Claudia Barnett

Aglaonike, the first female astronomer, could predict lunar eclipses, but her science was suspect because she was a woman. She therefore billed herself as a sorceress and claimed she could draw down the moon. Inspired by her unsung history, this coming-of-age play follows the protagonist through a series of challenges, both magical and scientific. Drawing on ancient Greek traditions and postmodern performance trends, Aglaonike’s Tiger is stylized and visual and uses puppets and masks to explore political, ecological, and scientific themes.

Theodosia Burr Alston (1783-1813) was known for her many virtues and achievements, but she made history by vanishing at sea. Erudite, beautiful, loyal, and wise, this daughter of a vice president and wife of a governor left a legacy of lore—Pirates! Indians! Tempest! Escape?!—that reduced her to two dimensions, the Amelia Earhart of her time. Theodosia Redux satirizes an array of possibilities while celebrating the woman behind the fame.

Inspired by the true story of a Norwegian valley that never sees winter sun, Kingdom (a play about Snow White and climate change) traces a hundred years of environmental hubris, including attempts to split atoms, tame a waterfall, and transmute air, culminating in a radical act of community as an artist conducts sunlight onto town square. Kingdom presents history as a parable, focusing on a blind girl who thrives in darkness and the personified conflict between natural history and unnatural selection.

In a series of stylized, highly visual vignettes employing puppetry, poetry, and surrealism, the weïrd sisters from Macbeth explore the stories of women who disappear, whether by choice or force. Inspired by history, astronomy, and Shakespeare, Witches Vanish examines the nature of change and the value of human life.

What does it mean to return to the world when every day has been the same as the one before? Over twelve hours, one performer experiences one story dozens of times over with dozens of different performers. (This project was created as a collaboration with Pipeline-Collective was broadcast live by the NECAT Network on October 2, 2021. A full recording can be viewed on Pipeline-Collective's website, and a 16-minute "supercut" is also available.)

Kate Stoddard murdered Charles Goodrich in 1873–after he told her they weren’t really married and had her evicted from his Brooklyn brownstone in a blizzard. Kate’s struggles to maintain her sanity and her identity, both before and after she shot her one true love three times in the head, are the subject of this play, which moves backwards and forwards through time and invokes a poetry of madness.

It's 1924, and young Harvard astronomers Cecilia Payne and Adelaide Ames are celebrating an "impossible" achievement. (a 10-minute play)

Highway 16 is a retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale, inspired by numerous (real) vanishing women in British Columbia. In this coming-of-age play, Granny is a brothel keeper and the Wolf may be Red’s fairy godmother. The cast includes three women, one of whom is a wolf. (a 10-minute play)

In this mouse-eyed view of “Cinderella,” a rodent mother grooms her daughters to attend the ball, but the dutiful stepdaughter wins the mouse prince. (a 10-minute play)

Liz Meitner was sidelined as a scientist, first for being female and then for being Jewish. In this short play, a very old friend shows up after a very long time, nostalgic for the past that nearly killed them. But Lise is looking only to the future.

Sylvia's dicing onions, but that's not why she's wielding the knife. Edgar's been here too long, and she wants him gone. (a 10-minute play)

Deep in the woods, someone's punched Wil in the face. Surprise! It's his fiancée. (a 10-minute play)

A cetologist philosophizes about genealogy and extinction with a humpback whale.

In this bittersweet comedy about love and math, a woman hellbent on distance encounters a man who wants to be near her. (a 10-minute play)