The Playwrights Database
ELLEN W KAPLAN
(1952 - )Nationality: USA
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Ellen W. Kaplan is Theatre Professor at Smith College. She is a professional (aea) actor, director and playwright; she has been a Fulbright Scholar in Costa Rica and twice a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Hong Kong. International credits include: acting and directing at the Khan, Sherover and other Theatres in Israel; production of her play Cast No Shadow at the Jewish State Theatre of Bucharest; a video documentary, Mixed Blessings, about Jews and Gypsies produced in eastern Europe. Her play Pulling apart, a 2004 finalist for the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, was produced in New Haven, CT and won the 2006 Moss Hart award. Other productions include: Theatre Matrix/Los Angeles, Cleveland Public Theatre, and MerEdith College. Ellen is the author of nationally renowned educational workbooks and filmstrips; she co-edited Images of Mental Illness through Text and Performance, (MEllen Press, with Dr. Sarah J. Rudolph); published essays on international Theatre, including one in Spanish, published in Buenos aires; and she wrote and produced an interactive CDROM on the work of Juan Rulfo. Finally, she is active in Theatre outreach, working with incarcerated mothers, adult learners, special needs students, and with adjudicated teens creating radio programs.
Research: Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)
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below is a list of Ellen W Kaplan's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Cast No Shadow Pulling ApartCast No Shadow
Synopsis:
China is a ballet dancer struck with nightmarish fears as the date of her recital approaches. She is terrified of the spotlight - and it is unclear if the hooded figure haunting her is real or not. the central fact of this girl's life is that she is a Jew -a young Jew whose unconscious fears parallel the old terrors of her grandparents. She - a part of her - is afraid of being seen. Without realizing it, she is steeped in the same ambiguities (and self-hatred) that her grandparents carry with them from the scars of Germany. they survived Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, and fled to freedom, but they live in its shadow still, as do their children and their childrens' children. China needs to connect to her spiritual life and to her body; she is losing her connection to ballet and now finds herself deeply drawn to the performance "ceremonies" of Dalton, a performance artist whose dances hark to a world of mysticism and ancient witchcraft (the spiritual roots of womankind). But in her struggle to "become visible" China comes to find that her Judaic roots are important to her, are deeply a part of her. Dalton and her companion Fanon are guides for China - they help her to recognize something of the energy from which her own creativity and sense of self truly spring. While this is the story of personal pilgrimage, it is also about anti-Semitism, past and looming in the future. the older generation lives in the shadow of a history from which they will never recover. the second generation, born here and highly assimilated (China's mother and uncle) are wealthy, arrogant and don't recognize the very real dangers both within and outside of themselves. and China, the dancer afraid of the light, afraid of her body (she is so thin. . .), afraid of her womanhood, searches for some way to break through her self-rejection and affirm herself as the young Jewish woman she is. the dangers within are real, as are the dangers without: China is being followed, the grandparents live under the shadow of a cross, gravestones have been desecrated, high-living Ron is beaten after a visit to his girlfriend's home in Newport. Dalton and Fanon, whom China wants to emulate, are openly, if unthink-ingly, anti-Semitic. and enigmatic, charismatic Guy is clearly looking for "someone to blame." China only begins to accept her roots and face her fears as she battles to come to terms with her fascinating mentors, and to find her way back through the tangled world of her past.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Meredith College, Raleigh Nc 1999
Organisations:
Meredith College
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PagePulling Apart
Synopsis:
Pulling apart is about losing your dreams. Written as the bloody conflict in Israel escalated during the 2nd Intifada, it tells a story of family, diaspora and reclaiming one's home. Life in Jerusalem is a complex of spiritual renewal and personal struggle, splintered loyalties, ethical choices and fear for our children's lives.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
New Haven, Ct 2005
Organisations:
Southern Connecticut State College
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 3 Other: 1c, chorus of women
Further Reference:
-
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