Expand the Canon
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ETC in Action June

ETC in Action June

An Expand the Canon Show Near YOU

June 26, 2025

And the Winner is…

Thank you to everyone who voted in our Pride Month poll to decide which Queer ETC Writer would be featured in this email.

Results are in …

Angelina Weld Grimké is our winner!

Jump to the writer spotlight below

The Summer is Full of Expand the Canon!

Check out a production of an ETC play near YOU

Jump to: Seattle | San Francisco | London | Chicago | New York

Seattle

Island Shakespeare Festival

- UPCOMING Production -

July 24 - August 30, 2025

Anima (Her Soul) by Amelia P. Rosselli

Directed by Emily Lyon, ETC Artistic Director

An ETC Partnership Production

Set in 1890’s Rome, Anima follows painter Olga de Velaris as she explores the tension between self-determination and desire for connection.

More Information & Tickets

San Francisco

Oakland Theatre Project

- UPCOMING Production -

July 11 - 27, 2025

Les Blancs (The Whites) by Lorraine Hansberry

Hansberry’s final work set in an unnamed African country and exploring the complexities of navigating personal relationships across racial divides when every decision you make is inherently political.

More Information & Tickets

‘Les Blancs’ Episode of ‘This is a Classic’

Chicago

Midsommer Flight

- UPCOMING Reading -

August 12, 2025 at The Understudy

Oh These Times! by Catherine the Great

Translation by Lurana Donnells O’Malley

An ETC Partnership Reading

A satirical comedy that speaks to modern day social anxieties that were relevant back in the 18th Century.

Keep an eye out on The Understudy website for announcements and event information

London

Pascal Theatre Company

- UPCOMING Reading -

July 6, 2025 at Burgh House

A Bold Stroke for a Wife by Susanna Centlivre

An ETC Partnership Reading

A satirical exploration of the absurdity of the patriarchy in an energetic Restoration comedy.

More Information & Tickets

New York

Classic Stage Company

- Recent Showcase -

Laodamia by Catherine Bernard

Classic Stage Company’s Manhattan Youth Showcase presented excerpts from Laodamia (2022 List) at the beginning of June.

Angelina Weld Grimké (1880-1958)

Body of Work & Rachel

Grimké was teacher, poet, and playwright who used her literary talents to inspire political change surrounding racism and inequality for African Americans in the early 20th century.

She wrote Rachel for the NAACP following their request for new works to counter damage done by the film, The Birth of a Nation. Rachel was one of the first plays by African American writers to be professionally produced, feature an all-Black cast, and protest racial injustice and lynchings. Rachel explores the intersection of motherhood and racism/racial violence and features a cast of 3W, 3M, and 2 children.

Read the Full Script with an ETC Membership

Sexuality

Angelina wrote often about sexuality and lesbianism in her poetry and diaries, but could not do so openly (as in her most famous poem El Baso) or were about the frustration she felt surrounding sexuality. Many historians would consider her to be bisexual or a lesbian by modern definitions (though those definitions did not exist in her time). In the 1970’s, previously unpublished poems were analyzed that address her feelings for women more directly.