$12.00 - Playwrights Guild of Canada
The copyscript from the 2012 tour of She Has A Name is now available for purchase through the Playwrights Guild of Canada, which is currently managing amateur rights and readings of the play.
Order your copy of She Has A Name here | Apply for performance rights
Play Information
Running Time: 90 minutes | Acts: 2 | Male Cast: 2 | Female Cast: 8 | Doubling: 5 actors can play a total of 10 roles.
Format: digital and print | ISBN: 978-1-55435-451-1 | Year Printed: 2013 | First Produced: First produced in 2011 at Motel Theatre – The Epcor Centre, Calgary, AB. | Professional Agent: Andrew Kooman - info@andrewkooman.com | Amateur Agent: Playwrights Guild of Canada, 401 Richmond Street West, 416-703-0201, info@playwrightsguild.ca | Publisher: PGC
Please email the playwright to discuss professional and international rights, or fundraising events involving the script.
In February and March of 2011, burnt thicket theatre in partnership with Raise Their Voice Against Injustice proudly presented a critically acclaimed, sold-out World Premiere of She Has A Name, a play by Andrew Kooman.
Visit the official 2012 Tour She Has A Name website
2012 Canadian Tour Dates and Locations:
LETHBRIDGE | May 23 – 27 – Sterndale Bennett Theatre (preview show on May 22) Get Tickets!
SASKATOON | May 30 – June 2 – BackStage Stage, Remai Arts Centre Get Tickets!
OTTAWA | June 6 – 10 – Academic Hall Theatre, University of Ottawa
MONTREAL | June 16 – 24 – Montreal Fringe Festival
HALIFAX | July 3 – 11 – Studio Stage, Neptune Theatre
WINNIPEG | July 18 – 29 – Winnipeg Fringe Festival
CALGARY | August 3 – 11 – Calgary Fringe Festival – The Lantern
VICTORIA | August 24 – September 3 – Victoria Fringe Festival
VANCOUVER | September 6 – 16 – Vancouver Fringe – Festival Firehall Arts Centre
KELOWNA | September 18 – 21 – Mary Irwin Theatre, Rotary Centre for the Arts Get Tickets!
EDMONTON | September 25 – 30 – Catalyst Theatre
RED DEER | October 2 – 6 – Scott Block Theatre
There are 27 million slaves in the world. Experts estimate nearly 1.2 million children trafficked every year into some facet of the sex trade and 300,000+ children working in the sex trade in North America. Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal trade, second only to the illegal sale of drugs, with an estimated annual profit of over 31 billion US dollars.
The statistics are staggering. Yet it is important to remember that each person caught in slavery has a story – a story that will likely go unheard. Help us bring an important story to life.
Synopsis
Haunted by anguished voices, a lawyer poses as a john to build a legal case against a brothel trafficking girls into Bangkok. Can he win the trust of a young prostitute and convince her to risk her life for the sake of justice?
Praise for She Has A Name:
“She Has a Name [is] a nervy, poignant drama that bravely tackles [the Asian sex trade]. Kennedy and Chew… both deliver strongly felt, nuanced performances” Stephen Hunt, Calgary Herald – 4 Star Review
“She Has a Name, Burnt Thicket’s powerful drama about human trafficking, is currently on a cross-Canada tour and it stopping at the Fringe Festival. Last time it played in Calgary it was sold out before it actually opened, so it should prove to be one of the festival’s hottest tickets.” Louis B. Hobson, Calgary Sun
5 STARS ABSOLUTE MUST SEE! “This play polished to perfection. Be a witness toShe Has a Name and you’ll never be the same.” — Ignite 107
5 out of 5! “Some plays take your breath away. She Has a Name crushes the breath out of you…. [It] pins you down in your chair, compelling you to watch even when you want to leave.” — Donald McKenzie
4 Stars! “She Has a Name is a play that is well performed [and] tells an important story…. The talented cast tackles the material admirably.” — CBC Winnipeg
“This is heavy subject matter that resonates emotionally.” – Uptown
“Carl Kennedy enlivens his role with enthralling emotional resonance …. Kennedy makes it work beautifully as an idealist over his head even while [van Haastert] strengthens him with her own quiet heroism.” – Theatre in London
“Warkentin achieves a delicate determined grace futilely struggling against a practiced villainy that Sienna Howell-Holden makes frighteningly clear as the brothel madam, Mamma.” — Theatre in London
