Like so many artists, South Florida actress, writer and producer Laurie Tanner found herself with no creative outlet in March 2020, when the world shut down. So she decided to take matters into her own hands.
Along with fellow actress and writer Alicia Garcia, she began conceptualizing an idea that in September of that year became Femuscripts, an all-female-owned theater production company.
“With theaters closed and people staying home, work was hard to come by,” said Tanner, who lives in Pompano Beach. “We were talking about finding a way to work but also about the fact that plays about women were being told by men and from the male perspective.
“We wanted to rectify that,” she added. “So between the two of us, and another actress and writer, Brooke Lynn White, … we put on a virtual short play festival in November 2020.”
They called it Long Story Short, and it featured five plays, three of them written by the three Femuscripts founders.
“I think my favorite was ‘Virtual School,’ written by Alicia Garcia,” Tanner said. “The two actors were an adorable mother-daughter pair, professional actors from Central Florida.”
Building off the festival’s momentum, they came up with a Valentine’s Day-themed Love Fest in 2021, which was followed by Love Fest 2 in 2022. The first one featured a whopping 13 plays presented virtually over two nights, while Love Fest 2 was a hybrid with nine in-person plays and seven virtual ones.
“We worked hard on those festivals!” said Tanner.
It only seemed fitting they produce a festival during Women’s History Month. In, 2021, they organized Florida: Her Stories, which focused on female Floridians.
Jane Rumbaua/Courtesy
Laurie Tanner is a South Florida actor and playwright who cofounded Femuscripts, an all-female theater production company, at the height of the pandemic. (Jane Rumbaua/Courtesy)
“We really thought writers would be curious about women’s history in Florida, but surprisingly, submissions were low for this festival so we ended up writing our own plays,” Tanner said. “We also reached out to local writer and poet Zorina Frey, who read some of her poems and dazzled us with her amazing energy.”
Femuscripts cofounder Garcia’s piece featured adapted stories from author Zora Neale Hurston’s book “Dust Tracks on a Road.” They also produced a play about Julia Tuttle, the “Mother of Miami,” submitted by local playwright Marjorie O’Neill Butler.
Eventually, Tanner said she found herself running Femuscripts on her own “because Alicia Garcia and Brooke Lynn White needed to take some personal time,” and she used that opportunity to reflect on her next move. She decided she wanted to produce a full-length play.
In summer 2022, Tanner put out a call for submissions and titled it Back to Life, a name she “felt gave writers an opportunity to interpret their material in their own way. I received about 60 submissions, reviewed them all, and ultimately chose writer Arianna Rose because hers really hit on the theme.”
That submission was “The Equivalent of Sensation,” which examines the lives of four historical women: sisters and prominent art collectors Etta and Claribel Cone, and the renowned writers Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas.
The play was presented at Sandrell Rivers Theater in Miami and Sol Theatre in Boca Raton over two weekends in September 2023 and starred Leslie Kandel (Toklas), Carla Zackson Heller (Stein), Celine Hakoun (Etta Cone) and Tanner (Claribel Cone). Joining the four main players was Brittany Nicholson as Odalisque, the subject in a Henri Matisse painting.
Femuscripts/Courtesy
Writer Zorina Frey electrifies viewers with her poetry during the virtual presentation of Florida: Her Stories, a Femuscripts-produced festival presented in honor of Women’s History Month. (Femuscripts/Courtesy)
As the four main characters examine their lives, the audience joins them on a journey of self-discovery that takes a look at the impact of women on art and society, all the while showcasing their strength, independence and defiance.
Finding the director was easy, said Tanner, adding: “I knew Carey Brianna Hart and, although I hadn’t worked with her before, I really liked her work. She is empathetic and agreed to direct it.”
Next up was finding a venue, with no budget, so Tanner applied for a Cultural Arts Partnership (CAP) with Sandrell Rivers. Casting was all set until one of the actors had to drop out.
“That’s when I stepped in to play Claribel, which I loved because playing her really reminded me of one of my grandmothers. So I channeled her during the performance,” Tanner said. “It ended up being therapeutic in a way.”
Although at the moment she’s still running Femuscripts on her own, Tanner hopes to put together play readings and to finish her full-length play.
“I’ve been working on my play, which is also about historical women, for some time and would like for it to be part of the play readings I’m planning,” she said.
In the meantime, Tanner hopes to find other women to join her and help grow and find more funds for Femuscripts and future productions. She’s looking for women “aiming to amplify female, female-identifying and non-binary voices in theater,” as she states on the website.
“I am definitely open to having other people in the theater community help with the development of future programs,” Tanner said.
Learn more about Femuscripts and upcoming productions and programming at Femuscripts.business.site.
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