MMC Students Lead 30th Anniversary Celebration of “Uncommon Women and Others”

MMC students Katie Carter and Alice Yorke are leading Uncommon Women Week, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Uncommon Women and Others,” a play by Wendy Wasserstein that premiered at MMC’s own Theresa Lang Theatre in 1977. The series of events will bring the College community together around the question “What makes you uncommon?” The week will take place during Women’s History month and will include student performances of “Uncommon Women and Others,” panel discussions on women’s issues, and other events from March 28 through April 4.

The production of “Uncommon Women and Others” will include a cast of all MMC students, under the direction of an MMC student and the advisement of Mary Fleischer, chair of the Division of Fine and Performing Arts and professor of theatre arts. Proceeds from performances will go to the Open Doors Fund, a theater mentoring program started Wendy Wasserstein to support in inner-city schools in NYC.

Publishing professionals, original cast members of “Uncommon Women and Others” and MMC faculty members will lead panel discussions. Some of the featured panelists include: Anne Cattaneo, dramaturge for Lincoln Center Theatre; Andi Zeisler, creative director for Bitch magazine; Alexis Greene, theatre critic who will teach a Women in Theatre course at MMC in Fall 2008; Lisa Rothe, director of the MMC spring Theatre Production Workshop main stage “A Month in the Country.”

Claire Owen, assistant professor of psychology and Rebecca Sperling, associate professor of social work and sociology, will open up their classes, “The Psychology of Women” and “Women, Society, and Culture,” to the general student body.

“I am proud to be a part of Uncommon Women Week 2008,” says Katie Carter. “The MMC community has really embraced this event, giving us the support we need to make it all happen, and we could not be more thankful. Alice and I discovered that if you put a topic out there, and give it a little push, the ball will get rolling. That why we created the panels and discussions. We wanted to give way to these ideas, giving the MMC community a way to talk about them.”

Alice Yorke agrees: “I first read “Uncommon Women” when I was in high school and I was amazed at how vivid these women were. When I reread it in college, I had gained another perspective. Suddenly I found myself in the same place the characters do-facing the vast openness of post-collegiate life-and the play took on a whole new meaning in my life.”

Performances of “Uncommon Women and Others”

Friday, March 28
3:30 p.m.
Regina Peruggi Room, Marymount Manhattan College

Saturday, March 29
3:30 p.m.
8th Floor Space, Marymount Manhattan College

Sunday, March 30
2:00 p.m.
Regina Peruggi Room, Marymount Manhattan College

Tickets are a suggested donation of $5. To reserve tickets please e-mail UncommonWomenMMC@gmail.com You will receive confirmation e-mail about your tickets. Please pick up tickets 15 minutes before the show.

Panels and Discussions

Monday, March 31
2:30 – 4:00 p.m. 
The Psychology of Women
Claire Owen, assistant professor of psychology
Room TBD

Tuesday, April 1
3:30 p.m. 
Uncommon Women Then and Now
Anne Cattaneo (original dramaturge), Ann McDonough (original Samantha), Jill Eikenberry (original Kate)
8th Floor Space, Marymount Manhattan College

5:30 p.m.
Pop Culture, Feminism and the Media
Andi Zeisler , editorial/creative director of Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture

Thursday, April 3
11:30-1:00 p.m. 
Women, Society and Culture
Rebecca Sperling, associate professor of social work and sociology
Room TBD

3:00-4:30 p.m.
Uncommon Women Throughout History
Professor Susan Nagel
Room TBD

Friday, April 4
3:00 p.m.
Women in Theater
Alexis Greene, Lisa Rothe and Ellen McLaughlin (celebrated playwright and actor- original Angel in “Angels in America”)
8th Floor Space, Marymount Manhattan College

Wendy Wasserstein is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Broadway shows “Uncommon Women and Others,” “The Heidi Chronicles” and “The Sisters Rosensweig.” She wrote Sloth (2005) and two books of essays,Bachelor Girls (1990) and Shiksa Goddess (2001). Wasserstein passed away due to lymphoma in January 2006.

Published: March 26, 2008