ARTIST STATEMENT
In my plays I’ve explored adoption, cross dressing, mental illness, dissolution of family, the pain of intimacy, workplace politics, and the loneliness of making art. Whether comedy or drama, the through line in my work is women and girls navigating life in a man’s world. I use extensive research as a foundation from which to take imaginative leaps. There must always be an emotional connection to my subject matter. My style can vary from well-made to experimental. I overwrite, then cut back. What hovers between the lines can often be the most powerful. Even the darkest stories need comic relief.
The subject of my play is Martha Goddard, inventor of the rape kit. This is an image of the kit.
BIO
Jeanne Dorsey is a writer of plays, screenplays, teleplays, and essays. She was awarded a 2022 fellowship to Monson Arts in Monson Maine, the inaugural 2022 Room of One’s Own residency with the Bechdel Project, and a 2021 Sloan Commission, all in support of her play The Kit: Made by Martha. Her play A Little Bit of Forever received a 29-hour Equity workshop with the support of New Georges and was nominated by New Georges for the 2019 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her television pilot Highest and Best was a finalist for the Made in NY Writers Room television training program. Her play, Away Towards Home was nominated by George Street Playhouse for the 2016 Susan Smith Blackburn prize. It developed at Ensemble Studio Theatre and was included in the EST 2014 summer workshop series at The Space at Ryder Farm. Her play Footprints in The Snow was a semi-finalist for the 2017 Ashland New Play Festival. It was nominated by EST for the 2010 Susan Smith Blackburn prize and was a semi-finalist for the O’Neill 2009 National Playwrights Conference. She wrote, directed, and produced the short film Blood from a Stoner that screened at the Anthology Film Archives in New York and was an official selection in the 2015 Chain Film Festival, the 2014 Big Apple Film Festival, and the 2014 FilmColumbia festival in Chatham, New York. Blood From a Stoner is based on her play, which was produced by the Ensemble Studio Theatre in the 2009 EST Marathon.
https://www.ensemblestudiotheatre.org/jeanne-dorsey