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Festival selects play by Bancroft
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
PITTSBURGH
A new play by Kelly Bancroft of Youngstown has been accepted by the Pittsburgh Playwrights New Works Festival.
The play, “Lovie’s Spring,” will be performed five times at Off the Wall Theater in suburban Carnegie, Pa., as part of an evening of three one-act plays. The shows are at 8 p.m. Sept. 5, 6 and 11; 5 p.m. Sept. 13; and 2 p.m. Sept. 14. Go to pittsburghnewworks.org for tickets.
“Lovie’s Spring” is set in 1910. It focuses on 19-year-old Lovie Herman, a small town girl who has suffered unexplained illness and pain since she was a child. She travels to Cleveland where a physician has finally been able to diagnose her ailment: serpents inside of her are slowly consuming her.
The play poses questions: Are the serpents real or figments of hers — and the doctor’s — imagination? What does the serpent she begins to talk to represent?
“Lovie’s Spring” is based on a true story and explores a mystery that was never solved: the cause of death on her death certificate has been crossed-out.
It also investigates the larger issue of women’s health at the turn of the century, and the metaphors the culture used when speaking of them.
“Lovie’s Spring,” was a finalist for the Tennessee Williams One-Act Play Award.
Bancroft‘s first play, “Arriving at Bessie” won the top prize at the 2013 Voices of the Valley new one-act play festival at the Youngstown Playhouse. It was the first play she wrote.
Bancroft is an instructor at Youngstown State University, as well as a writer and singer, and has taught creative writing throughout the community.
Her prose and poetry have appeared in TIME, Puerto del Sol, and Mudfish. She is a recipient of two Ragdale Foundation fellowships and an Ohio Arts Council grant.