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Cheryl Martin

CHERYL MARTIN

  
Nationality:    USA
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

I'm a theatre director and writer, as well as a poet and jazz singer. I was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in nearby Maryland, and went to uni at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts back home and Emmanuel College,Cambridge in England. I love Manchester, and I've lived here for over 25 years. This will give you an idea of what I've been doing since I left uni: it's a bio I wrote for Manchester grass-roots publisher Commonword's birthday. A member of Commonword's Identity creative writing workshops in the late 1980's, Cheryl first performed her poetry with other Identity members at the Old Steam Brewery, Oxford Road, and she's proud to have served on its board and as its Chair for a few years in the 90s. She has gone on to become Artistic Director of Running to Paradise, which had a sell-out hit at the inaugural Manchester International Festival with the UK première of US-Pulitzer-Prize-winning writer Suzan-Lori Parks' VENUS for PANDA. In 2011, she directed sell-out immersive hit with Another Country for Community Arts Northwest [CAN]. She served as Children's Director for Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre's 5-star MEN Awards Best Production of A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. As Director-in-Residence at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, she directed the first production of The Ching Room by Alan Bissett [Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland-nominated, brought to the Royal Exchange Theatre Studio Oct. 2010]. She also produced the Traverse's The World Is Too Much breakfast plays [Edinburgh Fringe First 2009], directing Heaven by Simon Stephens and Posthuman Satire Slash Romance by Chris Hannan for the series. She's been Associate Director New Writing/New Work at Contact, won an Manchester Evening News [MEN] Award for Best Studio Production directing Rona Munro's IRON, and won another MEN Theatre Award for writing community play Heart And Soul for Oldham Coliseum Theatre. Cheryl was Artist-in-Residence as a poet for the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, published her poetry and had over twenty stage and radio productions as a writer. In 2011 she directed an outdoor immersive extravaganza, A Game of Consequences, with Contact Young Actors' Company as part of x.trax festival, while in 2012 she directed and wrote an updated version of Aristophanes' Birds for new disabled theatre THE UNUSUAL STAGE SCHOOL as part of WHOSE FLAME IS IT ANYWAY? in the Cultural Olympiad run-up to the Paralympics. This year, she directed another immersive play with a cast of women refugees and asylum seekers, Heart's Core, for CAN. And after all these years, she will soon be publishing Lucid Dreaming, her first solo collection of poetry with Commonword - who else?

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below is a list of Cheryl Martin's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Absolute Zero and Rising         Alaska         Avalanche         By the Rivers         Dhalta Suraj (the Sun Sets)         Heart And Soul         Home For the Holidays         My Foo-Foo Needs You         Walk On the Wild Side

Absolute Zero and Rising

Synopsis:
The culmination of an Opera North community project, this new opera brings together professional musicians and local students for an artful exploration of the season's three operas. With a backdrop of visual excitement provided by techno-wizards Synergy, the expertise of players from the English Northern Philharmonia, and the sound of sixty voices from three local schools, this promises to be a worthy curtain-raiser for Katya Kabanova.

Notes:
Music Kate Pearson. Lyrics Cheryl Martin

1st Produced:
Grand Theatre and Opera House, Leeds    16 Nov 1999

Organisations:
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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:
operetta

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Alaska

Synopsis:
Tells the story of a black perimenopausal lesbian's descent into suicidal depression and her emergence from it. A raw and powerful performance, with humour, heart and soul, with stunning vocals and beautiful imagery. With one in four of us estimated to experience mental health difficulties at sometime in our lives, this is a story that touches everyone, whether first-hand or through family and friends. What it feels like, when the breakdowns start, is that it's as if I'm frozen as a snow man, then suddenly all these totally out of control emotions break through

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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:
Lesbian, one act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Avalanche

Synopsis:
A dynamic and explosive performance created over a period of six months in a unique collaboration between professional artists and a group of over one hundred performers. Avalanche is an unstoppable journey of discovery, uniting performers and audiences with a spirit of creativity and excitement. Featuring dance, drama and music, Avalanche celebrates the vibrant culture of the young people of Nottingham, putting local talent on stage and on the map.

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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:
dance theatre

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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By the Rivers

Synopsis:
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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:
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Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Dhalta Suraj (the Sun Sets)

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
Pit Prop Theatre    1993

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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:
Community Play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Heart And Soul

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
Coliseum, Oldham    1994

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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:
Musical

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Home For the Holidays

Synopsis:
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1st Produced:
Playhouse Studio, Liverpool    1992

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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:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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My Foo-Foo Needs You

Synopsis:
An absurd look at sex, menopause, coming out at 46, looking so femme no one knows youre gay, having fundamentalist relatives. . .Plus being a role model when you are not role model material.

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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:
Lesbian, theme/character, one act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Walk On the Wild Side

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
Pit Prop Theatre    1992

Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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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 with Music

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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