DRY LAND
by Ruby Rae Spiegel
directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt
A play about girls, abortion, bath salts, bathing suits, rashes, love, and what happens in one high school locker room after everybody’s left.
Cast: Maya Hawke, Eden Marryshow, Alice Kremelberg, Alyah Chanelle Scott, and Dominic Sessa.
The one-night-only reading will take place on Monday, April 21 at 7pm at The Newman Mills Theater at the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space. The reading will be performed on the set of ALL NIGHTER on their dark night. Tickets start at $49.
100% of net proceeds from the evening will benefit the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF), which supports New Yorkers and people traveling to New York State to access abortion care through financial assistance, case management, and connections to other resources.
““When we first produced this play ten years ago, Ruby was 20 years old, and medical abortions were pretty new. Despite the fact that one in three women experience abortion, and the majority of the U.S. population supports reproductive health care, there are overwhelming obstacles to access” said Director and Founding Artistic Director of Colt Coeur, Adrienne Campbell-Holt. “Dry Land was one of the first plays that centered young women’s experiences: of pregnancy, choice, and body autonomy. I never imagined that Roe would be overturned and the roll back of family care so prevalent, defying democratic choice and public opinion.”
“Level Forward is honored to be collaborating with Colt Coeur and the New York Abortion Access Fund to bring Dry Land back and share it with new generations. Addressing the narrative and groundwork gives us the chance to engage at both ends of the fight for family healthcare and reproductive freedom,” said Julia Dunetz, Producer, Level Forward.
About Level Forward
LEVEL FORWARD is a public benefit entertainment company focused on making brave storytelling. We work on project and system levels to balance artistic vision, stakeholder return, and social progress. Select films include Bjork’s Cornucopia, Mountains, Red, White and Blue, The Year Between, and The Assistant. Select Broadway and live shows include Good Night and Good Luck, Suffs, Parade, POTUS, What The Constitution Means To Me, and Jagged Little Pill. Browse our Tony Award, Spirit Award, Anthem Award-winning and Oscar-nominated creative work at levelforward.co, or our audience engagement platform at moretotalkabout.com.
About New York Abortion Access Fund
Founded in 2001, the New York Abortion Access Fund supports New Yorkers, and people traveling to New York State, access abortion care through financial assistance, case management, and connections to other resources.
NYAAF operates a volunteer-managed helpline that fields calls in English and Spanish. Our volunteer case managers provide compassionate support to people facing barriers, misinformation, and stigma, and move funds directly to ensure they can access the care they need and deserve.
Following the Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, more people than ever are traveling to New York to access the abortion care they need. However, more than half of our callers remain resident New Yorkers, because while New York is much more abortion friendly than other states, many barriers still exist here. NYAAF directly fills the gaps created by these barriers and has made abortion access a reality for thousands of callers in New York and across the country.
Production stills from Colt Coeur’s world premiere at HERE, 2014.
Cast: Tina Ivlev, Alice Kremelberg, Sarah Mezzanotte, and Matthew Stadelmann.
Photos by Sara Krulwich and Robert Altman.
Press
““Feelings seldom come singly in “Dry Land,” the remarkable new play by Ruby Rae Spiegel. [...] “Dry Land,” a Colt Coeur production directed with rippling fluidness by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, is about abortion. No, that’s not correct. It’s about the complexities of friendship and the fears of the future that grip kids arriving at the threshold of adulthood. ”
““Watching Ruby Rae Spiegel’s ruthlessly honest Dry Land, you wonder: Girls, how did theater miss you?!? Everything else belongs to them: film, television, fiction. Yet it takes Spiegel’s simple, fierce play to put a young woman’s capacity for pain center stage—and the choice feels thrilling, even political.[...] Director Adrienne Campbell-Holt of the reliable company Colt Coeur enables startling performances.. There’s a glitter to the young: The company, the director, the writer and the actors all shimmer with it.””
““A thrilling and difficult new play, every inch filled with emotional integrity and a thrilling examination of the human side of political discourse.”
““Few things are as bracing as the shock of new talent. In 10 years — or more likely in 10 months, considering our accelerated hatching cycle — you’ll be able to say you were there for Ruby Rae Spiegel’s first full-length play. [...] Keenly directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt for the tiny but excellent Colt Coeur company.” ”