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Nannuccio & his Fifteen Stepdaughters
by Annalena Odaldi (1600)

If you’re looking for a cousin of commedia with a razz on dads… Nannuccio & His Fifteen Stepdaughters by Sister Annalena Odaldi should do the trick. This short and bittersweet farce tells the tale of Nannuccio Di Pierone, a widower down on his luck, looking to remarry using the goods and riches his deceased wife left in her will. The only problem is, she actually left everything for her fifteen daughters’ dowries, and not to the avaricious, self-aggrandizing Nannuccio. What will happen if the law gets involved? This play is a wise-cracking, smart, almost tragicomedy about greed, inheritance, and the absurdity of male ego.

Annalena Odaldi (1572-1683) was born Lessandra Odaldi in Pistoia, Italy. In 1584, her mother passed, and her father married off the oldest daughter and sent Lessandra to the Franciscan convent of Saint Chiara, where she took the name Analena. While at Saint Chiara, Odaldi performed many tasks such as bookkeeping, overseeing liturgical celebrations, and assisting young nuns in their transition to religious life. Odaldi wrote five known farces that were staged during a celebration known as carnival. Odaldi wrote about the secular world, perhaps based on her own upbringing and/or curiosities about the world as it was while she was confined. It is of note that many of Odaldi’s male protagonists are named Piero in some way, the same as her own father.

Casting*: Written as 5W, 4M (can expand or double)
Production Considerations: Can include song and dance interludes, up to the discretion of the director, so could benefit from a choreographer and music director. Also, a judge enters and spends the duration of his stage time on a donkey. Do what you wish with this.
Licensing: Available with full subscription

The Falcon
by Marie-Anne Barbier (1719)

If you’re looking for a verse romcom with snarky sidekicks and a lover’s quarrel… look no further than Marie-Anne Barbier’s The Falcon. Federic has spent every penny on impressing Axiane – but she has remained unsure of his true affection. Their friends push and pull for them to see reason, yet fear and flirtation drive them to extremes. This quippy period piece asks, is love worth self-sacrifice? How much? And can we ever truly trust a lover’s meaning and intentions? Beatrice and Benedick but with Bridgerton vibes, this charming cat-and-mouse game of logic and love reminds its audience that personal insecurity is often our deepest romantic challenge.

Marie-Anne Barbier  (1660?-1742?) was strongly supported by French literary circles and deeply interested in being part of a female canon of writers. At the Comedie-Francais, four of her tragedies were performed, though her biggest successes were her opera librettos. Because women's works were rarely produced at the time, Barbier started editing and publishing the journal Literary Seasons around 1714, which often included theatrical criticism. In a frustrating moment connecting our historical writers:  both she and fellow ETC writer Catherine Bernard were slandered by Voltaire, who stole many elements from their plays and then claimed they were written by Bernard de Fontenelle. Rude. While we know little about Barbier’s personal life, we know her career successes made a mark on the French literary canon.

Casting*: Written as 2W, 2M
Production Considerations: A falcon puppet (or really good animal trainer…?)
Licensing:  Available with full subscription

Oh, These Times!
by Catherine the Great (1772)

If you’re looking for a satirical comedy where every character lives life in the panic lane and practices the opposite of what they preach… consider Catherine the Great’s Oh, These Times!  A maid attempts to help her naive lady marry the sweet Mr. Milksop, while dodging her grandmother’s fears of lower class social climbers. From catty gossips to sheltered virgins, no one seems happy with their station –– and their schemes and complaints pile up. Preempting Chekhov’s darkly yearning comedic sense by 100 years, Oh, These Times! is a searing reflection of our modern day social anxieties and the farces we put ourselves through to soothe them.

Famed Russian Empress Catherine the Great (1729-1796) was born on August 21, 1729 as Sophia Augusta Fredericka von Anhalt-Zerbst. As a young German princess, she was invited to the Russian court and married the Grand Duke Peter in 1745. The Grand Duke took the throne as Peter III in 1761 but was quickly deposed and murdered through Catherine’s own orchestration, at which point she took the throne and ruled Russia as Catherine II from 1762 - 1796. A patron to the arts and a prolific writer herself, Catherine encouraged the exchange of ideas and creation of art to flourish under her reign. She started literary magazines and wrote a number of novels, plays, operas, and essays. Catherine encouraged the use of theatre in particular as a social platform and as proof of Russia’s sophistication.

