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Anne King Skeels (they/them) is ready to bare their soul on stage with the premiere of their play, “My Sister’s Lipstick” as part of the New Hazlett Theater’s Community Supported Art (CSA) program.
Skeels began writing the play in college at Point Park University. King Skeels said, “I wanted to write a play with a non-binary main character.”
King Skeels, who is from Baltimore, Maryland, moved to Pittsburgh to complete their BFA in Theatre Arts at Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts. They have a very specific mission. They want to use theatre as a tool for social justice and create work focused on audience engagement, experimentation and making a theatrical experience as queer as possible.
“My Sister’s Lipstick” is a play about isolation and queer repression and a bond between siblings.
For King Skeels it’s a personal story. They said, “There are anecdotes from my life. It’s based on artifacts of my life, but there are some fantastical and fictional elements, too. There’s also the musical influence of Judy Garland.”
With the resources of the CSA program, Dramaturg D.T. Burns helped shape the play for its full-length premiere. King Skeels said, “The original script was a one-act play, and D.T. Burns helped me expand it to a full-length, encouraging all of my weird and wild ideas.”
Burns said, “It’s been delightful to work with Anna on this script. ‘My Sister’s Lipstick’ is exactly the kind of play I want to see more of in Pittsburgh. It’s a sincere story that explores queer identity and experiences in all of their complexity. I was moved to tears when I saw the one-act version of the play when it was produced at Point Park.”
Burns added, “It’s so rare that I get to see a play that encapsulates trans and non-binary experiences in such an honest and relatable way. I’ve loved getting to see them expand it into a full-length play, keeping the impactful moments of the original script while expanding the size and scope of the world. I’m excited to get to be part of sharing it with the Pittsburgh theater community!”
The show will star Annie Morehead, Audrey Klein and June Almonte. King Skeels said, “The cast has been so generous with their time and their energy. It’s a bold cast. They’re not afraid to say what their thinking and they’re not afraid to be vulnerable on the stage.”
“My Sister’s Lipstick” will be directed by Pria Dahiya. The two met in Kelly-Strayhorn’s Freshworks program for emerging artists. “Pria Dahiya and I were in the same cohort, but this is our first time we are working together. It’s exciting.”
Artistic Producer, New Hazlett Theater, Melissa Cardello-Linton said, “This play deals with so many familiar topics, loss, isolation and finding yourself through the loss and isolation. Anna shows us how to move forward with humor and laughter.”
Cardello-Linton added, “[King Skeels] is so young but there is a maturity in the writing. They are a sweet, sensitive old soul.”
King Skeels is thrilled to be part of the New Hazlett’s CSA program. They said, “The program is an incredible incubation space for new works. They have resources at their disposal that I wouldn’t have otherwise.”
Noting the idea that a great theatrical experience crosses boundaries, lines, and labels, Cardello-Linton, who identifies as a cis-gendered heterosexual woman, said, “There’s a moment when the lead actor, Annie Morehead, is trying to figure out how to move forward after a traumatic event and it just struck a chord.”
Even though King Skeels has graduated from Point Park, they plan on sticking around Pittsburgh. They said, “I love Pittsburgh because of the creative community. The city is filled with people who are excited to create new works, specifically queer new works.”
“My Sister’s Lipstick” runs January 30 and 31 at the New Hazlett Theatre, 6 Allegheny Square, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. For more information and tickets for the show, please visit https://newhazletttheater.org/events/
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