A Rustle of Wings

Eisenstein, Linda (American playwright, 1950-____), “A Rustle of Wings,”

a 10-minute poetic comedy in English, set in a smoky lesbian bar, U.S.A., 1997,

1m3f or 4f

© 1997 by Linda Eisenstein;

• in Linda Eisenstein’s A Rustle of Wings (Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.: Herone Press, _____);

• also, in Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays, edited by Eric Lane and Nina Shengold (New York: Vintage Books, 1997), 360 pp., ISBN 0679772820, LCCN 96053571;

• script/rights available from Herone Press, 1378 West 64th Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44102, California, U.S.A., telephone 216-548-8327, e-mail herone@sbcglobal.net.

• Cited by NEricksn@aol.com, athenews-request@lists.wayne.edu, http://.hawaii.edu/athe, 2000.

Dramatis Personae

Frankie (m), __, friend of Mira; Jewell (m or f), __, a mysterious noir angel; Mira (m or f), __, _____; Shraine (m or f), __, friend of Mira.

Synopsis

“A smoky lesbian bar. A mysterious noir angel. When Mira meets Jewell, her matchmaking friends can't understand the heart-pounding attraction. And can those be real wings on her black leather jacket?.”—A RUSTLE OF WINGS by Linda Eisenstein, http://my.en.com/~herone/A_RUSTLE_OF_WINGS.html, September 5, 2008.

Comment

• Second Place, 7th Annual West Coast Ten-Minute Play Contest Winner, 1999.”—Calactors.com, http://www.calactors.com/wc10festival.htm, accessed September 5, 2008.

• Produced Vanguard Theatre Ensemble (California, U.S.A.).

• Produced DykeDrama Festival, Luna Sea Women's Performance Project (San Francisco, California, U.S.A.).

• Produced Atlanta Gay & Lesbian Arts Festival (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.).

• Produced Love Creek Productions (New York City, U.S.A.).

• Produced HAG Theatre (Buffalo, New York, U.S.A.).

• Produced Bailiwick (Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.).

• Produced 2SER Radio (Sydney, Australia).

• Produced 2nd Street Theatre (Bend, Oregon, U.S.A.).

• Produced Jera Entertainment (Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A.).

• Produced TOSOS II (NYC); P3 Productions (Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.).

• Produced Wild Plum (Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.). • Reading at Theatre! Theater! (Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.).

• International Center for Women Playwrights 1998 Global Readings Series. • Men’s version is available for 4m or 3m1f.

• Research could include Linda Eisenstein’s resume at http://my.en.com/~herone/resume.html, accessed September 5, 2008.

• “Linda Eisenstein is the author of many award-winning plays and musicals, including Three the Hard Way (available from Dramatic Publishing), Rehearsing Cyrano, Eisenstein's Monster, Marla's Devotion, The Names of the Beast, the rock operas Star Wares: The Next Generation and Discordia (with James Levin), Street Sense (with Migdalia Cruz), Holiday Hotline (with Michael Sepesy), Becoming George (with Patti McKenny & Doug Frew) and The Last Red Wagon Tent Show in the Land (with Teddi Davis). Her work has been seen in theaters throughout the U.S., and internationally in Canada, England, Australia, Northern Ireland, and South Africa. She has received three Individual Artist Fellowships and a New Works Commission from the Ohio Arts Council. Her plays have won the 1995 Gilmore Creek Playwriting Competition, 1996 Sappho's Symposium Competition, and a 1997 All-England Theatre Festival Prize (Hull). She has received a Cleveland Critics Circle Award; Second Prize in the West Coast 10-Minute Play Competition, and Third Prize in the Ohio Theatre Alliance Playwriting Competition. Her work has also received Jane Chambers Competition Finalist and Honors designations, Finalist designation in the Midwest Theatre Network Competition and for the Heidemann Award, and a 2005 NY Innovative Theatre Award nomination for Best Original Short Script. Her short plays have been anthologized in Best Women's Stage Monologues 1997 & 1998 and Best Stage Scenes 1997 (Smith & Kraus); More Monologues for Women by Women, Even More Monologues for Women by Women, and Scenes for Women by Women (Heinemann), The Actor's Book of Gay and Lesbian Plays (Penguin), and Take Ten II: Ten-Minute Plays (Vintage). Her poetry and fiction have appeared in The Cumberland Poetry Review, Kinesis, Amelia, Whiskey Island, Ohio Writer, Kalliope: a journal of women's art, Blithe House Quarterly, Paramour, Anything That Moves, and The Listening Eye. With a Master's degree in creative writing from Cleveland State University, she has taught scriptwriting at Denison University, Cleveland State, and E-script, the Internet Writers Workshop. Her articles on playwriting have been widely reprinted in theatre journals. She is a contributing writer and reviewer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and angle: a magazine of arts + culture. Currently a member of The Playwrights' Unit at the Cleveland Play House, she is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America, ASCAP, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and the International Center for Women Playwrights. For over a decade, she was Director of New Plays and Resident Composer at Cleveland Public Theatre. Born in Chicago, raised in San Francisco, she lives in Cleveland, Ohio.”—Linda Eisenstein: bio & photo, http://my.en.com/~herone/biophoto.html, September 5, 2008.

Themes

friendship, lesbianism, matchmaking.