Serious play staged reading of “escaped alone” by caryl churchill

WITH Christine Adaire, Mary Beth Brooker, Judith Fine & Muriel Johnson
Directed by Sheryl Stoodley

ESCAPED ALONE, by acclaimed English playwright, Caryl Churchill, was published in 2016 around the time of Donald Trump’s first election. I discovered this piece in 2018, in the New Scripts Library in the Traverse Theatre at the EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL, Scotland, while on tour with Serious Play’s production of THE RED GUITAR. I fell in love with Churchill’s imaginative use of language, the experimental construct of the play and the strong female perspective. But at the time, I felt it was far too harsh a message to be presented by Serious Play. Now, in 2026, I feel differently.

ESCAPED ALONE contrasts the mundane, witty, fragmented chatter of older women enjoying afternoon tea in a neighbor’s backyard, with the prophetic, disturbing visions of climate disasters and societal collapse, foreseen by the younger of them.

The play is both darkly comedic and chillingly profound.

WHEN & WHERE:

Mid-week OCTOBER 7-8, 2026 8pm

WORKROOM THEATRE/ 33 HAWLEY STREET/ NORTHAMPTON, MA

PURCHASE TICKETS

Announcing two Serious Play Sunday Training Workshops

PHYSICAL ACTOR TRAINING WORKSHOP: Sunday October 25th, 10am - 4:30pm
STAGE COMBAT WITH POLES WORKSHOP: Sunday November 15th, 10am - 4:30pm
*Read below for workshop descriptions and registration details*

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS

REGISTRATION FORM

Please read the workshop descriptions above. If interested, please fill out the Registration Form, sign the Waiver, and email them to: seriousplaytheatre@gmail.com

SERious Play theatre Ensemble

“For SERIOUS PLAY, the studio space is the embracing repository of creative potential—it is not that potential realized. It is a place for our ensemble artists to come together to invest energy and time, to lose their way, and to find their way. It is where creativity begins, and we are scared and fascinated all at once. It is the very core in a creative act. ”

— Sheryl Stoodley/ Artistic Director, Serious Play

July 2021 Northampton Premiere Performance of MOVING WATER, now available for touring

Developmental phases of MOVING WATER 2019

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THE RED GUITAR

ENDGAME PROJECT

BLIND DREAMERS

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FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF

META PINA

IN THE DARK TIMES THERE WILL BE SINGING

MILOSEVIC AT THE HAGUE

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MATERMORPHOSIS

Sheryl directing Celebrate The Children of Resistance for Rosenberg Fund for Children- including Angela Davis, Eve Ensler, Cotter Smith & others

“A play potentially allows us to see ourselves, not just as individuals, but as we are as a society—to see who we are, how we became what we are, how we have what we have, and lost what we lost.”

— Richard Nelson / Hamilton College, American Theatre Magazine