Monologue Showcase: Voices of Healing & Transformation

The Journal of Expressive Writing is more than a publication. We aim to be an engaged and supportive community of writers and listeners. Giving our focused attention to each other’s voices, stories and writing is a generous, necessary act of humanity, repair and celebration.

The Journal of Expressive Writing is proud to host a special theatrical event, showcasing Voices for Healing and Transformation. On Tues., Jan. 24, 2023, from 7-8:30 p.m., ET, writers from Kelly DuMar's Play Lab will present monologues for the stage, performed by actors.

In writing monologues for the stage, a story begins as words on the page. The next stage of development is to have the monologue performed by an actor in front of an audience. In this monologue showcase, class participants who have been developing monologues over six weeks will have the chance to see their writing performed by an actor for an audience—you.

Stella Adler called theater the “seeing place”—the place we come to see the truth about our lives and social situation. Oscar Wilde called theater “the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” And August Wilson was, “fascinated by the idea of an audience as a community of people who gather willingly to bear witness.” We invite you, our audience, to share in making dynamic theater with us, by being present for this showcase of brand new stage monologues. This intimate and powerful experience will present writing by class participants—read by actors—is part of the critical page-to-stage development process that all new plays need. Please join us, and share the vitality of your presence and your witness as our much-appreciated audience.

This evening of staged readings is free and open to the public—although donations are always welcome and 100% will go to Casa Myrna: Boston’s largest provider of shelter and supportive services to survivors of domestic violence, providing safety, resources, advocacy and information since 1977.

This event will take place via the online video conferencing platform Zoom. A link to the show will be sent out the day before the event.

Featuring monologues by members of the Play Lab 2023, including:

• Sharon Blumberg
• Grace Calder
• Cynthia Douglas-Ybarra
• Beverly Reed Scott
• Hazel Aranha

Performed by guest actors, including:

• Elizabeth Tutnauer Rose
• Tonia Pinheiro
• Tonya Quillen

Order of the show:

• Cynthia Douglas-Ybarra, Pockets [performed by Tonya Quillen]
• Beverly Reed Scott, Play That Again [performed by Tonia Pinheiro]
• Sharon Blumberg, Paddle My Waters––If You Dare [performed by Elizabeth Rose]
• Hazel Aranha, Easy Does It [performed by Tonya Quillen]
• Grace Calder, Me, Myself & My Perfect Hair Day [performed by Tonia Pinheiro]

Directored by Kelly DuMar.

Kelly DuMar, M.Ed.  is a poet, playwright, and workshop leader who generates enlivening writing experiences for new and experienced writers. Author of three poetry collections, girl in tree bark, Tree of the Apple, and All These Cures, Kelly is also author of Before You Forget— The Wisdom of Writing Diaries for Your Children. Kelly’s award winning plays have been produced around the US and Canada, and are published by dramatic publishers. She founded and produced the Our Voices Festival of Women Playwrights at Wellesley College for twelve years, and she is a past president of Playwright's Platform, Boston. For the past seven years, Kelly has led the week-long Play Lab Intensive at the annual conference of the International Women's Writing Guild. Additionally, Kelly regularly teaches Your Memoir as Monologue Webinars for the Transformative Language Arts Network. Kelly is a certified psychodramatist, former psychotherapist, and Fellow in the American Society for Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama. Kelly produces the monthly Journal of Expressive Writing Open Mic Program. You can learn more about Kelly at www.kellydumar.com.