Gloria: A Life
Jan 19 – Feb 18, 2023
12th Ave Arts
1620 12th Avenue
Seattle, WA, 98122
DETAILS
GLORIA STEINEM’S LIFE OF ACTIVISM IS
A TALKING CIRCLE FOR DISCUSSING TODAY’S
STRUGGLE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
Emily Mann’s “Gloria: A Life”
at 12th Ave Arts, Jan 19– Feb-18
“For millennia, human beings have been sitting around campfires, telling and listening to each other's stories. Books and computers help us to learn, but only being together with all five senses allows us to empathize, to understand and to act.
“This is the magic of both a movement and a play.
“Like a pebble tossed into a pond, the ripples keep changing lives.”
—Gloria Steinem
Five decades after Gloria Steinem began raising her voice for equality and championing the voices of others, she remains a leader of the American women’s movement. Emily Mann's play traces the progress of Steinem's extraordinary life, from her undercover Playboy Bunny exposé in the 1960s, through her founding of Ms. Magazine in the 1970s, to her speech at the 2017 Women's March.
Staged for Strawberry Theatre Workshop by Makaela Milburn in a living room set, Gloria: A Life puts the words of the famed journalist into action through an ensemble of six actors, played by Alanah Pascual, Kathy Hsieh, Marion Jacobs, Ayo Tushinde, Sarah Harlett, and Sharon Barto Gouran. Steinem’s journey to activism is traded between voices and distinct cultural origins, giving the movement less historical and more contemporary energy, and the early feminists’ accomplishments drawn as less individual and more collaborative.
For Strawshop, Gloria is one of the most pertinent expressions of its mission to activate community conversation. “Gloria” expands the conversation in the second half of the evening to a discussion of local activism, bounded by four guidelines directly inspired by organizing principles of Black Lives Matter: “Lead with Love, Low Ego, High Impact, and Move at the Speed of Trust.”
For Artistic Director Greg Carter, this was the kind of theatre the community was hungry for when social justice protests rocked the Capitol Hill neighborhood, but the performing arts were shuttered by the pandemic. Gloria: A Life is Strawshop’s first fully realized play to be staged since 2020.
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*Special pricing: Strawshop wants people to see Gloria in clusters. To that end, on Fridays and Saturdays, any group of tickets bought in advance at Brown Paper Tickets are three for the price of two. Buy three tickets or more and the price drops by 33%. No passwords or discount codes required. Just gather some friends to get a free ticket.
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"Gloria: A Life is a unique, deeply moving performance created in the hopeful, conversational spirit of its extraordinary subject."
—Sara Holdren, New York Magazine's Vulture
"One part theater, one part consciousness-raising group therapy session, Gloria: A Life offers an experience that promises to be a more intimate recollection of Steinem's journey, not only because it's been singularly shaped by the hands of women."
—Noor Brara, Vogue
VENUE
12th Ave Arts
1620 12th Avenue
Seattle, WA, 98122
CAST AND CREW
written by Emily Mann
directed by Makaela Milburn
stage managed by Jasmine Lomax
Brandon Eller
performed by
Sharon Barto Gouran
Sarah Harlett
Kathy Hsieh
Marion Jacobs
Alanah Pascual
Ayo Tushinde
designed by
Maryalice Weed
Bella Rivera
Lizz C Williams
Adam Zopfi Hulse
Kyle Thompson
Greg Carter
graphic design by Melanie Wang
PRESS KIT
Listing Information
Title: Gloria: A Life
Previews: Thu-Fri Jan 19-20, 2023
Opens: Saturday, Jan 21, 2023
Plays: Thu-Fri-Sat 7:30 pm
Venue: Mainstage Theatre at 12th Ave Arts
Address: 1620 12th Ave, Capitol Hill, Seattle
Ticket Prices: $30-45 General Admission
Phone Sales: 1-800-838-3006
Online Sales: gloria.bpt.me