Casting*: Written as 5W, 2M
Production Considerations: No more than Shakespeare!
Licensing:  Available with full subscription

The Mannequin
by Germaine de Staël (1811)

If you’re looking for a snappy satire of the sexist dating scene… consider this tight one-act from literary luminary Germaine de Staël. Although he’s always lived in Germany, Monsieur de la Morlière glorifies all things from France as the pinnacle of culture –– and therefore secured a noble French suitor for his daughter, Sophie. However, our clever heroine is ready with a deliciously silly scheme to reveal the pompous French Count for the fool he is. With both frothy fun and physical comedy, this short play packs a lasting punch with its sharp commentary on the hypocrisy in relationships cordial, familial, and romantic.

Germaine de Staël (1766-1817), born Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker, grew up in Paris and followed in her mother’s footsteps, hosting salons for the literary and political elite. A widely-published author throughout her life, “Madame de Staël” wrote novels, plays, literary criticism, and was best known for her political and philosophical essays. As she supported the French Revolution but not its violent excesses, de Staël later became famous for her vocal resistance against Napoleon and was considered his “personal enemy.” She was then banished “a distance of 40 kilometers from Paris” from 1803-1813. Her writings, as well as her patronage as a salonnière, shaped the emerging ideology of Liberalism and the art movement of German Romanticism.

Casting*: Written as 1W, 3M
Production Considerations: A well-dressed mannequin
Licensing:  Available with full subscription

A Reflection in Disguise (Qiaoying 喬影)
by Wu Zao 吴藻 (1825)

If you’re looking for a one-person piece that grapples with the legacy of women writers and the artifice of gender… consider this sharp short by Wu Zao. In A Reflection in Disguise, a writer grapples with her inner idealized artistic self and the boxes society has placed her into. She poses before a portrait of herself cross-dressed as a male scholar and sings to the portrait about her frustrations as a woman of talent. Can she ever truly reconcile the two selves and win the acclaim she deserves? Through lush Chinese poetry, this monologue yields searing insight into the artifice of gender and the psyche of women in literature in the 19th Century.

Wu Zao 吴藻 (1799-1863) was a wildly prolific poet, eventually becoming known as one of the first great female Chinese poets. She was born to a merchant family in the Zhejiang province and found support for her writing from her parents and siblings. When she married at 22, her husband built her an office in their home to encourage her to continue her literary pursuits. This support led her to write 85 poems, 309 song lyrics, 1 aria, and a play over the course of her life.  It was this play - A Reflection in Disguise - that led her to widespread acclaim and brought her into an elite circle of female poets. There are some scholars who claim that many of her poems are lesbian coded and interpret lesbian desire and queer erotic longing from her writing. She would eventually also go on to publish several volumes of poetry (both her own and other poets’ work) and become a priestess before dying at age 64.

Casting*: Written as 1 actor
Production Considerations: There are several songs in the show that could require composition and a music director.
Licensing: Available with full subscription

Pleasure (Volupté)
by Rachilde (1896)

If you’re looking for a play that reveals how the pursuit of sensuality can both liberate and ensnare… then Rachilde’s Pleasure is the two-hander of your dreams. An intimate, delicate, and emotionally charged conversation between two young lovers, Pleasure offers feminist undertones with a dangerous and erotic edge. The play’s themes of sexual politics, youthful desire, and the consequences of indulgence are as timely today as they were in its origins in the Belle Époque. Fans of Sarah Kane, Sam Shepard, and Edith Wharton alike will delight in its dark twists and lush poetry, making this a standout choice for a contemporary or a classical season.

Rachilde (1860-1953) born Marguerite Eymery in rural France, became one of the most audacious literary figures of the late 19th century. Her journey into writing began at an early age, fueled by a deep sense of rebellion against the rigid societal roles prescribed to women. A novelist, playwright, and critic, Rachilde embodied the French Decadent movement through her fearless explorations of desire, gender fluidity, and societal taboos. While her adoption of the male pseudonym “Rachilde” was indeed a form of gender subversion, her exploration of gender fluidity extended far beyond her pen name. In her writings, Rachilde often blurred the lines between masculine and feminine identities, portraying characters that resisted easy categorization. Rachilde’s oeuvre fell into relative obscurity after her death, however, feminist and queer scholars in the late 20th century began to rediscover her work, and today, Rachilde is celebrated as an essential figure in both literary and gender studies.

Casting*: Written as 1W, 1M
Production Considerations: There is a pool of water in the center of the stage that is a crucial symbol of the characters’ evolving desires, which the characters interact with in various ways.
Licensing: Available with full subscription

Rain of Ice
by Hasegawa Shigure (1926)

If you’re looking for the character-driven naturalism of Strindberg through the lens of intersectional poverty… consider this one-act drama from the mother of Japanese realism. In her final hours, the terminally ill Tamayo wrestles with delusions of the past as well as anxieties of the present. A former sex worker, she now contends with the role transactionality has played (or not played) in her relationships, interrogating her friends’ true loyalties and fearing for her own daughter’s naivete. Through heartfelt prose and raw, naturalistic dialogue, Hasegawa Shigure digs into the grim realities facing impoverished women, telling an intersectional story of depth and intimacy.

Hasegawa Shigure (1879-1941) is widely regarded as Japan’s first female playwright and was a staunch supporter of other women writers. Born Hasegawa Yasuko, she selected the pen name “Shigure” from the term for cold, late autumn rain. Beginning with her breakthrough contest-winning play Kaicho’on (Ocean Tide) in 1905, she became a prolific writer and producer of kabuki theatre. As the co-founder and editor of Women’s Art (Nyonin Geijutsu) magazine in the 1920s, she went on to launch the careers of many female authors. In Rain of Ice (amongst other contemporary plays), Shigure began to experiment with naturalism in contemporary theatrical settings, for which she has been credited as the first playwright to innovate modern realism in Japanese drama.

Casting*: Written as 5W
Production Considerations: Scenic needs call for a hanging model of a Western-style sailboat, about two feet in length.
Licensing: Available with full subscription

Plumes
by Georgia Douglas Johnson (1927)

If you are looking for a piercing drama about family, poverty, and access to healthcare redolent of “August: Osage County”… consider this raw, tender one-act. In Georgia Douglas Johnson’s Plumes, mother Charity grapples with whether she can afford medical treatment for her ailing daughter. Unsure if the treatment will be successful, Charity must decide whether it would be better to honor her daughter’s life by way of an extravagant funeral instead. This play is a moving exploration of grace and dignity under the obscene circumstances of poverty and inadequate access to healthcare.

Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880-1966) was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and became a prominent member of the Harlem Renaissance. She completed degrees at Atlanta University Normal College and went on to study music at Oberlin College and the Cleveland College of Music. She published her first poem in 1916 in the NAACP magazine Crisis. She went on to publish a weekly column with the magazine from 1926-1932. She wrote many plays including Blue Blood (performed 1926) and Plumes (performed 1927). Georgia Douglas Johnson spent much of career living and working in Washington, DC where her home became a hub for many poets and artists involved in the Harlem Renaissance.

Casting*: Written as 2W, 1M
Production Considerations: None more than Shakespeare
Licensing: Available with full subscription

Soldadera
by Josefina Niggli (1936)

If you’re looking for a wartime story about the choices women must make when fighting for their rights… Soldadera is the play for you. Tasked with safeguarding a stockpile of weapons, the play follows a group of women soldiers trying to protect their own sense of honor – and their lives. An expansive and yet intimate story of gendered oppression, Niggli’s claustrophobic drama traces the parallels between global conflicts and our personal lives. In our ever-tense political climate, this exploration of revolution and the ways political ideals play out at home is as relevant today as it was in 1936.

Josefina Niggli (1910-1983) was born in Mexico to Anglo-American parents. As a young child, Niggli was sent away from her birthplace to live in the United States due to the ongoing Mexican revolution. As violence spread throughout the country, Niggli was only able to intermittently visit the land of her birth throughout her childhood before being sent back to the United States again. Influenced by her upbringing, much of Niggli’s works centers on the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution and her reflections on not belonging to one place or another. After returning to Mexico as an adult, she remained dedicated to portraying authentic Mexican narratives to American audiences. Niggli died in 1983, but left behind a legacy of writing that included 3 novels, 16 plays, screenplays, and countless poems. She is the only Mexican-American woman to have a theater named after her. Niggli’s full length play, Singing Valley, is on the 2022 List!

Casting*: Written as 7W, 1M
Production Considerations: A fight director (a bomb goes off, there are firearms present, and active injuries incurred throughout the play)
Licensing: Available with full subscription

Florence
by Alice Childress (1949)

If you’re looking for an elegant, subtle, and subversive blend of heart and politics… Alice Childress works her magic again with Florence. Set in a train station in the Jim Crow south, Mama waits to board to New York City, planning to bring her daughter Florence home from trying to “make it” as a stage actress. A jaded white actress awaits the same train, and though first seeming to help, it becomes clear she thinks nothing of Florence’s prospects –– and Mama has to decide if she'll support or deny her daughter's dreams. This sinuous story holds the tension of rebellion and heartbreak, painting a vivid picture of the so-called white northern ally erasure of Black joy, worth, and humanity. 

Alice Childress (1916-1994) was born Louise Henderson to a father who worked in insurance and a mother who worked as seamstress in Charleston, South Carolina. When her parents separated in 1925, Childress moved to Harlem and was subsequently raised by her grandmother. Encouraged by her grandmother to study and write, Childress educated herself by frequenting the New York Public Library. Childress did not finish her secondary education, but her independent studies prepared her to become a force in dramatic literature. Childress and her husband, Alvin Childress, joined the American Negro Theatre (ANT) in 1939.  Childress wrote her first play, Florence, overnight for ANT. Childress gained a reputation as a “Liberation Writer” and her efforts for equality on and off stage made her a target for FBI surveillance. Childress continued to write plays into the 1960s and 1970s. Her dramatic works through many decades include Trouble in Mind, The Wedding Band (featured on the 2020 List!), Wine in the Wilderness, and String.

Casting*: Written as 3W, 1M
Production Considerations: No more than Shakespeare
Licensing: Available with full subscription

Three Women
by Sylvia Plath (1962)

If you’re looking for an achingly lyrical play probing the complex beauty and pain of pregnancy… consider this dramatic poem that brings Sylvia Plath’s raw emotionality to the stage. Interweaving three contrasting perspectives, this piece wrestles with childbirth, loss, and motherhood as perceived by a trio of women. One welcomes a wished-for and beloved child; another comes to terms with a miscarriage; the third gives her child up for adoption following the trauma of sexual assault. The resulting chorus paints a sharp and unflinching portrait of having, or losing, a child. Three Women is a daring piece to engage a community in conversation around the choices and agency of reproductive rights arcing towards glimmers of hope and healing.

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) is best known for her turbulent life and viscerally emotional poetry, which captures the perilous position of women in mid-20th-century America in its themes of alienation and self-destruction. Plath struggled with depression and bipolar disorder throughout her life, as explored in her landmark novel The Bell Jar, and tragically took her own life at the age of thirty. In the final three years of her life – and in particular following the birth of her son in early 1962 – she wrote prolifically and unrestrainedly, crafting many of the poems that would form her iconic collection Ariel (1965). Written as a radio play in 1962, Three Women marks the beginning of Plath’s focus on poems to be read aloud.

Casting*: Written as 3W
Production Considerations: an Intimacy Coordinator could be beneficial to rehearse sensitive material
Licensing: Available with full subscription

Tango Palace
by Maria Irene Fornés (1963)

If you’re looking for a play that leverages the existentialism of Beckett but ratchets up the stakes through erotic powerplay… you’ll love Maria Irene Fornés’ Tango Palace. Isidore, a genderfluid bon vivant, has trapped their lover, the earnest and noble Leopold, in a room. The space becomes the pair’s entire universe and the stage on which they dance, dissect, and detonate their desires. The dangerous co-dependence of their erotic relationship spills over as they tango, driving them towards death in this searing and sensual examination of masculinity and destructive desire. 

