BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – The Rockingham Free Public Library will host theater professor and author Dorothy Chansky for a readers’ theater presentation of Alice Brown’s “Joint Owners in Spain,” and discussion of her latest book “Losing It: Staging the Cultural Conundrum of Dementia and Decline in American Theatre,” on Saturday, Jan. 13, at 11 a.m. Coffee and doughnuts will be provided by the Rockingham Library.
The reading is directed by Sara Vitale, and performed by Maggie McGlone-Jennings, Judy Hallberg, Barbara Ball, and Anna Kendall. Chansky will discuss how her book explores 11 dementia plays that have been produced in the United States over the past century. Chansky is the author of “Kitchen Sink Realisms: Domestic Labor, Dining, and Drama in American Theatre” (University of Iowa Press, 2015); and “Composing Ourselves: The Little Theatre Movement and the American Audience” (Southern Illinois University Press, 2004). She is immediate past vice president of publications for the American Society for Theatre Research, a past president of the American Theatre and Drama Society, a past editor of Theatre Annual, and a past book review editor of Theatre Journal.
Her work has appeared in Theatre Survey, Theatre History Studies, TDR, The Journal of American Drama and Theatre, Theatre Journal, and Modern Drama. She writes criticism for New York Theatre Wire. She holds a doctorate in performance studies from NYU; A Master of Arts in theater from The Catholic University of America; and a bachelor’s in English from Smith College. She now lives in Bellows Falls.
This program is free, open to the public, and accessible to those with disabilities. In case of cancellation due to weather, the program will be rescheduled for Saturday, Jan. 20.
For more information, email reference@rockinghamlibrary.org, call 802-463-4270, go to www.rockinghamlibrary.org, or stop by the Rockingham Library at 65 Westminster Street in Bellows Falls.