Help Bring 'Oh, To Be Pure Again' to LA

Oh To Be Pure Again - A Staged Reading

By Kira Rockwell

Directed by Rosalind Bevan

Produced by Rosalind Bevan & Hannah Beebe

Sunday, July 14, 2024

7:30pm at The Broadwater Main Stage

6320 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90038

About Rosalind and Hannah:

If you know us, you know that we are not only literal best friends, but incredibly aligned artistically. We’ve both been a fan of each other’s work since being classmates together at Boston University School of Theater. We’ve found synergy as a director/actor pair on two new plays, Bones like Dust and And Then We Baked Bread.

Lucky for us Beebe & Bevan are in alphabetical order so we got to sit & walk together at graduation!

Since both relocating to Los Angeles, it has been our dream to collaborate again in an independent producing partnership. We have decided to team up and self-produce a play that we have both been in love with since our first read of it.

We are producing a staged reading of Kira Rockwell’s courageous, nuanced, and deeply honest play, Oh, To Be Pure Again, an examination of girlhood, friendship, faith, and organized religious obsession with purity. Rosalind will be directing and Hannah will be acting in the reading alongside a cast of exceptional LA-based actors.

We first encountered Kira’s work as undergraduates at Boston University as Kira was receiving her MFA in Playwriting. We have always been drawn to Kira’s ability to capture the challenges of teenage girlhood while tackling themes of actual biblical proportions with a delicate and thoughtful (never judgmental) touch. Her work is so important and we can’t wait to bring it to Los Angeles audiences for the first time.

Financial Support:

Any monetary donation, no matter the size, will be greatly appreciated and will go directly towards covering venue rental costs and paying our artists a stipend for their work!

Spread the Word:

Even if you are unable to contribute financially, you can still support us by helping to spread the word. Sharing our fundraising link with your network and on social media platforms can make a huge difference!

Thank you so much for your continued support!!!

About Oh, To Be Pure Again:

During one hot Texas summer at church camp, an idealistic counselor tries to shepherd the senior girls’ cabin along their journey to make a connection with something larger than themselves, only to face disillusionment with her own faith. Oh, To Be Pure Again is a guttural ode to female desire, submission, rebellion, about growing up in a religious culture that's obsessed with sexual purity.

About the Playwright:

Kira Rockwell (she/her) is a neurodivergent, Atlanta-based playwright and educator, originally from the heart of Texas. She is an Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing with the Mass Cultural Council, a recipient of the Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, three-time finalist for the O’Neill NPC, runner-up for the Princess Grace Award, and more.

Her work has also been developed with The Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, MFA Playwrights' Workshop, Great Plains Theatre Commons, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, and Third Culture Theatre in partnership with HBO and Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network, among others. Rockwell holds a BFA in Theatre Performance and an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University.