Maria Irene Fornés (1930-2018), often hailed as the mother of Latine playwriting, was born in Havana, Cuba as the youngest of six children. Following her father Carlos’s death in 1945, her mother Carmen relocated the family to New York and Fornés would call the city home. She created over 50 works for the stage including full length plays, opera libretti, musicals, site specific works, devised pieces, and short plays, while also maintaining a presence as a sought-after teacher, collaborator and mentor. Throughout her long and daring career, Fornés intentionally resisted categorization as a Latine playwright, a female playwright, a lesbian playwright, etc. While those aspects of identity were critical to her own experience and at the heart of her advocacy for Hispanic, queer, and feminist creators, she refused to allow her work to be defined by a single marker of identity. Instead, as Scott Cummings writes, “a Fornés play insists on being taken on its own terms” and being understood through a multiplicity of perspectives.

Casting*: Written as 1 GNC person, 1 man. Both characters use masculine pronouns.
Production Considerations: Dance/Intimacy coordinator recommended for extended movement sequences and sequences of violence
Licensing: Available with full subscription

The Inheritance
by Kim Ja-Rim 김자림 (1968)

If you’re looking to mix the drive for wealth accumulation with layered family dynamics...  consider Kim Ja-Rim’s The Inheritance. Against the uncertainty of a post-war political and economic backdrop, Tosup, his sister, and their respective partners quarrel over their father’s trunk, eagerly waiting to learn the details of their inheritance. This short work riffs on the genre of the living room play and delves into the changing gender roles in a traditional society, marriage, what we owe to our families, and how striving for prosperity affects them all. Chekhovian in its anticipation and containment, The Inheritance pulls back a family’s metaphorical curtains and offers a peek into their sometimes uncouth attempts to realize their dreams.

Kim Ja-Rim 김자림 (1926-1994) was the first female playwright to receive a production from the Korean National Theatre. Kim was born in Pyongyang, and went south to Busan when Korea was divided. That’s where she met her poet husband Yang Myeong-mun and they were known in the literary world as a “lovebird couple.” She worked as a teacher before launching her playwriting career in 1959, when her first one-act ‘돌개바람 [Dolgae-baram]’ (The Whirlwind) got an honorable mention in Chosun Ilbo’s New Year’s literary contest. Her play ‘이민선’ [Yi- min-sun](The Emigrant Ship), which received the production at the national theatre, was written in 1966 and is considered a classic. Many of her plays examine the restrictions on women’s agency, exploitation of labor, and the political constraints on the dreams of individuals. About her work, Kim has said, “No matter how busy I am with other things, playwriting has always been my heart’s hometown, desire, and passion.”

Casting*: Written as 2W, 2M
Production Considerations: None more than Shakespeare
Licensing: Available with full subscription

The Guitarrón
by Lynne Alvarez (1983)

If you’re looking for the hot queer drama and dreamy magical realism of Angels in America set against the beaches of Veracruz… look no further than The Guitarrón by Lynne Alvarez. During a cataclysmic fishing drought, six members of the local village fight to find their way out. Underscored by a mysterious cellist with a mesmerizing instrument, in this play each member of the community tries to save the ones they love while navigating the transactional nature of their own relationships. A story about the drought in our souls when the cruelty of reality keeps us from the seas of our dreams, The Guitarrón would be a fabulous addition to any season.

Lynne Alvarez (1947-2009) was born in Portland, Oregon to immigrant parents from Córdoba, Argentina. Alvarez was wildly artistic from a young age, deciding she would be like a poet, studying dance, and playing cello, flute, and piano. She was mentored by Fred Hudson, who was instrumental in bringing her into the New York theatre scene, and her work was heavily inspired by Lorca. She wrote three plays in the three years she spent with the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, including Graciela and The Guitarrón, the latter premiering at St. Clement’s in 1983 and winning Alvarez an NEA fellowship and a New Dramatists membership. She went on to be consistently produced and lauded in New York and beyond. Mac Wellman wrote, “Lynne Alvarez’s theatre is something altogether different; it is complex without being nihilistic. It is both for and against the world, it is true, but the mood is far more light-hearted and sophisticated.”

