TAMPA (FL)
Broadway World [New York NY]
April 25, 2022
We Refuse to Whisper! Powerstories Theatre is confronting the often-shrouded, controversial topic of abuse in the Catholic Church in Ireland with CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE: THE MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES. For twenty-two years, Powerstories has been driven by giving voice to women. Now, more than ever in our history, we refuse to whisper, defying the stigma of talking about abuse in religion. We are the first in Florida to debut this vastly unknown story based on Ireland’s sordid religious history.
CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE: THE MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES is live at the theatre from April 28 to May 15 and live-streamed on April 30, May 7, May 14 and May 15.
Powerstories Theatre Founder Fran Powers learned about the Magdalene Laundries, also known as the Magdalene Asylums, from a tour guide while visiting Ireland. Named after Mary Magdalene, the laundries were meant to be places of reform and repentance where women could wash away their sins while scrubbing dirty laundry to benefit the Church financially. Fran assumed the travesties occurred in the Dark Ages and was shocked to find the laundries operated unregulated from the 18th century until they were finally forced to close their doors in 1996. Don’t think this didn’t happen here. Numerous, brutal Magdalene Laundries existed in the U.S. for nearly as long as in Ireland. In this premiering play, Rosemary is an unruly sixteen-year-old girl whose stern father fears is soiling the family’s good name. She is abandoned at the Irish laundries under the pretense that he is taking her to a “strict” convent school to finish her high-school education. Instead, she finds herself a prisoner, overworked, underfed, and physically and mentally abused by the Magdalene Sisters.
If the topic of calling out inequities interests you, you should join us in the theatre or online for this historically unknown story. Ticket Prices: $25 General Admission, $20 Students, Seniors, Military, $20 Live-Stream Buy Theatre
Tickets: powerstories.ticketleap.com/conspiracy-of-silence/t/BWWTickets
Buy Live-Stream Tickets: powerstories.ticketleap.com/conspiracy/t/BWWLiveStream
TRIGGER WARNING: Physical abuse shown on stage
