anita yellin simons

This is an imagined meeting between Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954) and Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) after they are both dead. The dialogue is based on factual research, but the situation is fictional. Each wrote their autobiography but neither lived to read them. Ida was already a published author of Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (1893), The Reason Why the Colored American is Not in the World's Columbian Exposition (1893), Mob Rule in New Orleans (1900), and numerous newspaper articles. She wrote an autobiography which was published in 1970 nearly forty years after her death and was edited by her daughter, Alfreda M. Duster. Terrel’s autobiography was published in 1940 and accounts her personal experiences with racism. Although she and Ida had worked together in various clubs, Mary never once mentioned Ida in her book. In contrast Ida gave glowing accounts of her memories of Mary.
I hope to introduce these somewhat unknown trailblazers to those who may not have ever heard their names before and understand how they courageously ignited a tiny spark before anyone had a name for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Synopsis

Jo Ann Robinson, a professor of English at Alabama State College, like so many other Negroes in Montgomery, had been abused on city buses for decades. In 1954 she informed the Mayor of Montgomery that if changes were not made, there would be a bus boycott. After Rosa Parks’ arrest in 1955, Robinson took it upon herself to organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Many think that the boycott happened because Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, but that was only the spark that set off a boycott that had been planned for years. The play takes place in 1968 when Robinson is living and teaching high school in Los Angeles and a fellow teacher begins to question her about her past and then encourages her to write about it.

This is a play within a “play.” Before the play begins, the director warns audience that their dress rehearsal was attended by uninvited members of various government agencies who deemed that the script must be changed before its performance. The playwright refused to make any changes, and the play commences under the watchful eyes of several ICE agents who during the course of the play will handcuff actors. The play begins with Emma Goldman speaking from her soap box which sets the stage for what happened during those tumultuous years between 1919 and 1920. It’s the end of World War I with – unemployment, assaults on unions, public employees, and women's rights, a pandemic and immigrants. In 1919 the U.S. was consumed by so many labor strikes and high unemployment that someone had to be blamed. The media and big business had already labeled the aliens “reds,” “Bolsheviks,” and “radicals.” After Attorney General Palmer’s home was bombed, he joined the crowd and launched a series of raids and arrests in November 1919 and January 1920 to deport left-wing radicals, especially anarchists, from the United States. Assisting him was the recently appointed director of the new “Radical Division” of the Department of Justice, 24-year-old John Edgar Hoover. After the raids, more than 500 foreign citizens were deported, including several prominent leftist leaders such as Emma Goldman. After news reports of how the aliens were arrested without warrants, held for weeks in deplorable conditions, and denied their rights, Palmer's efforts were largely frustrated by officials at the US Department of Labor who had responsibility for deportations and who objected to Palmer's methods and disrespect for the legal process. One person who was finally able to take a stand and put a stop to the deportations was Assistant Secretary of Labor Louis Post, but not before he was brought before Congress for impeachment hearings. In the end, Post was vindicated and Palmer’s hopes to run for President were shattered. The only person to come out of the mess and remain in control of the soon to be established FBI was J. Edgar Hoover. Over 100 years later, some things have not changed as this country experiences a new wave of warrantless arrests and alien bashing.

THE PRICE OF LIBERTY is based on facts from the raids and how it affected those working behind the scenes and those arrested. The sets can be minimal, and the cast of 9 males and 6 females can be lowered to six males and two females with some doubling.

“LADIES FIRST”
by
Lojo Simon
Anita Yellin Simons

SYNOPSIS

Middle-aged and angry about the war in 2005, Joan has camped out in front of the White House. But when her supporters and the media leave, she fears that her efforts have failed. Then, as if in a dream, the spirits of four former First Ladies appear to her: Mary Todd Lincoln, Edith Wilson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Pat Nixon. Together, they come up with a madcap plan: they are going to kidnap Laura Bush and have her convince the President to end the war.
Full of action and fast-paced dialogue, this all-female, six-actor play is easy to stage with minimal set and props.
A politically relevant comedy, *LADIES FIRST runs approximately 90 minutes (with intermission) and is available for world premiere.

