Original Play by Professor Leslie Ayvazian Featured in Second Annual Liz Smith Reading Series

By
Paola Alexandra Soto
April 02, 2019

Today, April 2nd, Mention My Beauty, an original play by Adjunct Associate Professor Leslie Ayvazian and directed by Martha Banta will be part of the Second Annual Liz Smith Reading Series at The Cherry Lane Theatre. The play is about Ayvazian who chose not to align herself with the women’s movement in the sixties and seventies and the consequences she had to live because of her decision. This autobiographical story looks at where Ayvazian’s attentions were during a time of rebellion, action, and indignation.

The Liz Smith Reading Series was created by “the grand damn of dish” for the purpose of highlighting and celebrating new works by female playwrights. Produced by the Marinda Theatre Company, a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and production of new plays that offer hope, while exploring the challenges that both individuals and members of the global community have to deal with, this will be the series' second year running.

For more information on the reading series and to make reservations for Mention My Beauty visit Ticket Central.

Leslie Ayvazian is the author of eight full-length plays and seven one-act plays, published variously by Samuel French and Dramatists Play Service. Nine Armenians won the John Gassner/Outer Critics Circle Award for best new American play, The Roger L. Stevens Award, and second place for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Rosemary and I received an honorable mention from the Susan Smith Blackburn jury. Make Me, directed by Christian Parker, was produced in New York by the Atlantic Theatre Company. High Dive was produced at the Long Wharf Theatre and the Manhattan Class Company, directed by David Warren, and went on to be produced in Poland and Slovakia. Her short film Every Three Minutes starring Olympia Dukakis was produced by Showtime and won a Telly Award. Her latest short film, The Favor, stars Olympia Dukakis, Margaret Colin, and John Pankow. A theatrical version of The Favor ran at City Theatre in 2013 and also had a production in The Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Spring festival of one-act plays. Leslie is an Adjunct Professor of dramaturgy at the Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts. Her credits as an actress include a recurring role on Law & Order – SVU and roles on Broadway in Lost in Yonkers and Naked Girl on the Apian Way.