International Women's Day celebrated by staged readings at Gallery 202!

International Women's Day, March 8, was celebrated by staged readings of five short plays by women writers at Gallery 202 in Westerville , 38 N. State St, Uptown 614-890-8202.

All five plays look at women and their relationships. Toronto playwright Shirley Barrie's Audienc e explores the appeal of experimental theatre through a married couple's relationship, while Vicki Cheatwood from Garland , Texas , examines the end of a long-term relationship in her The Last Time Cooper Took Midge Fishing .

Salt Lake City writer Elaine Jarvik's couple, in Dead Right , re-examine their marriage as the wife contemplates how she might be presented in her obituary. And Gerry Sanseviero, of New York City , presents sisters coping with age while trying to get served before a Broadway matinee in Matinee Lunch .

Geraldine and Jacob , by Central Ohio's own Katherine Burkman, is a tale of love in a
gambling hall on a cruise--passion, illicit love, and devotion between a slot machine and a gambler.

International Women's Day dates back to 1909, and has been celebrated on March 8th since 1919. It has been recognized by the United Nations as a key support for the UN Charter's 1945 call for gender equality as a fundamental right.

All of the playwrights are archived in the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute of The Ohio State University, which organized the event. Dr. Alan Woods, the Institute's Director, Dr. Katherine Burkman, Emerita Professor of English at Ohio State, and Dr. Beth Kattelman, the Institute's Associate Curator, will co-direct the readings.

The Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute is the official archive for the International Centre for Women Playwrights, which has organized International Women's Day readings in the United States, Canada, and Romania.

For more information on the readings, contact the Lawrence and Lee Institute at 614/292-6614. For additional information about Gallery 202 and its programs, see www.gallery202online.com or call 614-890-8202.   And for information on the International Centre for Women Playwrights and its services, see http://www.netspace.org/~icwp/index.html

Although this is a free event, please let us know if you are attending - space is limited and light refreshments will be served.