IN SANITY presents a day in the life of the upper middle class Nicholas family after an horrific circumstance brings their estranged 19 year-old son, Colin, back to the family. Colin was involved with using and selling drugs, and now the family is on their way to visit him at Cordura Trails Ranch, a residential drug rehab facility in the San Diego back country, with Colin’s 15 year-old sister and 18 year-old girlfriend. The family doesn’t know that the day they are visiting is the day their family has been chosen to be the focus of a family group session. Mom Sarah thinks it’s a great idea – especially since she thinks the girlfriend doesn’t understand how serious addiction is and wants her to be able to help Colin stay clean and sober after he leaves the program. They are all in for unexpected surprises and consequences during and after the family group session.
IN SANITY is a gripping and insightful look at a family’s experience with addiction and rehabilitation. It has roles for four women and four men and runs 90 minutes. The scenes take place in the Nicholas home kitchen and the Ranch facility.

Before the days of Phil Donahue or Oprah, no one talked about domestic abuse or self-esteem -- it was a private and embarrassing subject. Linda, a young newlywed, is so in love with her husband Larry that she believes him when he tells her everything is her fault. The two of them are back in their home state of Ohio, but Linda has no friends and no one to talk to since her family moved to California. Each time there is an "incident" she continues to stand by her man and wait for a better day. What other choice does she have? Finally, she reaches her limit and fights back. But at what cost to her?

Gammy Leigh is excited for her holiday overnighter with her twin grandbabies. It’s the first time her daughter, Cass, and her husband, Elliott, have gone out of town, and Gammy is thrilled to be in charge of Noah and Madison, especially as she prepares to celebrate their first Christmas together. But she’s barely got a burp out of baby Noah when Bubbie Arlene unexpectedly shows up, barges in with her suitcase and shopping bags galore, and threatens all of Leigh’s best-laid plans.

Bubbie is not only pushy and demanding; she’s also hypercritical of everything Gammy and new mother Cass do for the babies. Breastfeeding isn’t good enough, cloth diapers are old-fashioned, and why does Cass need to go back to work and put the precious poopers in day care anyway? When Bubbie learns that Gammy is prepping for Christmas, look out: here comes a Huge Hanukah Happening!

As the tension builds between these feuding family members, Bubbie reveals that Christmas is no longer welcome in “the kids’” house because Cass has converted to Judaism. Gammy is shocked, and accuses Bubbie of coercion. Not to be outdone, Gammy reveals a secret of her own: she’s dating Bubbie’s ex-husband, Mark. In a comedy of backstabbing barbs and multiple calls on look-like cell phones, Bubbie and Gammy fight to the bitter end, or until they misplace the babies, which throws them both into a tizzy.

In the end, Gammy and Bubbie acknowledge their similarities as well as their differences as they celebrate both Christmas and Hanukah in a world in which there’s enough love (and babies) for everyone.

From 1943 to1946, the United States held captured Prisoners of War (POWs) in prison camps throughout the U.S. Although imprisoned, these German, Italian and Japanese soldiers were permitted to work in factories and on farms as part of the American effort to re-educate the prisoners in the American way of life.
Not widely known or acknowledged is the fact that from 1941 to 1945, the U.S. government also imprisoned nearly 11,000 German-Americans and 3,500 Italian-Americans. Unlike interred Japanese-Americans, many of these so-called enemy alien immigrants to the United States faced interrogation and internment conditions that were far worse than those faced by foreign nationals. Some of these prisoners were held in captivity even after World War II had ended, and more than 1,000 German-Americans, including innocent American-born children, were expatriated to Germany against their will.
HEARTLAND is set on a small, family-run dairy farm in Wisconsin where, in March 1945, a German-born widow and her children are struggling to make ends meet after the family patriarch has died. When they receive notice from the War Manpower Commission offering two Prisoners of War to work their farm, it seems like an answer to the family’s prayers, but the arrival of these two strangers causes changes no one had anticipated. Based on true stories of many such arrests of German-American families during World War II, HEARTLAND explores what can happen when fear and prejudice pit neighbor against neighbor in times of war.
Tony-winning director Marshall Mason said of Heartland, it is “a compelling story… well-structured [with] a large cast of diverse, complex characters and excellent dialogue.”
A politically relevant drama with one set and a cast of four women, three men and one boy, the play is approximately 90 minutes.

