Marla Brown
Marla Brown loves school. She has a B. A. in Dramatic Arts from UNC Chapel Hill, a Masters Degree in Theatre & Dance and a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from UT Austin. While in Austin, Brown began her performance writing efforts with satirical solo pieces such as REVENGE OF A FEMINAZI, MUSEUM PIECE, and WHY I’M STARK WHITE, winning her the Marjorrie Davisson Parker performance award. She also wrote and performed DIETRICH, an autobiographical performance of Marlene Dietrich winning Best of Fest placement in Hyde Park Theatre’s FronteraFest.
In addition to her solo endeavors, Brown joined forces with playwright Kelly Rowett and director Jules Odendahl. Together they co founded Bold Maids Theatre Company, writing and performing theatre works for conferences and venues all over the country. Initially Bold Maids worked out of Austin, writing such pieces as THREE FACES OF OPHELIA, CYBERET, THE ACTOR’S GUIDE TO LILLIAN HELLMAN, and INAUGURATION GAY. In 1998 Bold Maids moved to North Carolina, producing cutting edge works such as Claire Chafee’s WHY WE HAVE A BODY and Paula Vogel’s AND BABY MAKES SEVEN to name a few.
In 2002, Brown joined Playwrights in Progress, the resident playwrights group of Theatre Charlotte. While with PiP, Brown was able to see nine of her short plays produced through Theatre Charlotte’s 9x9 series. Several of these short plays, XY FILES, THE GLASS and A DRESS TO GO OUT IN, have been produced in other play festivals with DRESS winning Media’s Choice.
Along with her dedication to playwriting and new play development, Brown has worked on numerous community performance projects, creating writing and movement workshops as a method for others to develop their own stories and performance pieces. Her first project was with Mary Martin’s “For The Pleasure,” a group dedicated to arts and healing. This collaboration bore SHARING GRACE, a beautiful montage of poems, stories, and movement sequences by people whose lives have been touched by cancer. Brown has also used creativity workshops with young women at UNCC, developing SOAPBOX DIVAS, a thought-provoking variety show presenting the world from young feminists’ perspectives. Brown’s most recent collaborative project was MOTHER JOURNEYS performed in May 2008. Through a project grant from the Arts & Science Council, Brown facilitated creativity workshops on themes of mothers and motherhood. Twenty participants took part in guided memory and writing exercises to explore their personal stories and give them artistic shape.
Currently, Brown lives in Mooresville with her husband, Jim, and their two children, Jacob, 5, and Ava, 2. This fall, she is opening The Warehouse Performing Arts Center a nonprofit arts alliance in the Lake Norman area. The Warehouse will provide a venue for arts education, rehearsal and small performance projects. You will also find her trodding-the-boards at Theatre Charlotte as a part of Vito Abate’s ‘just do it’ series. Brown will be dusting off her actor’s cap and playing the part of Cassie in the monthly soap opera, CITY QUEENS.