Why New Plays are Important (and FUN): Shifting to an Actor's Perspective

Maureen Keiller in The Little Dog Laughed (photo: Mike Lovett)

When I first met the divine Maureen Keiller, she was playing a seductive polar bear, and from that moment on I knew I wanted her to act in my plays! Like, ALL of them. I was lucky enough to get her as the bitchy, morally challenged Dr. Platt in my play, Memorial, but I have also seen her play all sorts of other interesting roles while reading at BPT. Currently, our local gem is in rehearsals for Big River at Lyric Stage, and she will also be starring in the musical comedy, Pulp, with Georgia Lyman and Michelle Clunie for the Provincetown Cares benefit this October, benefiting women with chronic health issues. She is one busy diva! We are lucky enough to bring her in as a regular presence here at BPT, and I had a chance to chat with her about what it's like as an actor approaching new plays.

Anna Pattison: You get an email from Kate saying, "Maureen, would love for you to come in and read tomorrow." Your response?

Maureen Keiller: If I can possibly do it, I do it. I would do anything for Kate Snodgrass. I would catch a grenade for her. I would throw myself in front of a train for her. She is so passionate about nurturing fledgling playwrights and it is completely contagious.

A New Play to Benefit Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Every year around this time in Provincetown, women come together to celebrate Women's Week and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For the past 3 years, filmmaker Lynn D'Angona has organized a fundraiser event during Women's Week, promoting Women's Health Services as part of the charity she started, Provincetown Cares. The event includes a female driven play reading and a live auction, all for the sake of--as Michelle Clunie, star of Showtime's Queer as Folk puts it-- "kicking the shit out of breast cancer." Michelle Clunie has starred in each of these play readings, and will be acting again in the reading this year of Anna Renée Pattison's new play, Memorial, inspired by actual events that took place at Memorial Medical Center during Hurricane Katrina.
In previous years, the fabulous Maureen Keiller has starred in Provincetown Cares' staged readings, and recounts a memorable event at the auction last year--convincing Michelle Clunie and Georgia Lyman to lock lips: "The crowd went nuts!" Maureen recalls. And of course, it was for charity after all...

(Maureen Keiller, Michelle Clunie, Georgia Lyman; photo courtesy of Maureen Keiller)

The playwright of this year's Provincetown Cares event, Anna Renée Pattison, was part of the MFA Playwriting Program at BPT this past year, and developed Memorial primarily in a workshop taken with Melinda Lopez. An earlier draft of the play was presented last April as part of the Ground Floor Reading Series at BPT.


You can catch this year's Provincetown Cares event: Memorial, and an auction (where anything is possible) at the ArtHouse in Provincetown- Saturday, October 16th at 2pm and 6pm. Tickets are available at www.provincetowncares.com. The proceeds will benefit both local and national organizations committed to research, education and treatment services for women in our communities.


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