Women in the Arts and Media Coalition: Memorial to Patty Duke & SWAN Events in California, New York & Houston

In Memoriam: Patty Duke, Actress and Activist 1946 - 2016

WomenArts mourns the passing of Anna Patty Duke Pearce, better known as Patty Duke, on March 29, 2016 at age 69.

Duke played on Broadway starting at age 12 as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker and received rave reviews. She won an Oscar in 1962 at age 16 for her work in the film version of that show.

She followed that with 3 years on The Patty Duke Show, a popular television show where she played identical teen-aged cousins who became role models for millions of girls. During those years she was often forced to work extremely long hours in order to play both roles.

As an adult, Duke became a champion of labor rights. She was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1985, becoming the second female president of the union. In that position she oversaw the creation of a low-budget motion picture agreement that offered incentives to productions that hired women, minorities, seniors and disabled performers. She led a six-week animation strike and a three-week commercials contract strike, and she fought the recurring threats of so-called "right-to-work" legislation and runaway production.

She was also a pioneer in speaking out about her struggles with bi-polar disorder and working to educate the public about mental illness.

Thanks so much to Anna Patty Duke Pearce for her lifetime of excellent acting and leadership as a mental health advocate and unionist. We will miss her.

Flagship Ensemble Presents Site-Specific Second Skin

Click the image above to watch a video trailer for Second Skin.

SANTA MONICA, CA - The Flagship Ensemble presents Second Skin, a site-specific ghost play written, directed and performed by women on the beaches of San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Monica between April 14 and May 15. Get all dates, locations, and ticket information>>

Told in three interconnected monologues, Kristin Idaszak's Second Skin investigates the fraught relationship between mothers and daughters, and how one mistake can reverberate across generations. When Quinn learns her estranged mother is dying, she returns to a home she fled long ago. As she cares for her mother, Quinn wrestles with disturbing childhood memories, her mother's secrets, and strange occurrences that echo her mother's Irish bedtime stories.

Director Kate Jopson and designer JR Bruce founded The Flagship Ensemble as a haven for experimentation. They are especially interested in the interaction of humans and nature as well as the divide between rural and urban communities. Read more>>

NEW YORK, NY - Another Experiment by Women (AXW) hosts monthly screenings of short experimental films by women at Anthology Film Archives in New York City. The next screening will feature seven short films on the theme Fun and Games. It will be held on be on Tuesday, April 26 at 6 p.m. Admission is $7. Read about the films>>

Not in NY? In addition to the live screenings, AXW presents curated shows of shorts for online streaming at http://axwonline.com. There is a $6 fee to watch the online films. The fees are used to support the filmmakers. Read more>>

HOUSTON, TX - The Houston-Austin local of SAG-AFTRA and Women in Film and Television-Houston will host their second annual SWAN Day on Saturday, April 9 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at The Editing Company. Selected Houston women artists will be honored with a mayoral proclamation for their contributions to the local industry. Winners will be announced at the event. Read more>>

Are You A Theatre or Film/Video Artist Looking for Funding?

Women in the Arts and Media Coalition in collaboration with WomenArts and the League of Professional Theatre Women is publishing free monthly newsletters for theatre and film/video artists listing submission opportunities, grants, auditions, residencies and more. You can follow #StageOpps and #ScreenOpps on Twitter or see the latest issues by visiting the Coalition's website.

To submit listings for the #StageOpps or #ScreenOpps newsletters, please write to: stageopps@womenartsmediacoalition.org or screenopps@womenartsmediacoalition.org.