That's What She Said: Jane Martin still HATES NYC and Won't Let Women Here Produce Her Plays
Nicole Witkosky, an actress who graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York in 2006, came across a play written by Jane Martin called Sez She, which combined dozens of monologues by five actresses. Witkosky liked the quirky characters and the multitude of womens voices. Little did she know it was the beginning of a monstrous problem.
She gathered five other actresses, whom she knew from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. They applied to the publisher, Samuel French, Inc., for the rights to produce the play in September. In November, they brought director Larissa Lury on board and began rehearsals. Meanwhile, the rights were still in the air.
We didnt hear anything, and we kept asking Samuel French to get back to us, said actress Stephanie Jackson. The publisher told the actresses they hadnt heard a no from Jane Martin, and they said, Go ahead, prepare for your production, Jackson said.
Just before Christmas, the actresses found out they had been denied the rights to produce [Sez She]. They had already paid for the theater, held two fundraisers and hired a publicist. And we were deep in rehearsals, Jackson said. The producer filed an appeal. Over the holidays, the actresses wrote Jane Martin a letter and gathered letters of recommendation. We decided we had to do something, Jackson said, because we just didnt want to be defeated.
Dealing with Martin was tricky. [Jane Martin is a pen name]. The playwright has never been photographed, interviewed or appeared in public. And Martinwhoever he or she isapparently doesnt like putting on plays in New York or Los Angeles, preferring to promote regional theater. There was one Jane Martin play performed in New York in September, but it was the first since 1982.
Jackson called Alexander Speer, Martins agent. He kept saying hed get back to me, and he didnt. Finally, he told Jackson he would call her absolutely on Monday, January 7. And he didnt. At the rehearsal that evening, Lury had the actresses write breakup letters to Jane Martin. She said, It feels like a boyfriend. It feels like a boyfriend that wont let you go, Jackson recalled. The next day, Jackson called Speer and heard a final no.
I just felt like we were in a bad relationship with the playwright. We just wanted an answer one way or another, Lury said. That led us into the whole question of what you can hold onto in life. Lury went to playwrights whose work she liked, asking for submissions that spoke to that question. Lury put together material from 12 playwrights, drawing on the actresses struggle as well.
The final product never mentions Martin or Speer, although its no secret that the phone calls in the play are reenactments of Jacksons. Ultimately, Lury said, the play called So She Said is not about Martin or Sez She. Jane Martin, whoever Jane Martin is, had every right to say no, Lury said. And the show must go on.
So She Said continues at The Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex until February 16.