Casa Cushman: An open rehearsal reading of a new play by Leigh Fondakowski April 26, 2010

Casa Cushman is an ensemble play about the life and work of 19th century American actress Charlotte Cushman. One of the most important actresses of her time, Cushman was famous for her interpretation of the leading MALE roles in Shakespeare. Cushman continually challenged Victorian notions of gender in her stage portrayals of male characters and of strong, androgynous female characters. When Charlotte Cushman made her last appearance in New York in 1874, a reported 14,000 fans filled the streets at 23rd Street from 5th to 6th Avenues just to catch a glimpse of the actress from her balcony.

Cushman not only challenged Victorian notions of gender onstage, she played the man in every area of her life. She gathered around her an incredible circle of emancipated 19th century women: painters, poets, sculptors and literary women, many of whom she financially supported. And she had intense love affairs with several of them. She was married for seventeen years to the American sculptor Emma Stebbins, who created "The Angel of the Waters," Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, New York. The body of this angel is said to be modeled after Cushman's body.

There is at the Library of Congress a collection of over 1,000 unpublished letters, written by Cushman to a much younger lover, Emma Crow, the transcription of which has been a 10-year labor of love by scholar Lisa Merrill. Many of Cushman’s letters to Crow include the directive: “burn this letter,” but they were not burned. Preserved, they chronicle a passionate Victorian-era lesbian love story before such love was thought to exist. Cushman's affair with Emma Crow lasted the entire length of her marriage to Stebbins. Cushman found a way to keep her wife and have her lover too. The play is about love, impermanence, and beauty, and the devil's bargains we each make along the way to have the life and the love that we want.

Leigh Fondakowski was the Head Writer of The Laramie Project and has been a member of Tectonic Theatre Project since 1995. She is an Emmy nominated co-screenwriter for the adaptation of The Laramie Project for HBO, and a co-writer of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. Her play, The People’s Temple, has been performed under her direction at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Perseverance Theater, American Theater Company and The Guthrie Theater, and received the Glickman Award for Best New Play in the Bay Area in 2005.

Another original play, I Think I Like Girls, premiered at Encore Theater in San Francisco under her direction and was voted one of the top 10 plays of 2002 by The Advocate. Other directing credits include: Gerda’s Lieutenant by Ellen Greeves and Bennett Singer (Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts), 3 Seconds in the Key by Deb Margolin (San Francisco Playhouse), La Voix Humaine by Jean Cocteau (Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh), Agatha by Marguerite Duras (French Alliance, New York), Gwen John adapted from the novel by Jane Warrick (HERE, New York). Leigh is a 2007 recipient of the NEA/TCG Theatre Residency Program for Playwrights and she is a guest faculty member in the Masters in Contemporary Performance program at Naropa University.

TECTONIC THEATER PROJECT is an award-winning company whose plays have been performed around the world. The company is dedicated to developing innovative works that explore theatrical language and form, fostering an artistic dialogue with our audiences on the social, political and human issues that effect us all. In service to this goal, Tectonic supports readings, workshops, and full theatrical productions, as well as training for students around the country in our play-making techniques.

Tectonic Theater Project was founded in 1991 by Moisés Kaufman and Jeffrey LaHoste. Tectonic refers to the art and science of structure and was chosen to emphasize the company's interest in construction-- how things are made, and how they might be made differently.

Its groundbreaking plays, The Laramie Project, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, and I Am My Own Wife, have sparked national discourse about their subjects and have inspired artists and audiences worldwide.

Official Website: http://www.ias.umn.edu/