The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of WWII: Nationwide Theatre Tour & Symposium, Wicklow, Dublin, Wexford, Derry

Friday, October 20, 2017

The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of WWII 

Imagined recreation of moments from the lives of women in WWII By Deirdre Kinahan, Mary Moynihan, Fiona Bawn Thompson and Paul Kennedy

The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of WWII is a creative reimagining of moments from the lives of women during WWII recalling stories of bravery, sacrifice and love amidst the horror of war, as women stood up against fascism and totalitarianism and refused to accept oppression. Each performance is followed by a post-show discussion with the artists and invited guest speakers to explore powerful women’s stories in history and themes of gender equality and peace in Ireland, Northern Ireland and internationally. The performance goes on national and international tour to Ireland, Northern Ireland and Germany from September 2017 to February 2018.

Women’s stories in the performance include Mary Elmes (1908-2002), a Cork woman who was the first Irish person honoured as ‘Righteous Among Nations’ for her work saving Jewish children from the Nazi gas chambers during World War II; Ettie Steinberg (1914-42) the only female Jewish Irish citizen known to have been murdered in Auschwitz; Marta Hillers (1911-2001) from Germany who wrote her autobiography Eine Frau in Berlin (A Woman in Berlin) under the name ‘Anonyma’ (Anonymous), detailing her experiences of the last days of WWII as she and over one million other women were raped and abused by Allied soldiers of the Red Army; Neus Català Pallejà (b.1915) from Spain, a member of the United Socialist Party of Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War, an active collaborator with the French Resistance during WWII and the only living Spanish survivor of Ravensbrück  concentration camp for women;  Maria Eugenia Jasińska (1906-43) from Łódź in Poland who worked for the resistance and gave up her own life rather than ‘name names’; and Dolores Ibárruri, or La Pasionaria (1895-1989), from Spain, a revolutionary leader, political activist, communist and crusader against Fascism during the Spanish Civil War who created the famous cry ‘They Shall Not Pass’.

‘Such a moving piece of theatre. The performances were excellent’ Sabina Coyne Higgins

Tour Dates 2017

Friday 20 October   Mermaid Arts Centre, Main Street, Bray, Co. Wicklow
8pm. Booking:  00353 (0)1 272 4030, www.mermaidartscentre.ie  Tickets: €16/14

Wed, Thurs, 25, 26 October Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College Dublin
7.30pm. Booking: 00353 (0)1 896 2461, www.tcd.ie/beckett-theatre  Tickets: €15/10

Wednesday 1 November Wexford Arts Centre, Cornmarket, Wexford
8pm. Booking: 00 353 (0)53 912 3764, www.wexfordartscentre.ie  Tickets: €16/14

Thursday 30 November Draíocht, The Blanchardstown Centre, Dublin 15
8pm. Booking: 00353 (0)1 885 2622, www.draiocht.ie Tickets: €16/14

Tour Date 2018: Saturday 24 February Playhouse Theatre, 5-7 Artillery St, Londonderry

8pm. Booking: 0044(0) 28 7126 8027, www.derryplayhouse.co.uk  Tickets: £10

The women’s stories featured in the performance can be found in the Women War and Peace Digital Book, with a foreword by Marian Harkin, MEP, which contains 23 stories of women’s experiences during World War II and is now available online. The book was launched at the Mansion House, Dublin on 8 November 2016 by Mary Lawlor, Front Line Defenders and Cllr Rebecca Moynihan, Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin. The editor of the book is Mary Moynihan, Artistic Director, Smashing Times Theatre and Film Company and Lecturer, BA in Drama (Performance), Conservatory of Music and Drama, and key contributors are Edyta Pietrzak, Inga Kuzma, Fernando Benavente Tendillo, Kilian Cuerda Ros, Arne Schrader, Freda Manweiler, Mary Moynihan, Jessie Maguire, Bernard Wilson (writing about the life of Mary Elmes) and Nadia Clare Smith (writing about the life of Dorothy MacArdle). Click the following link to access the Women War and Peace Digital book.  Click here

Women in an Equal Europe Creative Arts Symposium
Date:  Friday 27 October 2017
Time:  10am-2pm
Venue:  Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin
Box office:  Tel: 00353 (0)1 896 2461
Online Booking: www.tcd.ie/beckett-theatre/
Tickets:  €5

Women in an Equal Europe Creative Arts Symposium gathers artists and human rights activists together to explore how artists and citizens can actively influence EU policy and engages citizens in debate on the kind of Europe we want for the future in relation to gender equality, diversity and peace. The symposium features a young ensemble performance, guest speakers and parallel theatre workshops to explore the role of the EU in promoting women’s rights and human rights as shared values for a peaceful and prosperous future for all.

Speakers
Marian Harkin, MEP, Ireland
Mary Duffin, Ireland, Theatre Maker, TOTO Practitioner and Screenwriter
Sasa Bjelanovic, Youth worker, Youth Peace Group Danube, Vukovar, Croatia
Mary Moynihan, Smashing Times Theatre and Film Company

Artist Facilitators
Dijana Milosevic, DAH Theatre, Serbia
Mary Duffin, Theatre Maker, TOTO practitioner and Screenwriter
Freda Manweiler, Smashing Times Theatre and Film Company
Róisín McAtamney, Smashing Times Theatre and Film Company

Launch Screenings
Launch of Women in an Equal Europe Digital Book featuring positive stories of change for women from Ireland, Spain, Croatia and Serbia that have come about as a result of belonging to the EU and launch of a Creative Film Documentary on women, feminism and Europe.

Women interviewed on film include Olwen Fouéré, Actor, Director and Creative Artist; Dijana Milosevic, Theatre Director, Writer and Lecturer and Artistic Director, DAH Theatre, Serbia; Dil Wickremasinghe, Broadcaster and Journalist; Orla O’Connor, Director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland; Sinéad Burke aka Minnie Mélange, writer and academic; Mirjana Renduli, Actor, Writer and Facilitator; Pom Boyd, Actor, Writer, Director and Collaborative Artist;  Constance Short, Visual Artist, Arts Organiser and Cultural Conduit; Shirley Graham, Social Researcher and Activist; and Vanessa Ogida, Broadcast Journalist, Motivational Speaker/Writer, Trainer and Entrepreneur.

Moderator
Chrissie Poulter, Head of Drama, School of Drama, Film and Music, TCD

Starts: 20 October 2017 00:00
Ends: 24 February 2018 00:00
Location: See information: Wicklow, Wexford, Derry, Dublin