Theater festival to amplify women’s voices puts on shows, workshops in June

A theater festival hosted in Lexington will platform women’s voices and take a revised look at well-known stories throughout June.

The Voices HEaRd Theatre Festival is the first of its kind put on by Voices Amplified, giving women a stage to share their stories, said Vanessa Becker Weig, executive artistic director and co-founder of Voices Amplified. The festival will feature four main events: two musicals, a series of short-plays and a day of workshops, running from June 3 to June 14.

All events for the festival will take place at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center. Voices Amplified is an organization that works to support underrepresented voices and promote inclusivity through arts education and theater performances.

“It is extremely needed — the storytelling — for where we are today,” Wieg said.

“Disenchanted,” an off-Broadway musical, kicks off the festival on June 3 and runs until June 7. The musical centers around noteworthy princesses retelling their stories due to how they’ve been portrayed in pop culture. The musical pushes back on the stereotypes set by their original counterparts in a PG-13, “not-for-the-kiddies,” way, Weig said.

“Disenchanted” will be performed:

• Wednesday, June 3 at 7:30 p.m.
• Thursday, June 4 at 7:30 p.m.
• Friday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, June 6 at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
• Sunday, June 7 at 2 p.m.

Weig said the cast and crew of the musical, made up of theater professionals from Kentucky and New York, have had a rigorous month of preparation and rehearsal prior to the festival.

Three workshops will be held by Kentucky-based creatives on June 6.

Taca Hollis, a Kentucky poet, will host “Reclaiming Us” from 1:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. Attendees of the workshop will write poetry to share stories and reclaim the parts of themselves they “lost along the way.”

Edie Moon, a director and workshop instructor who has developed theater programs overseas, will host “Make Your Voices Heard Through Devising” from 3:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. The workshop will give attendees an opportunity to explore their playwriting skills and voice by creating works “from the ground up,” according to the organization’s website.

Artistic Director of Lex Comedy Co. and sketch comic Patricia Mullins will host “Sketchy Ladies” from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Attendees will learn to write comedy based on life’s complexities and get thoughts from their heads onto paper.

The “TICKTOCK Play Festival” on June 6, 7 and 10 features a showcase of short plays and works from playwrights and theater professionals in the Lexington area. The stories focus on the power that women have to tell their story, reclaim their past and “set the record straight.”

It will be performed on June 6 and 10 at 7:30 p.m. and June 7 at 2 p.m.

“Borden: A New Musical,” written by New York City based writer Cavan Hendron and based off the book by Hendron and Aaron Roitman, will close out the festival from June 11 to June 13. The musical is still in its “workshopping phase,” Wieg said, and the festival will act as an opportunity for the play to grow based on feedback from its showing.

The musical, directed by Neeta Thadani, takes place in 1892 during the days that surround the murder of Abby and Andrew Borden. This story does not follow the couple or their youngest daughter Lizzie Borden, who was the primary suspect in the murder, but rather the eldest daughter Emma Borden.

It will be performed on June 11 and 12 at 7:30 p.m. and June 13 at 2 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased online at their website.