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Selma Burke

Selma Burke

(co-written with Maria Crooks) Full length 2 Act

2f/2m

Finalist – Sharon Pollock Playwriting Competition 2022

Premise

Based on true story Selma Burke the African American sculptress chronicles many of the extraordinary events of that century, lynching’s, the Harlem Renascence, the holocaust, the assignation of MLK, and depicts them her extraordinary sculptures. Recognizing that it’s aways easier to rip things down that build things up she champions other’s accomplishments through her art in a society that doesn’t always recognize her talents, a husband who (loves her but) often destroys her work, the government who steals her art and the FBI.

Innovative use of actors who metaphorize into Selma’s sculptures that challenge, support and bicker with her and each other.

Hook

How do you take up arms when all you have is a mallet, a chisel and a block of stone? Selma Burke fights to champion other’s accomplishments in a society that doesn’t always recognize her talents, a husband who (loves her but) often destroys her work, the government who steals her art and the FBI who threaten her.

Theme

“Destruction is the work of an afternoon, creation is the work of a lifetime” Kamahl

How To Get a Copy

Rights

For community and academic performance rights: The Playwrights Guild of Canada
For professional production rights: Catherine Knights, Catalyst TCM

Production and Development

Selma Burke was workshopped and had a public reading at Theatre Calgary in 2023.

Scheduled to have a production with Theatre Calgary in association with Alberta Theatre Projects in 2024.