Give My Play Life!
Donation protected
Hi y’all!
Karen here. This March, my short play Use Your Words! will have another opportunity onstage! After a successful 5 performance run at The Tank in NYC in 2023, Use Your Words! will have 9 performances as part of the Spring Spark Festival in NYC at 28th Street Theatre. This run will feature a new musician, Rodney Umble on trumpet and percussion, along with Zinc Tong returning as co-director.
I am incredibly proud of this play and want as many people as possible to experience it!
My Baby
Use Your Words! is a one-act play—in five wordless scenes—about a new mother struggling with the responsibility of caring for a tiny human. The show is rooted in comic physicality with many props mimed—most importantly, the baby.
Conception
When I first conceived of this play, I was pregnant with my second child. I began with a twinkle in my eye, and sketched a rough five-scene outline. Inspired by both motherhood and Imp, my longtime wordless comedy improv duo, Use Your Words! was born.
Gestation
Through improvisation, trial and error, and creative inspiration, the script began to evolve. With my longtime director (and good friend), Melissa Attebery, I cultivated this project for years—trying out scenes at festivals and workshops to see what worked and what didn’t.
Birth
Welcome my incredible Creative Team:
Rodney Umble: Musician
Zinc Tong: Co-Director
Jenna Arkontaky: Production Stage Manager
Colston Rienhoff: Assistant Stage Manager
Ella Danyluk: Sound Designer
Jesse Baxter: Lighting Designer
Nurturing this Project
Here’s where you come in! I welcome and encourage you to spoil this child of mine to your heart’s content. :) Your support will go towards additional sound design, marketing, rehearsal space, and updates to the set.
Additionally, I am excited to announce I am the recipient of a 2024 New York State Counsel for the Arts grant which will enable me to produce Use Your Words! for this longer run in a larger space. The grant will go towards paying my co-director, musician, stage manager, and assistant stage manager.
Come Dote on Us in Person!
Performances will take place at 28th Street Theatre at 15 West 28th Street, 2nd floor, NYC
Fri 3/8 at 7 pm
Sun 3/10 at 5 pm
Thu 3/14 at 7 pm
Sat 3/16 at 7 pm
Sun 3/17 at 2 pm
Tue 3/19 at 7 pm
Thu 3/21 at 7 pm
Fri 3/22 at 7 pm
Sun 3/24 at 5 pm
Ticket Info
$20 presale, $25 at the box office
Audience Responses from Tank run 2023
USE YOUR WORDS! is refreshing and funny as both physical storytelling and a personal but universal account of the early phase of motherhood. This style and this topic are seriously underexplored, so this show is a gift.
Ian Morgan, Associate Artistic Director, The New Group
USE YOUR WORDS! was truly one of the best things I've seen so far this fall. Karen Eleanor Wight's artistry, skill level, and capacity to hold a room's attention is impressive.
Ria T. DiLullo, Artistic Director of Skeleton Rep
Wight's attention to kinesthetic detail in USE YOUR WORDS! brings this hilarious and meaningful journey of motherhood to life. Each of her movements are simultaneously incredibly clear and comedically timed. You won't last two minutes without laughing.
Joseph Heitman, Artistic Director, One Day Dance
Thank you in advance for considering supporting my artistic bundle of joy!
Organizer
Karen Wight
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY