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MAGDALEN is a one woman play about the stories and experiences of the women who worked in the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland.

MAGDALEN is a one woman play about finding one’s voice in the void. The void being the place where identity and beauty and language are stripped away. This void is what the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland were to the young girls and women who labored there. 

The Magdalene Laundries were commercial workhouses operated by religious orders of nuns in Ireland from the 19th – 20th century servicing the entire Republic with clean laundry. They disguised themselves as rescue homes to the unwanted, the fallen, the orphaned but in truth, they were prisons. The girls and women who worked there were unpaid slaves forced into silent submission, drudgery and religious ritual.

My director and I have been collaborating for over one year now on my play, MAGDALEN. As we continue to mine the stories of these characters, the penitent women and girls, we become increasingly aware that the story of MAGDALEN exposes the stories of scores of oppressed girls and women around the globe. 

We are thrilled to present MAGDALEN as part of the 2012 New York International Fringe Festival in August! We are currently in the middle of completing a production with The Ryan Repertory Theatre at the Harry Warren Theatre in Brooklyn this spring.  And after this summer, we will be preparing for a tour of MAGDALEN in the fall!  

As many of you know, play-making requires a labor of love not only from the playwright, the actor and the director but from the technical staff, the stage manager, the set designer, the costume designer, the light and sound designers and graphic artists.  We are working to raise financial support and would love for you to consider partnering with us in order to make this project's future success a reality.

This play has and will always be about dignifying the women and girls who labored as slaves and died as unidentifiable martyrs to an oppressive regime. Please consider donating whatever you can to the MAGDALEN project and help us bring the voices of the lost and the hidden back into the light.

Check out our project website: http://magdalentheplay.wordpress.com/ AND our Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/magdalentheplay for updates!

Thank you!!

Erin

HISTORY OF MAGDALEN: 

  • MAY 2010: Erin travels to Ireland on a quest to research the abandoned Magdalene Laundry sites. 
  • DECEMBER 2010: MAGDALEN is presented as a work-in-progress through Stage Left Studios and Primary Stages through their ESPA Program.
  • JUNE 2011: MAGDALEN is presented as a 3 day work-in-progress through the Ryan Repertory Company at The Harry Warren Theatre in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. 
  • DECEMBER 2011: New draft of MAGDALEN is presented as a staged reading to an invitation-only crowd of theatre artists at a loft in Manhattan.
  • FEBRUARY 2012: MAGDALEN is presented through Long Island University's Speaker Series at the Kumble Theater in Brooklyn, NY with special guest speaker Mari Steed from the advocacy group, Justice for the Magdalenes in Ireland and the US. 
  • MAY 2012: MAGDALEN is produced as a showcase at The Harry Warren Theatre in Brooklyn.

WITH YOUR HELP!:

  • AUGUST 2012: MAGDALEN is presented at the 2012 International New York City Fringe Festival! 

video edited by Pete Heatley with video and images from Basil Horn and black and white photographs from Frances Finnegan's book "Do Penance or Perish" and James M. Smith's book "Ireland's Magdalen Laundries and the Nation's Architecture of Containment"

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64
Backers
$5,350
pledged of $5,000 goal
0
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Funding period
Jun 2, 2012 - Jul 2, 2012 (30 days)

  • Pledge $10 or more

    4 backers

    Thank you on our project website and in all of the programs.

    Estimated delivery: Jul 2012
  • Pledge $25 or more

    12 backers

    All of the above and a personalized, signed 11 x 17 poster from the writer/actor and director from the performance of MAGDALEN at the Kumble Theater in February 2012.

    Estimated delivery: Jul 2012
  • Pledge $50 or more

    3 backers

    All of the above and a complementary Iyengar yoga class taught by the director of MAGDALEN at a home studio in Greenpoint.

    Estimated delivery: Jul 2012
  • Pledge $75 or more

    2 backers

    All of the above and a private invitation to the final dress rehearsal of MAGDALEN and pint with the cast at a “real” Irish pub.

    Estimated delivery: Jul 2012
  • Pledge $100 or more

    12 backers

    All of the above and two free tickets to the NYC Fringe show in August.

    Estimated delivery: Jul 2012
  • Pledge $500 or more

    0 backers

    All of the above and an original, framed line drawing of the penitent girls from MAGDALEN by the playwright/actor.

    Estimated delivery: Jul 2012
  • Pledge $1,000 or more

    0 backers

    All of the above and a private catered dinner with the cast at a loft in Manhattan.

    Estimated delivery: Jul 2012