'The Colony' by Alumna Gina Stevensen ’18 Wins 21st Century Voices New Play Festival

The Colony, a thesis play by playwrighting alumna Gina Stevensen ’18, is the winner of the American Stage’s 21st Century Voices New Play Festival. The new play festival features live staged readings of five new plays from five exceptional up-and-coming playwrights from all over the United States. The staged reading will take place on Thursday, January 3 at the American Stage in St. Petersberg, Florida. To make a reservation visit American Stage’s website.

Based on a true story, The Colony is set in 1924 Virginia, where a dirt-poor young woman named Carrie Buck is brought to a mysterious medical facility. No one will tell her why she’s there, or where her two-month-old daughter is. All she knows is that her mother lives here – the mother who abandoned her when she was a child. The Doctor in charge is a charming progressive, a student of the new science of heredity and genes. In Carrie, he finds the missing link his entire movement has been searching for, placing her at the center of an unbelievable chain of events that will lead all the way to the Supreme Court. The Colony asks the question: how does our society, past and present, determine the value of its female citizens?

“I'm thrilled to be participating in 21st Century Voices!" Stevensen commented, "I’m looking forward to collaborating with a new team of artists and learning more about my play by experiencing it alongside the St. Pete community.”

Gina Stevensen’s plays include The Colony (Semifinalist: Austin Film Festival Playwriting Competition, Off-Broadway Reading: Urban Stages, Finalist: The Kennedy Center’s MFA Playwrights Workshop), Cruel Sister (Semi-Finalist: O’Neill National Playwrights Conference), KIDS (Williamstown Theatre Festival), and Book of Esther (Reading: Hartford Stage, Top Ten Finalist: Jewish Playwriting Contest, Semi-Finalist: Princess Grace Award). Stevensen is a nominee for the OBIE Award-winning Mentor Project at the Cherry Lane Theatre. She teaches playwriting through Tribeca Performing Arts Center’s Writers in Performance Workshop and The Writer’s Rock. BFA Drama: NYU Tisch. MFA Playwriting: Columbia University.