Dorothy's Dictionary
by E.M. Lewis
November 7th - November 24th, 2024
Thursday - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
Zan is a reactionary high school student facing court-ordered community service after a violent altercation. Dorothy is a passionate librarian going through a lengthy hospitalization far away from the books she loves. When Zan is forced to fulfill his community service by reading to Dorothy at her bedside, he is frustrated with the chore, and she with the surly teenage boy who has no respect for literature. But each of them might just have what the other needs... if they can only find the words.
Written by local playwright E.M. Lewis, Dorothy’s Dictionary is a heartfelt ode to connection across divides, the search for hope in dire circumstances, and finding the beauty in what’s right in front of you.
TRAILER
CAST & CREW
Kerie Darner | Dorothy Ross
AC Campbell | Zan Hardt
Ted Rooney | Director
E.M Lewis | Playwright
Luc Allison | Stage Manager
Amanda Cardwell-Aiken | Costumer
Luc Allison | Lighting Designer
AC Campbell | Producer
Victoria Spelman | Producer
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E.M. Lewis
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ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
E. M. (Ellen Margaret) Lewis is an award-winning playwright, teacher, and opera librettist. Her work has been produced around the world, and published by Samuel French. She received the Steinberg Award for How the Light Gets In and Song of Extinction and the Primus Prize for Headsfrom the American Theater Critics Association, the Ted Schmitt Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, a playwriting fellowship from the New Jersey State Arts Commission, the 2016 Oregon Literary Fellowship in Drama, and an Edgerton Award for Magellanica.
She is currently enjoying a six-year National Playwright Residency at Artists Repertory Theater, provided by the Mellon Foundation. Her opera Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant, written with composer Evan Meier, premiered at Opera Modesto in January 2024. Lewis teaches in Lesley University’s low-residency MFA Program. She lives on her family’s farm in Oregon.
Photos by Scott Thompson
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DOROTHY’S DICTIONARY has been developed with the support of LineStorm Playwrights, The Public Theater of San Antonio, and Theatre 33 at Willamette University.
A developmental workshop was produced by The Dramaworkshop at Palm Beach Dramaworks, January 2021 -- William Hayes,Producing Artistic Director; Sue Ellen Beryl, Managing Director.
Dorothy’s Dictionary was the winner of the Portland Civic Theater Guild New Play Award, and received a virtual staged reading produced by the PCTG as part of the 2022 Fertile Ground Festival of New Works in Portland, Oregon.
Dorothy’s Dictionary had its world premiere at Theatre Lab in Boca Raton, Florida in 2022, directed by Matt Stabile.