Mar 3, 2020 | Blog, The Audacity
Playwright Jenifer Nii and actor April Fossen have previously collaborated on SUFFRAGE (2013) and THE WEIRD PLAY (2018). In many ways, they are each other’s muses.Their latest collaboration, a solo play called THE AUDACITY Jenifer wrote specifically for April, premieres via online streaming March 28-31 (for ticket holders) and April 1-5 (free to the public). We asked them to share five things they admire about each other. Five Things Jenifer Nii Admires About April Fossen Her courage: April is one of the bravest actors I’ve ever had the chance to see on stage. She will push every limit to honor the play, which enables writers to dig deeper, ask better questions and write more creatively. Writers pray for actors like April Fossen. Her investment: It is obvious that April does so much work on her own to understand and inhabit the characters she plays. Because she goes “all in,” her characters are people – nuanced and complicated. Her range: Period pieces, modern pieces, weird pieces. Comedies and tragedies and everything in between. April can do it all, with astounding skill. ASTOUNDING. Her professionalism: April comes PREPARED, from day one. I have never – not ONCE – seen April “ad lib,” paraphrase, or approximate her lines. We writers are (or should be) really purposeful about what we put on the page. April treats each script like she expects we are, and that what’s on the page matters. That “thing”: April makes what’s on the page BETTER. She can make a flawed script less amateurish, more textured, and just plain better. Somehow it seems like she sees the intention behind the imperfect script, and manages...
Feb 26, 2020 | Blog, The Audacity
Playwright Jenifer Nii proudly calls Plan-B her creative home. She has previously premiered THE WEIRD PLAY, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (created with Dave Evanoff), THE SCARLET LETTER, SUFFRAGE, RUFF!, WALLACE (created with Debora Threedy) and (IN)DIVISIBLE (a collaboration with 11 other local playwrights) at Plan-B. Her latest, a solo play called THE AUDACITY written specifically for April Fossen, premieres via online streaming March 28-31 (for ticket holders) and April 1-5 (free to the public).. THE AUDACITY began with a story about a woman who dared to carve her own path in life. Josie Bassett lived nearly 90 years in the wilds of eastern Utah, amid cowboys and Natives and outlaws and Mormons. She romanced Butch Cassidy, ran a ranch and rustled cattle, bootlegged wine and whiskey, and sent five husbands packing. She outlived the Great Depression, two World Wars, and the fight for women’s suffrage. How? How did this woman live this life, at a time when women were audacious for daring to wear trousers? THE AUDACITY began with one woman’s feat – her determination and independence, her stubborn unwillingness to submit or compromise. What emerged during my research, though, became much more. Josie didn’t just HAPPEN. She was, in so many ways, built and shaped – by her fiercely independent mother, who showed her how to ride, rope, and lead; by her younger sister Ann, a rival to keep her sharp who reigned over a gang of rustlers; by her father who honored the strength and ambition of his wife and daughters; and by a culture that, in pushing against her, taught her to push back. What emerged was a...
