Who knows where the time goes, but it's safe to say that Tennessee Women's Theater Project's fifth annual festival of performing and visual arts created by women is gaining stature and retaining its viability as an outlet for creative artists of all kinds. The opening weekend features actress Joy Tilley Perryman in
Thus Spoke the Mockingbird, a one-woman play written by Joanie McElroy that depicts the life of Harper Lee; plus two new plays:
Motherland, by local actress-director Melissa Bedinger Hade, and
Ismene's Press Conference by Judy Klass. The Mother's Day celebration offers roses for all the moms and a good deal of poetry. More plays and some films, including
6 Months to Live, a comedy by Emily Steele, dominate on May 12-13, and the dance and movement program for May 14 welcomes Jen-Jen Lin and the Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville performing
We Are One, plus the Aerial Fabricators. May 15 features storytelling, May 19 is a live music showcase, and the final weekend hosts a staged reading of Mary McCallum's
Black Girl Lost, Lindsay Terrizzi Hess in the one-woman show
A Dog's Tale, and a staged reading of Lauren Schmitzer's
Chlamydia Is Not a Flower — And Other Love Lessons I Missed. Throughout the fest, artwork by Virginia Brennan, Tiffany Dyer and Christina Wegman will be on display. The complete festival schedule can be viewed at www.twtp.org.
— Martin Brady