test Fest - The Bridge Initiative / TCA - September 9 & 10, 2017

Schedule Announced for The Bechdel Test Fest

Presented by The Bridge Initiative: Women in Theatre & Tempe Center for the Arts

The Bridge Initiative: Women in Theatre is partnering with Tempe Center for the Arts to offer The Bechdel Test Fest, Saturday and Sunday, September 9th and 10th, at Tempe Center for the Arts. The festival offerings include a panel discussion, play readings, film screenings, children's workshops, music, and more. The plays and films are created by Arizona talent and pass the Bechdel Test: Two female-identifying characters who have a conversation with each other about something other than a man.


Contest winners are: Full-length plays Chosen Child by Monica Bauer, Welcome Home, Roberta DuCant by Larissa Brewington, All that Matters by Hira Ismail; short plays Three Conversations NOT about Men by Angelica Howland, 27 Signs by Laurelann Porter and Amy Funk, Nasty by Germaine Shames; and short films Starlight Pass (Caelia Adams), Four Millimeters (Morgan Callahan), Giving Up the Ghost (Jennifer Jones Nesbit), Patchwork Dreams (Lee Quarrie), Mission Control (Parco Richardson), and Aunties (Dineta Williams-Trigg). In addition to readings/screening with an audience, the winning playwrights and filmmakers will receive a financial award for their work.

WHAT:   The Bechdel Test Fest is offerings include a panel discussion, play readings, film screenings, children's workshops, music, and more! Plays and films from Arizona playwrights and filmmakers were selected by a panel of adjudicators and all pass the Bechdel Test: Two female-identifying characters who have a conversation with each other about something other than a man.

WHEN:  Saturday, September 9^th, noon - 8pm; Sunday, September 10^th, noon-6pm

(Full schedule below)

WHERE: Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W Rio Salado Pkwy, Tempe, Arizona 85281

COST:  free-$10 / event ** plus service fees

TICKETS:  https://tca.ticketforce.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=652

Children's workshop registration:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/childrens-artist-workshops-the-bechdel-test-fest-registration-36978932984

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE:  

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9^TH

12pm: PANEL DISCUSSION: Why the Bechdel Test? The importance of diverse voices

Panelists: Chandra Crudup (ASU), Amanda Embry (SSC), Ralph Remington (TCA), Diane Senffner (Cine Learning Productions)

2pm: CHOSEN CHILD by Monica Bauer, directed by Xanthia Walker

Mothers and memories combine to change the fate of a schizophrenic man at the         Port Authority Bus Terminal, who’s waiting for a sister he hardly knows, to fulfill an agreement that was never made. Adoption, obligation, and the ties that may, or may not, bind.

2pm: Children's Drama Workshop with Breona Conrad

4pm: SIX SHORT FILMS 

            STARLIGHT PASS (from Caelia Adams)

                       While dealing with the recent death of her husband, an architect wakes up                                in a vacation cabin, only to find her young daughter missing.

            FOUR MILLIMETERS (from Morgan Callahan)

             follows Emily, a competitive figure skater, as she makes a life-changing                         decision between her skating career and her unexpected pregnancy.

            PATCHWORK DREAMS (from Lee Quarrie)

                        The story of a young woman finding her way to her own vision for her 

            MISSION CONTROL (from Parco Richardson)

   It’s never too early to accomplish your dreams. A child with a vivid                        imagination, Serenity Dexter, wishes to set foot on the moon. She’s clever            and won't give up.

            GIVING UP THE GHOST (from Jennifer Jones Nesbit)

                        Discovering the ones who truly love you is sometimes simply a matter of                                   letting go of the ones who maybe don’t so much after all.

            AUNTIES (from Dineta Williams-Trigg)

                        A young woman visiting her relatives discovers a family secret. 

6pm: EDGE Happy Hour (music mixer).

8pm: WELCOME HOME, ROBERT DUCANT by Larissa Brewington, 

directed by Christina Marin

Dark secrets, depression, and an inability to escape the past become a current day   nightmare for a blended family trying to move forward physically. While leaving a hidden past behind.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10^TH

12pm: ALL THAT MATTERS by Hira Ismail, directed by Daniela Talarico

Three years ago, Sara left her home to become a professional dancer against the         wishes of her mother. She returns to try and salvage her relationships with her family while still staying true to her self.

12pm: Children's Drama Workshop with Jamie Bauer-Spano

2pm: ACTORS TOOL-KIT, audition workshop with Laura Durant.

3pm: Tandem Duo – musical performance 

4pm: SHORT PLAYS

            NASTY by Germaine Shames, directed by Micky Small

Peggy Guggenheim, Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Nancy Cunard, witnesses to the rise of Fascism,  time-travel to the era of pussycat hats. What can we learn today from the unlikely example of three defiant, determined and damaged heiresses?

            THREE CONVERSATIONS NOT ABOUT MEN by Angelica Howland, 

directed by Rosie Close

In a world where active listening is becoming a lost art, how bizarre do our conversations with each other need to get so that someone… anyone will pay attention?

            27 SIGNS by Laurelann Porter and Amy Funk, directed by Maren Maclean

 An ethnographic drama based on the research conducted by Amy Funk about sibling grief, 27 Signs traces the stories of both the study participants and the researcher as they move through the experience of grieving the loss of a sibling.