MAIDEN MOTHER
CRONE COVEN
MAIDEN MOTHER CRONE COVEN presents three perspective-shifting stories of witchcraft, activated by threads of digital and virtual storytelling. Classical, contemporary, and devised artistic approaches join forces to fiercely challenge intersectional themes of otherness, planting the seeds of reclamation, transformation and empowerment under the blaze of burgeoning community solidarity.
MAIDEN MOTHER CRONE COVEN was co-created by Bryan Hagelin, Abigail Birkett, Hannah Katz, Kilby Yarbrough, and Tangiene Nyereyegona as part of the National Women’s Theatre Festival’s 2023 WTFringeLab program. It was presented in June 2023 during WTF’s annual WTFringe Festival in Raleigh, NC, featuring performances by Aubree Chanel Dixon, Sandy Lam, Abi Walls, Natalie Kane, Ariel Fay Grey, and Tangiene Nyereyegona.
Crone
Sections of The Witch of Edmonton by John Ford, Thomas Dekker, and William Rawley, alongside an excerpt from Witch by Jen Silverman
Adapted & directed by Bryan Hagelin
The 17th-century Jacobean play The Witch of Edmonton tells the (somewhat) true story of Elizabeth Sawyer, an aged widow from Edmonton who was executed for witchcraft in 1621. Ostracized from society due to her age, poverty, and physical handicap, Mother Sawyer makes a bargain with the Devil to protect herself and take revenge on those who have wronged her. The classical text is juxtaposed with a monologue from Jen Silverman’s contemporary adaptation, Witch, which invites the audience to “burn it all down and start over.”
Maiden
Kissing in the Grocery Store, a new short play by Claire Carson
Directed by Abigail Birkett
In this new short play by Claire Carson, “baby witch” Q attempts to cast her first spell, while struggling with self-acceptance and coming out to her mother. A hilarious, poetic, and moving exploration of queer identity in the modern day.
Mother
Original devised performance created by the performers
Directed by Tangiene Nyereyegona
Inspired by what happens “after the burning,” this devised piece draws from the mythologies of notable witches and uses fire-related imagery to explore themes of destruction, revolution, and rebirth.