Project X to world premiere One in 3 this January in Dallas

by PegNews wire

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"A funny, sad, fascinating, touching, infuriating, enlightening play about abortion."

Three women are in front of you in the checkout line at the grocery store. Odds are excellent that one of them has had an abortion.

You’re sitting in the bleachers at your kid’s soccer game, chatting with three women in the next row. Odds are, one of them has had an abortion.

You’re helping yourself to tuna casserole at a church potluck. Three women are setting out tea and punch at the next table. Odds are, one of them has had an abortion.

You never guessed? Of course not. Few women ever discuss their abortions, even with their intimate friends. Because abortion – an experience shared by one in three American women – is the last great taboo, a secret millions of women carry in silence.

One in 3 breaks the silence. The original play, written by three established Dallas women writers (Merritt Tierce, Gretchen Dyer, and Victoria Loe Hicks) and produced by Project X, will have its official world premiere at the Green Zone near the Dallas Design District. Gretchen Dyer is a documentary and feature film screenwriter whose film, Late Bloomers, was featured at the Sundance Film Festival, released theatrically in the U.S. and foreign markets, and broadcast on HBO Cinemax. She is a board member of the TEA Fund. Victoria Loe Hicks is a playwright and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Her plays Jill’s War and Truth Be Told premiered in Dallas. Merritt Tierce is a writer published in Southwest Review and featured by WordSpace. She is a board member of the TEA Fund.

One in 3 tells the sometimes wrenching, often surprising, and even occasionally humorous stories of a group of women who have virtually nothing in common except the need to confront this most complex and personal of decisions.

“It’s about the courage, compassion, anger, love, grief, relief, defiance, and ambivalence of individual women facing a decision others often want to make for them, but only they can make for themselves,” said Gretchen Dyer, one of the authors. Ms. Dyer is a board member of the Texas Equal Access (TEA) Fund, which will receive the proceeds from the inaugural run of One in 3.

Raphael Parry, a Project X founder, said he chose to direct One in 3 because Project X is dedicated to producing original works that burst the bounds of conventional theater. In addition, he said, “the success of taboo-breaking works such as The Vagina Monologues and The Laramie Project reflect a widespread hunger for plays that speak our truths and touch the deepest parts of our lives.”

One in 3 takes chances in more than its subject matter, incorporating film and other non-traditional elements for an experience designed to provoke, entertain, enlighten, and perhaps even heal. Some performances will be followed by talk-backs with the artists and activists. The play’s website will also invite women to post their stories online.

The play will run from January 21-31, 2009 at the Project X Studio at the Green Zone. Performances are Wednesdays – Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Wednesdays are pay-what-you-can. Call 214-421-2400 or visit www.onein3.org for more info.

The Dallas premiere is only the beginning for One in 3. The National Network of Abortions Funds plans to sponsor a national tour of the play to major cities across the U.S. The rights to the script, scenery, and film will be released to the Network, which will also make them available for translation into other languages and for independent productions in other cities. With this expanded platform, One in 3 has the potential to generate a new national dialogue around abortion, shifting the conversation from the political controversy to the personal reality.

Posted by Shawn

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