Festival focuses on lives of women, girls

Parker, an actress and playwright, runs the festival in part as a benefit for the educational programs of Our Place Theatre Project, where she is artistic director. Last year its share of the proceeds brought 20 kids from Roxbury to a weeklong theater camp in cooperation with Gloucester Stage, she says. This year Parker's trying for Broadway - which is to say, she hopes to bring the kids to New York for a couple of days of workshops at the Shades of Truth Theatre in Harlem, followed by what would be the first Broadway show for most if not all of them.

This year's fest features four productions: "Mother G," by Robert Johnson; "The Children's Hour," by Lillian Hellman; and two one-act plays by Parker, "Feathers on My Arms . . . Zora Neale Flying High" and "Bess the Brave," which run in tandem.

"Mother G" is about a courageous woman who stands up to her pastor to stop an injustice within her church, based on a true story from 1963. Marvelyn McFarlane stars.

"I really feel that there are so many women who do extraordinary things in black churches today, it's a way to celebrate them and get us talking about them and thanking them," Parker says. "They're the pillars of our church communities."

It's not a musical, but because of the church setting it is a play with music, Parker says, so there will be a drummer and pianist and plenty of singing.

The Hellman play, dating to 1934, is a less obvious choice. But Parker says it came out of recent news stories and discussions she's had with the children in Our Place programs.

"We started talking about YouTube and these girls who are led to be part of a group that is being violent. Have you seen those video clips of girls beating each other up?" Parker says. "And just last month I read an article about two 11-year-old boys from two completely different communities who within a month of each other killed themselves. They were teased based on rumors and lies, and they killed themselves. So I thought, what dramatic piece can we do that will be meaningful to the girls? . . . 'Children's Hour' seemed to me closest to that. That's what [the play] is about: This young girl with her lies ruins these women's lives. But it's not just about her. She doesn't do it single-handedly."

It's hardly kid stuff, but Parker says the students in the play, set at a girl's school, are played by actors of the same age, 10-15.

"These are kids who really, really love acting, love theater, love to do the work," she says. "They're not looking to be the next Hannah Montana. They love the stage, they love the craft. I met so many extraordinary children in the last year, and I thought, this would be the perfect time to do 'Children's Hour.' "

Emilie Battle and Abigail Walter play the two teachers accused of a lesbian affair, and Emma Romasco, 14, of Bolton plays the girl who sets the plot in motion.

Parker is currently a playwriting fellow at the Huntington Theatre Company, and both of her one-acts have toured separately. They are both about brave black women: the great writer Zora Neale Hurston and the pioneering black aviator Bessie Coleman.

"Basically I deal with them from their childhood. Ultimately, we're a product of who we were as children, no matter what the journey is to adulthood," Parker said. "They came from research and their own words and some words I made up - they had lively voices as children."

Tickets: $15-$35; Wednesdays are family nights: all tickets are $15. 617-933-8600, www.bostontheatrescene.com