ANNA BELLA EEMA
ANNA BELLA EEMA is a trailer park epic about a fierce mother/daughter bond, spoken and sung by three women who never leave their chairs. Lisa wrote the play and Katie directed both the world premiere in Austin and the New York premiere. Part fairy tale and part creepy campfire story, ANNA BELLA EEMA begins as a trailer park is slated for demolition due to highway expansion. Mother Irene refuses to budge, and daughter Anna Bella, calling on her 10-year-old desperate wisdom, creates a mud-girl twin to help her navigate the sometimes terrifying world of adulthood, which in this play is filled with cops masking their Frankenstein identities, construction sites filled with dying vampires, and mothers who refuse to leave the house. Music composed by Chris Sidorfsky.
New Georges Production Scrapbook
ANNA BELLA EEMA
Praise for Anna Bella Eema here.
The Austin Chronicle
“Its beauty and its depth are almost beyond language other than its.” (source)
The New York Times
“…a quirky, original show.” (source)
TheaterMania
“One of this season’s first great plays….it feels like a work of nature rather than a work of art … a thrilling and challenging piece of theater.” (source)
The Village Voice
“The mud girl may remain grubby, but Lisa D’Amour’s fantastical script and Katie Pearl’s keen direction of Anna Bella Eema prove far more sparkling.” (source)
ANNA BELLA EEMA
Co-produced by Refraction Arts and Physical Plant Theater in 1999, performed at the Blue Theater with Stephanie Stephens, Jennifer Haley, and Paula Rester. Adam Sultan was our music director.
Produced by New Georges at the HERE Arts Center in 2003 with Monica Appleby, Gretchen Lee Krich, and April Matthis. Designed by Mark Barton, Cameron Anderson, and Oliva Wildz.
Since then, Anna Bella Eema has been produced by many theaters, including Gas and Electric Arts, Ten Thousand Things, Crowded Fire Theater and Perishable Theater.
