Something about the high desert haunts me–the low-lying scrub, the huge expanse of what looks like nothing but is actually teeming with life, and the mountains in the desert. And the story of Scheherazade from 1000 Nights has always haunted me too. Why should a young woman be under constant threat…
The new year brings all sorts of work with it–which is always good news. I always feel that it’s better to focus on what needs to be done, and then get it done, than to worry about what could have been. And for me, it’s best to be busy.…
Art and ideas–and being outdoors–makes a winning combination for the LA Public Art Biennial. Here’s a view of one magical moment, a panel on Water As Power, as viewed from the perspective of the arts, and science, and public policy, and Native American activists, attended by people who care and…
One of my favorite things is when art and politics and policy and science and caring for the earth all come together. So it’s a thrill for me to be a part of the Los Angeles Public Art Biennial 2016–CURRENT: LA. This year the topic is water. I’m…
Calling all lovers of theatre, ancient rites, modern rituals, spectacle, movement, music, fun! venus in orange has a brand new website–with excerpts from the script available for reading. venus in orange is a performance piece with movement and music, written by Paula Cizmar (that’s me) and Laura Shamas. Our unconventional play…
THE CHISERA will be performed on Earth Day, Friday April 22, as the first play in Mach 33: The Festival of New Science Plays. Directed by Arden Thomas, and part of a special Earth Day celebration that includes a sound artist from the Owens Valley, plus food trucks, and free…
When there is plenty of water, we don’t think about it much more than we do breathing. But when it disappears? Water Rites is a multidisciplinary celebration of water in the tradition of deep ecology. It is theatre, documentary, community storytelling. What do we love about water? How does it fit…
And The March to MARCH campaign has begun. SEVEN, the documentary play, has already had productions and readings in many parts of the world, but there are vast numbers of people who still know very little about domestic violence or human trafficking and how this particularly affects women–and what…
Nothing is more exciting than witnessing words on a page transform into movement, sound, action–bodies moving through space, actors giving life to characters, stories unfolding in real time. With SEVEN, the documentary play conceived by Carol K. Mack and written by seven female playwrights–Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel, Carol K. Mack, Ruth…
There are so many untold stories–and so many extraordinary women who haven’t been spoken of, let alone depicted onstage. The 365 Women A Year project is designed to start solving that disparity, with new short plays about incredible women in history–one for each day of the year–being created annually. (It’s almost…
