The House of Ash

Notice how we're now a "Performance Collective"? Loves it. Here is the new GirlPower audition breakdown for the following year. If you are (or know anyone) interested, feel free to submit. We're looking for a diverse group of young women and have a ton of exciting plans!

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Estrogenius Festival: GirlPower

Seeking: Performers/Writers/Activists between the ages of 10-20. Please do NOT submit if you do not fall into this age category as these aremonologues written specifically by and for young women between theages of 10-20. Through writing and acting workshops, guest artists,discussion groups, performances and drawing from the media, news andinterviews with peers, the GirlPower collective will be workingtogether in generating a theatrical event based on their own lifeexperiences and what it means to be a young woman in today's world.The actresses share the joys and troubles of today's generation withtheir experiences of love, relationships, parents, identity, pain andsuccess.

GirlPower is part of the Manhattan Theatre Source's month longEstrogenius Festival (www.theatresource.org/aboutestro.html orwww.estrogenius.org ) which is in it's 10th season and has become oneof New York City's largest women's arts festivals, presenting morethan 35 events over 24 nights. The festival features a diverseschedule of short plays, dance, solo shows, visual art, paneldiscussions and performances by teens. The festival has afforded morethan 1,600 artists the chance to shine. The 2009 festival runs October1 through November 1 at Manhattan Theatre Source.

Currently, the 2008-2009 GirlPower collective is performing in the NYCInternational Fringe Festival, August 14th through 30th(www.girlpowermts.blogspot.com and fringnyc.org). The 2009-2010collective is encouraged to come back for a spring performance andsimilar experience in a 2010 summer festival. We are also working onbringing the performance to public schools and community events in thetri-state area.

GirlPower will be presented at the Manhattan Theatre Source October9th and 10th, 2009. Tech Rehearsal will be on October 8th. There willbe two afternoon performances during the week of the show for schooland community groups. Rehearsals will begin in late August and will beheld Saturday mornings from 9:30 am - 12:00 pm.Do not submit if you are unavailable for the performances or a largeportion of the proposed rehearsal period.

Please send a picture and resume to girlpowermts@gmail.com. Also,please include information about yourself and why you want toparticipate in this project. Auditions will be held on Monday, July13th from 3:00 - 6:00 pm at the Manhattan Theatre Source. Uponreceiving your information, we will schedule you in a five minute audition slot.

For the audition, please write a short monologue (2 minutes or under) about your life/school/friends/goals/fears/hobbies/interests etc. oranything that shows us who you are and the issues you care about. Youcan feel free to write a poem, short story, scene or spoken word pieceas well. We want to see who you are. You do not need to memorize thispiece. We also ask that you prepare any monologue 2 minutes or under.Be prepared to perform the monologue and your written piece.GirlPower is presented under an AEA Showcase Code. Union/Non-Union may apply.It is produced and directed by Ashley Marinaccio and Elizabeth Koke.

Last week marked another production of GirlPower. Check out some pictures below and on my photo blog. We also found out that GirlPower was accepted into the annual NYC Fringe Festival (yaye!). I have been working on the paperwork to get all of that in order. I'm looking forward to being part of FringeNYC, as I have enjoyed so many productions in the past. This will be a wonderful opportunity for all of the girls involved, too. Can't wait to get the ball rolling on this...

Other than that, my high school is having its 25th anniversary of the visual and performing arts academy on May 29th, 2009. Check out an article about it here: http://www.app.com/article/20090512/GETPUBLISHED/905110313/-1/OPINION05 . Looking forward to attending it and catching up with people that I haven't seen in years! Lots of people are doing great things, so it will be fun to hear all about it.

Speaking of catching up, I had a wonderful time with students, faculty and alumni from the Pace sociology/anthropology department last night. Below is a terribly pixilatd picture from the dinner. Roger is one of my mentors and favorite people in the world. Aseel, who is my other mentor and favorite person in the world, doesn't like her picture flaunted everywhere. I talk about them both A LOT... though I think this is one of the first times they've been mentioned on this blog. Sometimes I just say "My mentor ... " but usually when I say that, I'm referring to one of them.

Roger and me

The run has been fantastic and we've been receiving great feedback. Check out pictures from GirlPower: Voices of A Generation, which opened at the Manhattan Theatre Source this past weekend as part of the Estrogenius Festival 2008. The full script will be published in "The Book of Estrogenius" which will be available at the Drama Book Shop in 2009. It is available for pre-order right now ( http://www.theatresource.org/estro/bookofestro.html ).





A full set of pictures are available at: http://www.photoblog.com/ashleymarinaccio/2008/10/27/

If you're in the NYC area at the end of October, it would mean a lot to me if you could come and check out "GirlPower: Voices of a Generation". Elizabeth Koke (Performance Studies alum) and I have been working with the most amazing group of teen girls between the ages of 13-19 on developing their voices and creating this performance piece. The issues covered range anywhere from relationships and family problems to body image issues and their understanding of what it means to be a young artist in today's world (and what they want to do with that power). Two of the performances have already sold out but the Manhattan Theatre Source added a 9:00pm show on Sunday (maybe more!). Below is the information. Hope to see you there!

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The Manhattan Theatre Source Presents:

Girl Power: Voices of a Generation

Written by the 2008 Estrogenius GirlPower Company
Developed and Directed by Ashley Marinaccio
Assistant Directed by Elizabeth Koke

Featuring: Lyric Anderson, Brittany Alyss DalCais, Alondra Diaz, Candice Fernandez, Dominique Fishback, Nora Kennedy, Roni Laytin, Michelle Lee, Melissa Morley, Andrea Panichi, Christina Elise Perry, Stephanie Rae Shafir, Katya Stepanov, Ellen Swanson, Anastasia Zorin

GirlPower: Voices of a Generation, is a series of powerful written words performed by actors in their teens, struggling with issues that they face growing up in today's world. The performers share their experiences of love, relationships, parents, pain and success.

Sunday, October 26th at 3:00pm and 9:00pm
Monday, October 27th at 6:00pm

Tickets: $12

Manhattan Theatre Source at Washington Square Park
177 MacDougal Street, NY, NY, 10011
between West 8th and Waverly Streets(Subway: A, B, C, D, E, F, or V to West 4th Street)
Call: 212-501-4751 or www.theatresource.org for ticket information

Part of the Manhattan Theatre Source's "Estrogenius 2008", a celebration of womens' voices. For more information, visit: www.estrogenius.org/estro.html .

"Inseminary" had a successful opening tonight! We had a huge crowd (especially for that particular space). Congrats to the cast, Al and Trina and Dicky Murphy who wrote a fantastic script. If you are in the NYC area this week, please stop by to check it out. It's worth the $10. Once again... the information about the show (just in case you don't feel like scrolling down) is right here. Hope to see you there.