Anne Bertram

Anne Bertram

Anne Bertram's work as a playwright has been seen in venues from off-Off Broadway to middle-school classrooms in Fargo. She was a founding Artistic Associate of Theatre Unbound, a Minneapolis/St. Paul company devoted to work by and about women, where she served as Executive Director for nine years. Her plays Murderess (2011) and The Good Fight (2012) remain among Theatre Unbound's bestselling shows....
Anne Bertram's work as a playwright has been seen in venues from off-Off Broadway to middle-school classrooms in Fargo. She was a founding Artistic Associate of Theatre Unbound, a Minneapolis/St. Paul company devoted to work by and about women, where she served as Executive Director for nine years. Her plays Murderess (2011) and The Good Fight (2012) remain among Theatre Unbound's bestselling shows. Awards and commissions include Northwestern University’s Agnes Nixon Playwriting Award (for “lovehateforgive”), The Playwrights’ Center’s Jones Commission (for The Donner Gold), Studio Z’s Playwright in Electronic Residence Commission (for St. Luke’s), the Tennessee Williams One-Act Prize (for Liability), and the Babes With Blades Fighting Words New Play Development Program (for The Good Fight).

Plays

  • That Pankhurst Woman by Anne Bertram
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    13–21
    ·
    Genre: drama, period + 1 more
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    Keyword: women's history, women's suffrage + 3 more
    Genre: drama, period, political
    Keyword: women's history, women's suffrage, History, militancy, Civil Unrest
    England, 1913. Leaders of the militant suffragettes are being arrested and tortured. Young activist Grace Roe must decide whether to maintain the movement's commitment to nonviolence, or whether to fight back against the police. A one-act adaptation of "The Good Fight."
  • The Donner Gold by Anne Bertram
    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: manifest destiny, Donner Party + 3 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: manifest destiny, Donner Party, cannibalism, treasure hunt, engineering
    Two men head for the Great Salt Desert of Utah in search of the lost gold of the Donner Party, the 1840s California pioneers who famously ate their dead. A fable about the American search for the Promised Land, then and now.
  • It's All Good by Anne Bertram
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: downsizing, health care + 4 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: downsizing, health care, Airport, parenthood, marriage, jellyfish
    Between flights at O'Hare, downsizing analyst Greg Tollefson confronts the consequences of the worst mistake of his life and wishes he had thought to grab an air-sickness bag.
  • Empire Builder by Anne Bertram
    Cast: 
    8–14
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: Railroad, trains + 4 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, fantasy, musical
    Keyword: Railroad, trains, westward expansion, displacement, forgiveness, family
    (with composer George Maurer) Three travelers, each on the cusp of a painful decision, meet on the Empire Builder train westbound from Chicago. The train becomes a time machine, taking them to major junctions in the past and transforming what they believe, what they remember, and what they are willing to forgive.
  • Spring Break with Rainey by Anne Bertram
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: drama, young audiences
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    Keyword: bullying, botany + 1 more
    Genre: drama, young audiences
    Keyword: bullying, botany, Body image
    High school sophomore Stefi is determined to get her rich friend to invite her to spring break in Florida, no matter what it takes. But that freak Mia McCullum - who actually speaks up in Biology class, OMG - threatens to ruin the whole thing.
  • Frankenstein Incarnate: The Passions of Mary Shelley by Anne Bertram
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley + 4 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, horror, period
    Keyword: Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Claire Clairmont, William Godwin, Lord Byron, Frankenstein
    Where do monsters come from? The life of novelist Mary Shelley overlaps and intertwines with the story that made her famous, illuminating the creator and creature within us all.
  • St. Luke's by Anne Bertram
    Cast: 
    11–26
    ·
    Genre: drama, period
    ·
    Keyword: women's history, nurse + 1 more
    Genre: drama, period
    Keyword: women's history, nurse, women in the workplace
    A story of a Chicago nursing school in the 1930s, and the extraordinary women who trained and taught there.
  • Sherry's Basement by Anne Bertram
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, fantasy + 1 more
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    Keyword: Sherlock Holmes, veterans + 1 more
    Genre: dark comedy, fantasy, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: Sherlock Holmes, veterans, coffee
    “"You’'ve been in Afghanistan, I perceive,”" are the first words spoken to war veteran Jo by Sherry, a brilliant coffee barista with a turn for observation and deduction. The unlikely pair team up against an adversary with a thousand faces – but can they overcome the unspeakable forces that emerge from within? A surreal, darkly comic tribute to the Sherlock Holmes stories.
  • Let's Be Real by Anne Bertram
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
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    Keyword: environment, workplace
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: environment, workplace
    Why would a woman feign a love interest? For that matter, why would a clam put a fake fish on its rear end? Within the corporate wilderness of MegaCo, IT technician Chelly Waller sets a lure for copy room manager – and volunteer environmentalist – Pete Moss. A sharp romantic comedy about the ways we fool each other and ourselves.
  • Murderess by Anne Bertram
    Cast: 
    3–7
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, docudrama/historic
    ·
    Keyword: murder, women's history + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, docudrama/historic
    Keyword: murder, women's history, Lizzie Borden, Belle Gunness, Laura Fair, Margaret Hossack
    Seven famous murderesses from American history - including Laura Fair, Belle Gunness, and Lizzie Borden - reveal their secrets in a suite of hair-raising monologues.
  • The Good Fight by Anne Bertram
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    11–22
    ·
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 3 more
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    Keyword: women's history, women's suffrage + 4 more
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic, drama, period, political
    Keyword: women's history, women's suffrage, stage combat, Emmeline Pankhurst, Gertrude Harding, Edith Garrud
    In 1913, women's suffrage activists in England are being arrested and tortured. Their leader, Emmeline Pankhurst, is wanted by the police. Determined to shield her, some of her followers make a surprising choice: they learn jujitsu. Based on historical events. Includes fighting roles for women.