A place for playwrights to write, collaborate, experiment, and grow.

This staged reading is the culmination of the one-year Horticulture Playwrights Workshop. Sharea Harris & Julia Marks received support, feedback, and funding.

Your presence here today is not just a chance to witness the birth of a world premiere play, but an integral part of the Horticulture process.

Thank you for supporting the development of new work in Baltimore!

MEET THE PLAYWRIGHT:

JULIA MARKS

Julia Marks is a writer, director, and theatre maker based in Washington, DC. She has created and developed original works internationally with Fishamble, the Scene and Heard Festival, the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Rorschach Theatre, and Rhizome DC. She has directed various projects with Washington Revels, Montgomery College, and College of Charleston. She was a participant in The Orchard Project’s Liveness Lab, and is the current Assistant Artistic Director for Summer Dinner Theatre at Montgomery College. She received a BA in Theatre from the College of Charleston, and trained at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland.

And the director:

Katie HILeman

Katie Hileman (she/hers) is a DIY theatre-maker working out of Baltimore, MD. She is happy to be working with Horticulture Playwrights Workshop again, after directing Aladrian C. Wetzel's Infertile Ground in the 2018 cohort. She is the Artistic Director and co-founder of The Interrobang Theatre Company where she has produced over a dozen new works for the stage, including runs at Charm City Fringe Festival (Best of Fringe 2014), Charm City Nights on the Fringe, Women's Voices Theatre Festival, and NYC Fringe. Beyond Interrobang, Katie has performed, directed, written plays, and choreographed intimacy for many local and regional companies including The Acme Corporation, Tres Brujas Productions, Single Carrot Theatre, Venus Theatre, RepStage, and more. She holds a BFA in Acting from UMBC, and an MFA in Theatre Arts From Towson University. She is an assistant faculty member of Theatrical Intimacy Education, and a collective member of Submersive Productions.

CAST:

GIULIA: Aladrian Crowder Wetzel

Girolama: Hailey Withrow

Francesca & others: Kay-Megan Washington

Teofania & others: Erin Hanratty

Father Girolamo: Matt SheA

Ensemble women: Caitlyn Hooper

Stage Directions: Kim Le

SPECIAL THANKS:

NOtre DAME OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY DRAMA & KATE BOSSERT

THE HPW 2022-23 VOLUNTEER READERS

CHRISTY LUIS

Sisters Freehold is transforming theatre by eliminating barriers to entry.

Horticulture Playwrights Festival became a program of Sisters Freehold in 2021.

  • Abigail Cady

    HORTICULTURE PLAYWRIGHTS WORKSHOP

    PROGRAM DIRECTOR

    Abigail “Abby” Cady is a new play and production dramaturg in the Baltimore/DC region and the Foundation Relations Manager at Arena Stage. She leads the Horticulture Playwrights Workshop in Baltimore and has served as production dramaturg at many Baltimore theaters including Single Carrot Theatre (Pink Milk, ...The Death of Walt Disney, Promenade: Baltimore) and Interrobang Theatre Company (Heavy Hors D'oeuvres 3, Bully).

    Abby was an Education Apprentice at Everyman Theatre and she has interned in the literary departments of the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh. She holds a Master’s Degree in Literary and Cultural Studies from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from Miami University of Ohio.

  • MAKEIMA FREELAND

    CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

    Makeima Freeland is a performer, rhetoric coach, and emerging director. She is an alum of The Center for Visual and Performing Arts at Suitland High School and Notre Dame of Maryland University. Directing: 10x10x10 (Fells Point Corner Theatre) & The Sleepover (Sisters Freehold). Assistant directing: Hamlet, presented in Original Shakespeare Pronunciation (Baltimore Shakespeare Factory). Rhetoric coach: As You Like It (Notre Dame of Maryland University) & The Merry Wives of Windsor (Baltimore Shakespeare Factory). Favorite past roles include William Barfée in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee & Agatha in The Moors (Notre Dame of Maryland University), and Valentine in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (a co-production of Notre Dame of Maryland University & Baltimore Shakespeare Factory). Makeima is also a proud member of Delta Psi Omega ΔΨΩ.

  • Ann Turiano

    CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

    Ann Turiano is a director, performer, dramaturg, and arts administrator. With a background in devising and new play development, she seeks to create environments where the unexpected can occur.

    Directing: The Sleepover (Sisters Freehold), kid simple: A Radio Play in the Flesh (Loyola University Maryland), As You Like It, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Decision Height, and The Rover (Notre Dame of Maryland University), Jerusalem and The Quickening (Fells Point Corner Theatre), The Sea Voyage (Baltimore Shakespeare Factory), The Zero Hour (Iron Crow Theatre), and the original devised work RSVP (Glass Mind Theatre).

    BA: Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University; MA: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

    Resident artist: Iron Crow Theatre. Member: Actors’ Equity Association.

    annturiano.com

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