“She Has a Name [is] a polished, well-acted production of a play with an urgent message about human trafficking.” — @patstagepage – Pat Donnelly, Theatre Critic, Montreal Gazette
5 out of 5! ~ “[She Has A Name] had its way with me…. A powerful, haunting theatre piece.” — Estelle Rosen, Charelbois Post
“The acting and writing in [She Has A Name] are both astounding. I know a play is doing something right when I find myself completely absorbed, and I was right there with the characters for every moment of this ninety minute show. Evelyn Chew is particularly compelling as Number Eighteen, a character who sheds emotional armour before our eyes.” — Michelle White, Bloody Underated
She Has a Name, by Andrew Kooman [did] not disappoint. This Calgary import about human trafficking is a road-tested show featuring some terrific actors, especially Evelyn Chew [as] prostitute Number 18 in a Bangkok brothel. It’s… very well done. Yes, worthy theatre does happen at fringes.” — Pat Donnelly, Theatre Critic, Montreal Gazette
“Provocative. Poignant. This is a MUST SEE!” — @JamieMcIntosh, IJM Canada
“Evelyn Chew’s performance is just bloody wonderful…. Chew as #18 [sells] the whole show, personifying the corrupted innocent who has internalized the monstrosity of her imposed new life. It’s powerful medicine.” – Kevin Reid, The Visitorium
Praise for She Has A Name - 2011 World Premiere:
“She Has A Name [is] a heart-wrenching hit… 4 stars!” – Louis B. Hobson, The Calgary Sun
“An interesting and thought-provoking drama that works…. Kooman has created electrifying scenes [that] will make audience members hang onto every word.” – The Red Deer Advocate
“… [with] its powerful portrayal of a young woman trapped in the horrors of sexual trafficking in Thailand, the play was expertly directed, acted and written. – Red Deer Express
“Riveting…The depiction haunts me!” – Darcie Nolan, Eye See Media
“…it is the portrayal by Wong of someone embodying childlike innocence enslaved by fear that galvanizes the production, and gives it urgency and emotional depth. From the get-go, our heart goes out to the character.” – Bob Clark, The Calgary Herald
“Red Deer playwright Andrew Kooman’s She Has A Name is a powerful drama ripped from today’s headlines. It tackles the chilling subject of human trafficking and in particular the exploitation of children who are sold into sexual slavery.” – The Calgary Sun
“She Has A Name, a play written by Andrew Kooman, has shocked and wowed theatregoers who were fortunate enough to attend the performance.” – Strathmore Times
“She Has A Name provides candid and authentic insight into human trafficking in South East Asia. The content of this play will make you feel uncomfortable, upset and enraged. As a young lawyer working in Cambodia, She Has A Name inspired me even more to dedicate my life to the thousands of children who are trafficked every year.” – Rebekah Armstrong, Solicitor Te Nahu Lovell & Co Executive Director of Prescha.org
“She Has A Name is a story that haunts me. This play’s emotional journey will grip our audiences by the heart, offering them a meaningful encounter with the art of theatre. But it is their live experience of Jason and Number 18?s powerful story that will inspire and stir them to lasting action. I believe She Has a Name will be a force that moves many Canadians to become ‘new abolitionists.’” – Director, Stephen Waldschmidt
Play History/ Development:
She Has A Name was given the 2009 Scripts At Work/Alberta Playwright Network Award.It received dramaturgical input from a committee of the Alberta Playwright Network in the Spring of2009 under the oversight of APN director Johanne Deleeuw.
In January 2010, the play underwent a workshop with Burnt Thicket Theatre of Calgary, Alberta under the direction of Steve Waldshmidt, a process which culminated in a public reading of the play on January 10, 2010.
In October 2010, the play will have a public reading in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a series of readings to follow in Alberta in October and November 2010.
Burnt Thicket Theatre in partnership with Raise Their Voice produced the World Premiere of She Has A Name to sold out audiences in Calgary in February 2011, followed by a sold out run of performances in Red Deer. They are currently planning a tour of the show for 2012.
