This two-part play is written by playwright Mark Evans Bryan and conceived/directedby Sue Ott Rowlands. The two parts, Middle True and Mud Nostalgia, explore particular moments in the lives of two different women, each of whom is performed by Ott Rowlands — bound together by crises of faith and community and their common geography in Muskingum County, Ohio. Middle True is a lyrical monologue that tells a very quiet story about a moment in a woman’s life which turned out to be much more important than it had seemed. The woman has come to this realisation somewhere between doing cartwheels in her front yard and dropping off her errant rent cheque at the home of the old man who hasn’t fixed a hole in her bedroom ceiling yet. Mud Nostalgia follows a woman as she prepares to sing during services at her church that evening, the sort of church which most people would call a “snake handling” one but that she doesn’t. As she remembers her own childhood journey across America by car, she reveals the abuses of the previous night. The piece is derived from Rowlands’ interest and research in the victimisation of women in American religious practices. This production is hosted jointly by Spandan and Chetana.

When: Today at 6.30 pm

Where: Gyan Manch