Dana
Bagshaw, novelist,
playwright
The author is currently seeking publication of her second novel RUNNING FROM GRACE. Based on the memoirs of her great-uncle Victor, the novel contains real-life detail of a working man's struggles during difficult times in the American Southwest during the 20s, 30s, and 40s: A local boxing hero, a singer, a charmer, Victor tries to make a place for himself in the Oklahoma oil town of Ponca City . But his mother insists that he stick close to her as her primary breadwinner. Her menace destroys his promising career as a boxer, as well as his first romance. Hoping to leave her behind forever, he joins a Conoco Oil survey party as a rodman, traveling to Texas and Louisana. Never short of adventure or ladies, Victor enjoys his freedom -- until fate catches up with him, in California.
RUNNING FROM GRACE recently received excellent on-line reviews from fellow authors during a ten-week stint on the HarperCollins website Authonomy. You can view the first three chapters with photos and then add your own comments on runningfromgrace.blogspot.com
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Available from
Evans Publishing, Inc. Dana's
first novel, MAMA GRACE, is
based on an original manuscript by the author’s grandmother, Letha
Crossman. It tells the
story of her family homesteading in For more about this novel, see Dana's TV interview now on You Tube and press coverage and reviews. See also reader's comments and author's tour photos. Dana recently received the Margaret Penfold Award from Leicester's Writers Club for the plays she has written, published and produced in the U.K. |
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| Her major dramatic
work CELL TALK explores the
lives and thought of two icons of Medieval
times, Julian of Norwich
and Margery Kempe. Cell Talk's sixth production
went on a tour from the Cameo Theatre Company based in Cambridge. It opened at St. Mark’s Church in
Newnham, visited St. Julian’s church in
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Ken Eason as John
Kempe |
Tricia
Peroni as Margery Kempe |
Rosemary
Eason as Julian of Norwich | ||
Photos
by Sophie Wilson
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John: Have you seen Margery? |
Julian: While I sit here to comfort the
troubled, you go out and stir up the
untroubled! |
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Cell Talk
was produced by the Center for the Performing and Visual Arts at St.
Paul's Cathedral, San Diego, California in October 2004 with Canon Richard
Lief directing. Sara Meriwether, a veteran
director and actor, played Julian and Gretchen Sousa, a spiritual director
for clergy, and a published and well-recognized poet, played Margery Kempe. Photo by Marcene Van Dierendonck. |
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Cell Talk formed the basis of
a women's retreat held 10-12 January 2003 in northern California, with a
mother and daughter, Cheryl and Lisa Houts,
playing the parts of Dame Julian and Margery Kempe.
Photo by K & M Winchester. |
Cell Talk - a duologue Playing time: 1
hour Winner of the Radius 2000
Playwriting Award, Cell Talk was produced by Radius in the Covent Gardens
Theatre Museum on June 16, 2001 -- directed by Rex Walford with Eunice Roberts as Margery Kempe and Yvette Byrne as Julian of Norwich. Cell Talk
was published in February 2002 and reprinted in 2008 by Radius. Available
through amazon.co.uk or www.radius.org.uk.
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Performances of Cell Talk
were held on the 20th and 21st of June 2002 at St Mary's Church, Charlbury, Oxfordshire. Betty Stokes, a Radius council
member, played Dame Julian and Dr. Elisabeth Dutton, a lecturer in
Medieval literature at Magdelin College at
Oxford played Margery Kempe. See article by Dr. Dutton. The two women revived their
performance on |
In
May 2004 Norwich Cathedral welcomed Dorothy Root as Julian with Leanne Mitchell
as Margery, directed by Roy Wyse in a production of "Cell Talk". It played to full capacity seating
in the North Transept of the Cathedral.
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A Master script
and videos of expanded versions of Cell Talk are available from the Julian
Centre in
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Dorothy Root as Julian, Leanne Mitchell as Margery, and Brian Glover as John Kempe. Photo by Roy Wyse |
Playing time: 1 hour
In addition to the two women, this version features Margery's husband and three extra men, with narrative between scenes by Margery's husband. It was performed to a large audience at Oadby Baptist Church, Leicester, on Saturday, 13 Oct. 2001. |
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Playing time: 90 minutes
This promenade production
featured the arrest and trial of Margery in 1417 at Leicester and added a
full cast, with Phyllis Page as Julian, Leanne Mitchell as Margery Kempe, and Brian Glover as John Kempe. This version was performed at the Leicester Guildhall to a standing-room-only audience on
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Playing time: 1 hour 45
minutes Performed in June 2004 at St. Margaret's in King's Lynn, this version adds more scenes set in King's Lynn exploring the full impact of Margery's temptations, contrasting her mad world with the sanctuary she finds in Julian. |
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Other plays written by and
available upon request from Dana Bagshaw
are:
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CRUISE TO EGYPT
Playing time: 30
minutes A one-act about four
strangers traveling together on September 11,
2001. Presented as a staged reading on |
BROKEN
ICICLES Playing time: 30
minutes Based on Inuit folktale, a young "seal maiden" is attracted to a hunter and suffers the consequences. This play for six or more young people with original score for "Song of the Seal Maidens" composed by Jenny Miles. The play premiered on 25 March during the 2004 All-England One-Act Play festival at Countesthorpe College Theatre. The role of the Old Mother of the Sea won the Adjudicator's Own award. |
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HILDA, daughter of Woden **Newly
published** Playing time: 1
hour A short play with song about the life and times of Lindisfarne and Whitby during the 7th century. It was developed with the young people of St. Peter's Oadby and premiered on Easter Sunday March 2002. Revised in May 2008 during a retreat at Lindisfarne with Ray Simpson, guardian of the Aidan and Hilda Community. The play is now available from Aware Publications. See press release. |
Playing time: 1 hour
A thirteen year old prefers
the company of newts to boys and pesters her parents to let her take
Karate. The play was performed on 25 March during the 2008 All-England
One-Act Play festival at Countesthorpe College
Theatre. "Well structured with good characters and snappy dialogue," said
Paul Fowler, adjudicator at the Leicestershire festival. He nominated the
play for an awards in five of seven possible categories.
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COMMISSIONED PRODUCTION -- a comedy
script with song written for the 75th Anniversary of the Leicester Bach Choir: The Complete History of the Choir
(Abridged) presented by the Reduced Bach Company, Saturday 3 May 2003
Leicester Guildhall.
For copies of scripts e-mail: cdbagshaw@btinternet.com
web page: http://www.cdbagshaw.btinternet.co.uk/dana.htm
About the
author:
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Dana Bagshaw
grew up in Fort Smith, Arkansas, attended Phillips University in Enid,
Oklahoma and received a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from San Jose State
University, California where she studied playwriting. She subsequently
took employment in Silicon Valley as a technical author/trainer for ten
years. She worked as a
process analyst and workshop facilitator for consulting firms in the U.K.
for another ten years. Dividing her time between the U.S. and
the UK, she now works full time on her writing. In the UK she meets as
often as twice a week with members of the Leicester Writer's Club for
readings and feedback.
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