THE DIPLOMATS
by Jessica owens
directed by Blayze Teicher
The Tank, 2019
The tenuous strands of connection between three women in an all-female doomsday cult start to unravel - revealing how women deal with trauma, what lengths they are willing to go to, what traumas they’re willing to inflict on others, and what portion of their own autonomy they are willing to give up, to feel they’ve regained some semblance of power.
Press
The Challenge
Lead creative process - from development through production - for the New York premiere of The Valkyries, a psychological drama about a female-led doomsday cult. Tasked with transforming dark, unsettling material into a gripping and emotionally charged audience experience.
The Insight
The patriarchy is not designed with women’s power and agency in mind.
The Directorial Concept
We built a production that immersed the audience by blurring the line between observer and participant. We used the full space, including the house, to let the intensity and volatility of the pursuit of power physically surround them. The environment was intentionally designed to feel both intimate and oppressive - mirroring systems that were never built to hold women’s full humanity. In this world, that systemic failure pushes the characters to extremes.
by: Jessica Owens
directed by: Blayze Teicher
production design: Kailey Hays-Lenihan
sound design: Carsen Joenk
stage managed: Patricia Garvey
photography: Russ Rowland
starring: Ashley Marie Ortiz, Allison Haglund,
Amy Berryman, and Alex Beechko