In frontier Nebraska, Puritan Mary Kimball is well respected as the founder and director of Omaha's first charity. Anna Wilson is Omaha's most notorious madam. Houses explores what happens when Anna comes to Mary with a shocking proposition.
Production Photos, Drayton Arms Theatre, July 2022
Creatives
Lynne Martin, Playwright
While living in 4 countries and 8 distinct cultures, Lynne Martin studied opera, earned 2 degrees in English literature, raised 3 children, and pursued 6 career paths. Then she retired and returned to her first love—playwrighting—and now studies theatre at the University of Winnipeg. (Her second passion is messing about with plants.)
During Covid, Lynne found her biological father's family and now has three new brothers and a sister. Her roots on that side are Greek/Turkish and Hungarian Roma, whereas on her mother's side, Lynne is the great-great granddaughter of American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and can trace her lineage back to the Mayflower and further throughout the British Isles, including some minor royalty. Back in 1975, Lynne worked at the Cliff Hotel in Cheddar, Somerset, and still feels homesick for southern England. She's a dual US and Canadian citizen.
Her short play "Houses" became Scene Five of her two-act play Mary & Anna's Adventures in Dirty, Wicked Omaha! Lynne has also written another full-length play and a children’s musical, plus a brand new play called Losing It that she will develop starting this week at the Sage Hill Summer Playwriting Lab.
A member of the Manitoba Association of Playwrights since 2015, Lynne also enjoys membership in the Playwrights Guild of Canada, and volunteers on the board for the Winnipeg International Writers Festival.
During Covid, Lynne found her biological father's family and now has three new brothers and a sister. Her roots on that side are Greek/Turkish and Hungarian Roma, whereas on her mother's side, Lynne is the great-great granddaughter of American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and can trace her lineage back to the Mayflower and further throughout the British Isles, including some minor royalty. Back in 1975, Lynne worked at the Cliff Hotel in Cheddar, Somerset, and still feels homesick for southern England. She's a dual US and Canadian citizen.
Her short play "Houses" became Scene Five of her two-act play Mary & Anna's Adventures in Dirty, Wicked Omaha! Lynne has also written another full-length play and a children’s musical, plus a brand new play called Losing It that she will develop starting this week at the Sage Hill Summer Playwriting Lab.
A member of the Manitoba Association of Playwrights since 2015, Lynne also enjoys membership in the Playwrights Guild of Canada, and volunteers on the board for the Winnipeg International Writers Festival.
Chiara Virgilio, Director
Chiara (she/they) is a theatre director from Italy, graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She has developed her expertise around devising and directing projects with, for and by underrepresented communities and is passionate about bringing multiculturalism, multilingualism and LGBT+ stories on stage. Chiara is the director and co-founder of Homing Bird Theatre, the Production Manager of PSYCHEdelight's new show 'Mohand & Peter' and the artistic director of the Multicultural Applied Theatre Society (RCSSD), as well as a member of the Director's Cut Theatre Company.
Cast
Eden Taylor-Tapp, Anna
Eden Taylor-Tapp is a performer-creator from Canada, currently based here in London! She is a trained singer, and has interest and experience in comedy, improv, musicals, and writing. Eden trained at Concordia University’s theatre conservatory programme and earned her BFA in 2020. She then moved to the UK during the pandemic, and then graduated from her MA programme at East 15 Acting School. She has done voiceover and film work post graduating, and is excited to be performing on stage! You can also catch her in the upcoming play “Women’s Revenge” in September!
Rosemary Lippard, Mary
Rosemary Lippard is a Welsh actor-musician currently based in London. Just as skilled with a broadsword as she is with a mandolin, she received her training at the Manchester School of Theatre receiving a BA with hons. Rosemary is a seasoned Shakespearean performer having performed for 2 seasons with the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival as Maria in “Twelfth Night”, Portia in “Julius Caesar” Lady Anne in “Richard III”, and Prince Arviragus in “Cymbeline”. She has worked as an actor in theatre, film, and voice overs (for both radio and audio drama) with recent performing credits including Sebastian in “What You Will” (Little Lion Theatre Company), Jane Bennet/Narrator in “Pride and Prejudice” (Sun and Moon Theatre), The Lady in “About a Girl” (Ragged Scratch Podcast), and Peggy in the short film “The Good Wife” (dir. Toby Harris).