Based on the biographies of the Franks and my personal contact with Anne’s three surviving friends, Goodbye Memories is a universal story of parents, children, friends, sexual awakenings, and the special spirit of a talkative, attention-loving girl named Anne Frank. Unlike the play and movie based on Anne’s diary, Goodbye Memories begins on the morning of Anne’s 13th birthday in June 1942 when she receives her infamous diary. The play ends on the morning of July 6, 1942 when the Franks leave their home to go into hiding.
Anne was not very different from teens of today. She fights with her sister, argues with her mother, laughs with her friends, and flirts with her first boyfriend. She is especially close to her father whom she adores. Anne is at her best when with her two friends Hannah and Jacque. She can gossip, imitate school chums and talk about boys while also learning about herself and her relationship with others. Anne “the flirt” shines when she is with her new friend Hello Goldberg and also reveals some of her innermost thoughts. Anne was just beginning to blossom sexually and intellectually right before going into hiding.
On July 5, 1942 Anne and her sister Margot think that their father has received his call-up notice to report to a labor camp, and the girls begin to bond as never before. Later when Anne learns that the call-up was really for Margot, their relationship takes another turn. Always positive about her future, Anne is confident that her family will be safe as long as they stay together. The Franks are just like any family: they fight, they laugh, they cry, and in times of crisis they stick together.
Goodbye Memories is presented in two acts and runs approximately 90 minutes. The cast includes two women, four teenage girls, one man and one teenage boy. The setting is the Frank’s living room, Anne’s bedroom, the rooftop and one exterior scene. All of Anne’s friends who are portrayed in this play are still alive and it is hoped that some of them would be invited to attend a production and participate in a discussion afterwards.

According to the Department of Defense statistics: one in three women who join the U.S. military will be sexually assaulted or raped by men in the military, making it more likely to be raped by a fellow American soldier than killed by enemy fire. But now, even more alarming are deaths of women soldiers in Iraq and in the United States following rape. The military has characterized each of the deaths of women who were first sexually assaulted as deaths from “non-combat related injuries,” and in some cases then added “suicide.” Several of the families of the women whom the military has declared to have committed suicide strongly dispute the findings and are calling for further investigations into the deaths of their daughters. In addition, over ten percent of returning soldiers report serious functional impairment due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or depression. Nationwide, studies suggest 300,000 returning veterans experience the symptoms of TBI, however, many of them are being declined benefits after being discharged when they are told they have a pre-existing personality disorder. This not only affects the returning veteran, but their family as well, leading to another epidemic of suicide.

“This We’ll Defend” tells the fictional story of a sister and her mother searching for the truth about the death of her older sister who was serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq where she was raped by a fellow soldier and after reporting the rape was found dead in her room. Her family is told that it was a suicide, and later learns that her Army buddy also died of “non-combat related injuries” only 10 days after her. Two years later, the sister and mother finally locate the other girl’s family and make a surprise visit. Unfortunately, they find a mother unwilling to help, in denial about her own daughter’s rape and desperate to stop them from seeing her son who returned from Afghanistan suffering from severe PTSD. The mothers have similar but opposing goals: one to learn the truth and the other to survive by hiding it.

A politically relevant drama based on compilation of actual stories with one set that can be used for several locations, and a cast of five women and one man. This play was a 2013 Semi-Finalist in the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center National Playwrights Conference.

Gammy Leigh has big plans for her Christmastime overnighter with her grandbabies, including a visit from Santa, but Bubbie Arlene unexpectedly shows up at the door armed with Chanukah gifts galore and a know-it-all attitude that even the most mellow Gammy can’t abide. Laugh your way into the holiday season with these two outspoken elders as they come to terms with aging, change, surprises, and the ups-and-downs of blended, modern families.Co-written with Anita Simons.

During World War II, the US government confined thousands of Japanese-, German- and Italian-Americans to isolated, fenced and guarded relocation centers known as internment camps. At the same time, it shipped foreign Prisoners of War captured overseas to the US for imprisonment. Heartland reflects on the intersection between these two historic events through the story of a German-born widow and her family who take in two German Prisoners of War to work their family farm. But the German- American family and the POWs bond too well for the townspeople to accept, and the widow is arrested, interned and eventually suffers a breakdown, which tears her family apart. Based on true stories, Heartland illustrates what can happen when fear and prejudice pit neighbor against neighbor in times of war. A dramatic tale that grants insights into American history, Heartland is a winner of the Dayton Playhouse FutureFest and a runner-up for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award. Co-written with Anita Simons. Now also available in screenplay format!