In the Cervix of Others
A full-length play. Winner of the 2019 Jane Chambers Playwriting Award. Selected to be featured as a part of the official program of the 2022 WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE MONTREAL
SYNOPSIS: Jessica is at her gynecological exam in 2018, during the Kavanaugh/Ford hearing, and simultaneously in 1991, during the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearing. Woven into this time-traveling dark comedy is a mother-daughter tale of recrimination and forgiveness, an older woman reconciling with her younger self, a true story of pharmaceutical corruption, and the journey of a woman urgently trying to find her voice. Jessica's cervix is being filmed for a training video. While Dr. Cooperman narrates her cervix's perilous prenatal history, Jessica floats off the examining table and performs a stand-up routine on the ceiling. Her out-of-body storytelling launches her on an odyssey, during which she befriends the mythological Philomela from Ovid's Metamorphoses, whose ancient story has powerful contemporary resonance. Against the backdrop of the Kavanaugh and Thomas hearings, which play out on screens throughout the action of the play, Jessica finds a window into her past and reunites with her late mother; their relationship a stormy mix of ambivalence and love, filled with recriminations for events of the past over which they had no control. With emotional force and hilarious wit, the play explores the many ways women are silenced, the misogyny that taints women's healthcare, and the transcendent power of mother-daughter love. IN THE CERVIX OF OTHERS is a riveting journey, funny, painful and absurd.
(cast of 6 or 8: 3F, 3M; or 3 F, 2 M, 3 any gender)
THE JANE CHAMBERS AWARD recognizes new plays and performance texts created by women writers which present a feminist perspective and that provide significant opportunities for female performers.
"We received well over three hundred submissions this year, and your topical, witty, and compelling play rose to the top… you skillfully and with hilarious wit juxtapose the Thomas /Kavenaugh hearings with the myth of Philomela and the journey of your protagonist."—Jane Chambers Playwriting Contest
For production rights please contact: Elaine Devlin Literary; Edevlinlit@aol.com 212-842-9030
PLAYS & SOLO THEATRE WORKS by Alice Eve Cohen
(solo plays indicated by *)
Days of Awe (2020)
An Unexpected Life (2020)*
Oklahoma Samovar (revised, 2020)
In the Cervix of Others (2019)
Mrs. Satan & The Nasty Woman (2017, revised 2019)
Fault Line (2015)
What I Thought I Knew (2013)*
Hannah and the Hollow Challah (2008)
Oklahoma Samovar (2007, revised 2020)
Thin Walls (2002)*
Philomela's Tapestry (1998)
Jessica's Cervix (1993)*
The Parrot (1993)
The Play that Knows What You Want (1992)*
Book of Truth, Book of Lies (1990)*
Goliath on 74th Street vs. the Woman Who Loved Vegetables (1989)*
The Owl Was a Baker's Daughter (1988)*
Lady Monsong, Mr. Monsoon (1987)
Three Golden Hairs (1985)*
Without Heroes (1984)
The Balinese Frog Prince (1983)*
Patricia's Birthday (1980) co-created with Anne Hammel
The Animator (1979)*
The Spanish Lesson (1979)*
The Minotaur (1979)*
The Giant and Puppet Show (1977)*
Separation in Four Parts (1977) co-created with Anne Hammel
The Transformation from Plant to Horse (1977) co-created with Anne Hammel
The Scholar and the Thief (1976)