Casting*: Written as 1W, 6M
Production Considerations: We recommend an intimacy coordinator and fight choreographer. A cello or music consultant would also be helpful.
Licensing: Available with full subscription

Screens
by Dolores Prida (1987)

If you’re looking for a satirical critique of the blinding effects of media and consumerism… look no further than Dolores Prida’s Screens. In Prida’s masterful work, three telenovela stars reenact the highlights of their career while trapped in their house. As an ominous apocalypse looms outside, they continue to restage these scenes. The lines between life and art start to blur to disastrous outcomes. Blending sharp political insight with an accessible comedic edge and wrapped together in a love triangle, this play offers a powerful critique of modern identity and environmental disaster in the face of mass media’s demands.

Dolores Prida (1943-2013) was a groundbreaking Cuban-American playwright, poet, and columnist. Born in Cuba, Prida immigrated to New York City in 1961 where she became a prominent voice for Latinx communities through her plays and columns, exploring the intersections of gender, race, and cultural identity. Her most notable works include Beautiful Señoritas (1977), Coser y Cantar (1981), and Botánica (1991). Throughout her career, Prida infused her writing with humor, sharp wit, and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by marginalized communities. Her plays often satirized societal expectations and the media’s portrayal of women, making her a powerful feminist voice in the theater world. She was also a columnist for El Diario and Latina magazine, where she continued to champion issues of social justice and cultural representation. Prida’s legacy remains influential today, with her works continuing to be performed and studied as vital contributions to both feminist and Latinx theater.

Casting*: Written as 1W, 2M
Production Considerations: An Intimacy Director and a Fight Director would be supportive. Productions can update songs and soap opera names to fit the times.
Licensing: Available with full subscription

The Girls from the Five and Ten (Les filles du 5-10-15)
by Abla Farhoud (1987)

If you’re looking for the darkly vulnerable drama of Suburbia told through the lens of two sisters… The Girls from the Five and Ten gets to the heart of what it means to be overlooked as an immigrant in a new country. Trapped in their father’s variety shop with never-ending work and rude customers, Sisters Amira and Kaokab sacrifice their personal lives in the hopes of someday selling the store and returning to Lebanon. But as their escape seems further and further away each day, the two must decide whether their dream of going home is actually worth the cost. Defiance, sisterhood, rebellion, and oppression are all at the forefront of Farhoud’s heartbreakingly tender sister story.

Abla Farhoud (1945-2021) was a Lebanese-born Canadian writer and actor known for both her work in theater and for her outspoken writings of immigrants struggling to find a voice and home in their new surroundings. Her family moved to Canada from Lebanon when she was 5. In Canada, she had to drop out of school to work at her family’s store - much like the girls in her play. At 17, she began acting with Radio-Canada and began her career in theater. Three years later, she returned to and spent a few years in Lebanon before moving to Paris to study theater. She returned to Canada to receive a masters degree in Theater Arts at the Université du Québec à Montréal where she also wrote her first few plays. In 1987, The Girls from the Five and Ten premiered as part of Ubu’s International Women’s Festival. In addition to her theatrical writing, Farhoud also published 7 novels. Her expansive, global work focuses on the overlooked migrant experience and that of women caught between the culture they are learning and the one they have left at home.

Casting*: Written as 3W, 2 M, 1 Girl, Multi of Any (up to production): Window Shoppers
Production Considerations: Lead women are of Middle-Eastern Descent and should be able to speak Arabic. The shop is set ablaze at end of show.
Licensing: Available with full subscription

The Curation Team

Triza Cox, Director of Outreach & Engagement for Hedgepig (2024)
Gagarin, Actor/Ensemble Member of Hedgepig (2023-2024)
Kalina Ko, Literary Assistant of Roundabout Theatre Company (2023-2024)
Emily Lyon, Director/Dramaturg/Artistic Director of Hedgepig (2020-2024)
Skye Pagon, Actor/Director/Producer (2020-2024)
Shannon Corenthin, Actor/Producing Director of Hedgepig (2020-2023)
Mary Candler, Founding Artistic Director of Hedgepig (2020-2022)
Katherine Bischoping, Lead Research Associate
Natalie Kane, Research Committee Coordinator

The Reading Committee