A Play about David Mamet Writing a Play about Harvey Weinstein

A Workshop

written By Mathilde Dratwa

Directed by Tova Wolff

Spring/summer 2023

Refracted is honored to produce the first Chicago workshop production of Mathilde Dratwa’s new play, A Play About David Mamet Writing a Play About Harvey Weinstein.

Francesca is writing a play about David Mamet. Who actually wrote a play about Harvey Weinstein. And she wants to burn it all down. In this cerebral dark comedy, dauntlessly hilarious playwright Mathilde Dratwa confronts THEATRE, Inc.’s institutionalized misogyny, its predators, and her own complicity as a white woman in the world of storytelling. When it comes to processing motherhood, generations of rage and sexism, nothing is too satirical, too violent, or too taboo in the safety of Francesca’s mind.

CREATIVE TEAM

Mathilde Dratwa, Playwright

Mathilde Dratwa's plays include Milk and Gall (Theatre503, London, 2021), A Play about David Mamet Writing a Play about Harvey Weinstein, and Dirty Laundry, an Audible commission (released this March). Her work has been developed and presented by the Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, Rattlestick, LAByrinth Theater Company, the Great Plains Theater Conference, the Playwrights' Center, and in London at the Young Vic. Mathilde is a 2021-2024 Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center, a member of Dorset Theater Festival’s Women Artists Writing Group, and a two-time Pulitzer center grant recipient. Recently, she was a member of the Orchard Project's Greenhouse, a Dramatist Guild Foundation Playwriting Fellow and a member of New York Foundation for the Arts' Immigrant Artist Program. On the Film and TV side, Mathilde has written for Picture Start, Endeavor, LuckyChap, Dirty Films, FX, Red Wagon, Sony/TriStar, Chernin Entertainment and wiip.

Tova Wolff, Director

Tova Wolff is a Director and Producer based in Chicago. Her recent directing credits include I Couldn’t Tell You Why (Refracted Theatre Company), Clearing House (The Swell), Contrition: A Long Voicemail (The Swell), The King’s Speech (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre & National Tour, Associate Director), Monica: This Play Is Not About Monica Lewinsky (59E59 Theaters & Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019), Security (Secret Theatre), A Bad Night (The Frontier), Fade (Victory Gardens, Associate Director), For the Loyal (Interrobang Theatre Project, Associate Director), Still Rising (The Tank), Pam’s Key (Gallery Players), and Bachelorette (Walkerspace at Soho Rep.). In 2016 Tova won Best Director for her production of Between Men at the Midtown International Theatre Festival. She was a 2017/2018 Directing Fellow at Victory Gardens Theater and a 2017 participant in the Director’s Lab Chicago. She is a co-founder and Artistic Director of Refracted Theatre Company. Tova received her BA from Northwestern University. www.tovawolff.com.