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Joan Schirle

JOAN SCHIRLE

  (1948 - )
Nationality:    USA
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

Joan Schirle is Founding Artistic Director of the Dell'Arte International, an ensemble of artists dedicated to collaboration and physical Theatre. She has written 8 plays of her own and over a dozen collaboratively written works, all produced by the Dell'Arte Company as well as other Theaters. Her solo show, Second Skin, continues to tour internationally. She is a specialist in devised work and now directs the MFA program in Ensemble Based Physical Theatre at the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, CA. She has an MFA in Playwriting from Humboldt State University.

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

         Big Thirst, The         Casanova: Animal Instinct         Elisabeth's Book         Intrigue At Ah-Pah         Inverted Alba: Fable & Rondelay After Images of Garcia Lorca         Mad Love         Second Skin         Shotgun Wedding         Weave, The

Big Thirst, The

Synopsis:
3 sisters-a detective; an aspiring mystery writer, and a water activist-are confronted with the theft of an entire river. This political comedy explores water politics in an entertaining way, via characters human and not (a crow, The River herself, squirrel puppets) and a villain named Ronald Trumpet in cahoots with almond growers of California's Central Valley. Without painting too dire a picture, the play clearly lays out the battles to come over water in the next 50 years. Though set in the present, noir tropes abound, as well as a primer on mystery writing and three great parts for women. 2 Acts, with intermission. With 4 original songs-music and lyrics by the playwright.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Mad River Festival     Jun 2016

Organisations:
Dell'Arte Company

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:
Comic mystery

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Casanova: Animal Instinct

Synopsis:
Based on the memoirs of Casanova, the play explores desire and the ritual games of seduction. 3 actors play Casanova at various points in his life though in a non-linear fashion; he also has an imaginary dialogue at one point with the Marquis de Sade and Don Juan, as well as his actual meeting with Voltaire and other historical figures..'

Notes:
written by Joan Schirle And Giulio Cesare perrone

1st Produced:
Carlo Theatre, Blue Lake, Ca;     2003

Organisations:
Dell'Arte International

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:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Elisabeth's Book

Synopsis:
A Holocaust artifact is the inspiration for this play based on the life of a Hungarian survivor of forced labor camps in 1944. Told mostly through movement, with minimal text, the story follows three women from prosperous, book-loving bourgeoisie to becoming displaced persons adrift in post-war Europe. The "book" itself, a tiny cloth book with bits of grenade scrap in the form of domestic symbols sewn in, was made in the camps by one of the women for her friend. Elisabeth kept the book for 70 years until her death in Toronto in 2016. It took her 40 years to be able to write about her experience. 3 scenes, no intermission. With music by Gina Leishman, Joan Schirle, and traditional Jewish songs.

Notes:
Collaboratively devised by Joan Schirle, Alain Schons, Ruxy Cantir, Laura Munoz

1st Produced:
Carlo Theatre, Blue Lake, CA     Jul 2014

Organisations:
Dell'Arte Company

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:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  3            Other:  1 onstage technician

Further Reference:
-

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Intrigue At Ah-Pah

Synopsis:
In this 'eco-thriller,' female detective Scar Tissue sets out on a vacation fishing trip only to end up on the trail of a killer. She falls in love with the wrong guy, but uncovers a plot to dam the wild rivers of Northern California. Noirish, with many comic scenes.

Notes:
written by Joan Schirle, Michael Fields, Donald Forrest, Jael Weisman, Stephen Most, Mara Sabinson

1st Produced:
-     1979

Organisations:
Dell'Arte International

1st Published:
West Coast Plays, Vol 8 (1981)   

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:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Inverted Alba: Fable & Rondelay After Images of Garcia Lorca

Synopsis:
A conjoining of Lorca's plays & poetry with original text, adapted from Bernarda Alba, the Billy Club Puppets, Play With No Title. Performed by 3 actors playing multiple parts. Highly imagistic and thematically based on the struggle of the creative force against repression. One act in three scenes moving from comedy to meloDrama to tragedy. Translations by Laura Munoz.

Notes:
written by Joan Schirle, Ronlin Foreman, Richard C. Newman, Laura Munoz; translations by Laura Munoz.

1st Produced:
Carlo Theatre, Blue Lake, Ca;     2009

Organisations:
Dell'Arte International

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:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Mad Love

Synopsis:
Based on the German Expressionist tradition, and the 1935 film with Peter Lorre. Set in the theatre of the Grand Guignol, the play involves the obsession of a surgeon for an actress. When her pianist husband's hands are destroyed in an accident, the doctor gives him the hands of an executed murderer without telling the couple.

Notes:
written by Joan Schirle, Michael Fields, Donald Forrest, Jael Weisman

1st Produced:
Carlo Theatre, Blue Lake, Ca;     1998

Organisations:
Dell'Arte International

1st Published:
in "Ensemble Works, An Anthology," Ed. Ferdinand Lewis, NYC Theatre Communications Group 2005   

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:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Second Skin

Synopsis:
Fifteen characters meet at the door to the afterlife in an exploration of social masks, the masks of gender, age, and class, and our mask 'before we were born.'

Notes:
Written And performed by the playwright, with many masked characters.

1st Produced:
University Of Arkansas     2000

Organisations:
Dell'Arte International

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:
Solo performance

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Shotgun Wedding

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Moliere

1st Produced:
Mad River Festival     2000

Organisations:
-

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:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Weave, The

Synopsis:
Using the work of local native basketmakers, six women use prose, poetry and movement to explore the question of balance and the tensions between relationships, family, and artistic work. A non-linear work with strong images and original music composed by Gina Leishman.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Carlo Theatre, Blue Lake, Ca;     1998

Organisations:
Dell'Arte International

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:  -            Female:  6            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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