CHARLOTTE'S LETTERS by Jennifer O'Grady

Rising Artist Award / 1st Place Henley Rose Award / NEWvember Festival Dublin / O'Neill Semifinalist/ Irish Rep's New Works Readings Series Selection / Writer2Writer Award / Top 25 Plays, Panndora's Box / BETC's Generations Shortlist / AFF Second-Rounder / THE BEST WOMEN'S STAGE MONOLOGUES 2022 and other honors

(Full length) A fresh, theatrical take on the Brontës,...
Rising Artist Award / 1st Place Henley Rose Award / NEWvember Festival Dublin / O'Neill Semifinalist/ Irish Rep's New Works Readings Series Selection / Writer2Writer Award / Top 25 Plays, Panndora's Box / BETC's Generations Shortlist / AFF Second-Rounder / THE BEST WOMEN'S STAGE MONOLOGUES 2022 and other honors

(Full length) A fresh, theatrical take on the Brontës, intertwining Charlotte Brontë's two years as an unpublished young woman at a Belgian school--where she became close to her married tutor and employer, Monsieur Heger--with biographer Mrs. Gaskell's struggle to salvage Charlotte's posthumous reputation and feminist novels. In Victorian England the novels of recently deceased author Charlotte Brontë are now widely banned for being too passionate. With the aid of her teenaged daughter, Gaskell intends to prove that Charlotte was innocent and her reclusive life, blameless--but when an alarming letter arrives from Brussels, Gaskell feels forced to investigate just how much of Charlotte's novels--including the bestselling but scandalous JANE EYRE--was based on her own life. A new play about love, friendship and the making—and unmaking—of art and identity.
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CHARLOTTE'S LETTERS

Recommended by

  • Ricardo Soltero-Brown:
    4 Dec. 2023
    “ Replete with historical dues and literary context, CHARLOTTE'S LETTERS is another fine component in Jennifer O'Grady's canon of artists-at-work during significant moments in their lives. (See: JUGGLING WITH MR. FIELDS) It was certainly delightful learning about the women behind so many important works of Western prose and their formidable years, but there is plenty of entertainment and drama in the sections involving Mrs. Gaskell and Meta, and how they work on framing the Brontë sisters. The language, the dialogue is simultaneously appropriate, rhapsodic, and accessible. The second half reaches a layer of dream-upon-dream that renders the play into resplendent heights. ”
  • Nora Louise Syran:
    29 Oct. 2023
    “ Lovely. I only wish I'd read this sooner. It works on so many levels. The frame narrative is beautifully rendered and creates a sense of a mystery, an 'enigma' in the biography to be solved which propels us along. Knowing the Bronte sisters Emily and Charlotte certainly adds to the enjoyment of this piece but the characters work on their own, apart from their fictional lives. Just beautiful. O'Grady captures the loneliness and the passion of Jane Eyre. Yes, I do like a happy ending, too. But one grounded in reality. Charlotte Bronte would be proud, I think, indeed. ”
  • Rachel Feeny-Williams:
    14 Jul. 2021
    “ I've never known a great deal about the Brontë sisters but this piece opened my eyes a new, which is always a great thing for theatre. Taking this interesting new perspective and drawing the audience in so that you can't help but want to know more. By the end I found myself wanting to research more about the sisters! A very well done piece. ”
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Character Information

6W/1M. Some doubling.

  • Charlotte Brontë
    Mid-20s.,
    British
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      20s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Female
  • Monsieur Heger
    Early 30s.,
    Belgian.
    Professor of literature.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      30s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Male
  • Mrs. Gaskell
    46,
    British
    A novelist.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      40s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Female
  • Meta Gaskell (pronounced MEE-ta)
    19,
    British
    Mrs. Gaskell's daughter.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      Teens, 20s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Female
  • Emily Brontë
    Early-mid 20s.,
    British
    Charlotte's sister
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      20s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Female
  • Madame Heger
    Late 30s,
    Belgian.
    School directress and Heger's wife.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      30s, 40s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Female
  • Woman
    Late teens/early 20s
    Plays Belgian Maid, Servant, Pupil's Voice, Louise.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      Teens, 20s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Female

Development History

  • Reading
    ,
    Attic Salt Theatre
    ,
    2021
  • Reading
    ,
    Yellow Rose Productions
    ,
    2018
  • Reading
    ,
    AboutFace Ireland/NEWvember Festival Dublin
    ,
    2017
  • Reading
    ,
    Irish Repertory Theatre
    ,
    2016

Awards

Current Finalist, Hudson Valley Theatre Festival
,
2023
Selection
,
The Best Women's Stage Monologues 2022
,
Smith and Kraus
,
2022
Finalist
,
Lance Hewett Reading Series
,
Isle of Shoals Productions
,
2020
Winner
,
Rising Artist Playwriting Award
,
Attic Salt Theater Company
,
2020
Top 25 Plays, Panndora's Box New Works Festival
,
Panndora Productions
,
2019
Second Rounder
,
Austin Film Festival Playwriting Award
,
2018
Finalist
,
Talk Back Theatre
,
2018
Winner
,
Writer2Writer Award
,
AWP
,
2018
Winner
,
1st Place, Henley Rose Playwrights Award for Women
,
2018
Winner
,
NEWvember New Plays Festival Dublin
,
2017
Selection
,
New Works Series
,
Irish Repertory Theatre (NY)
,
2016
Shortlist
,
BETC Generations Award
,
2015
Selection
,
Applause Books World Premiere Club
,
Applause Theater & Cinema Books