a new play by Jill Pangallo
When a forgotten scream queen is roped into her D-list boss-boyfriend’s desperate grab at fame, she must choose between exposing a painfully buried truth or preserving the fragile life she's built on its ruins.
A darkly comic exploration of stardom's casualties, faded glory, and the desperate search for relevance in an industry that devours its young.
Swallows is about institutions of abuse (micro and macro), creeping obsolescence as a person in the world, repressed anger, shame and despair, and the societal pressure for women to endure indignities without protest, even when confronted with the worst.
It’s also funny.
Help us reach our goal!
Swallows is proud to be a sponsored project of New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).
NYFA is a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt project founded in 1971 to work with the arts community throughout New York State and the United States to develop and facilitate programs in all disciplines.
NYFA will send a formal letter of acknowledgment for donations of $250 or more.
Cast & Crew
coming soon!
Founded in 1961 by theatre legend Ellen Stewart, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Company is the only original Off-Off-Broadway venue still in operation. Ellen established La MaMa as a haven for underrepresented artists to experiment with new work, without the pressures of commercial success. Today, they maintain an environment of uncensored creative freedom, where artists of all backgrounds and identities can develop work that pushes the boundaries of what is possible onstage.
To date, La MaMa has supported more than 5,000 productions, featuring 150,000 artists from 70 nations. In 2018, The American Theatre Wing presented La MaMa with the Regional Theatre Tony Award, stating, “La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is a staple of the New York theatre scene. It is an exciting space where artists can grow, create, and push boundaries.” La MaMa has also been honored with more than 30 Obie Awards, and dozens of Drama Desk, Bessie, and Villager Awards.
Images: (L) Japanese rock musical, ‘Golden Bat’ (1970) by the Tokyo Kid Brothers. ©La MaMa Archive. (R) Heather Litteer (Sloan Stone) outside La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre at 64 East 4th Street btwn Bowery & 2nd Avenue, NYC.
La MaMa.
A message from the playwright.
For those of you familiar with my work, you already know how subtle, cringe-worthy comedy, set in the backwater swamp of our celebrity media culture, is my favorite territory to examine issues I care about. Swallows is just that.
This play is the result of a video sent to me in early 2014 by friend and collaborator Becca Blackwell. What started as a spark of shared inspiration over randomly googled YouTube fodder has now taken a life of its own for both of us together and separately in our individual artistic practices.
Having sat in this research for close to a decade—maybe a lifetime if you count my interest in child stardom and teen idol culture—I’m now ready and very excited to tell this fictional, but inspired-by-real-life-events tale of consequences, redemption, and nostalgic reckoning.
As you probably know yourself, big productions take courage, humility, and a lot of wrangling. But I'm trusting that this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is the right time in my life to creatively take on a project of this scale. I hope you'll continue to watch this space for updates and consider joining us for the production next Spring at La MaMa.
With Appreciation,
Swallows invited reading, April 1, 2023 at OTV Festival, wild project, NYC.
L to R: Jason Harris, Talia Paulette Oliveras, Anni Rossi, Heather Litteer, Jill Pangallo, Becca Blackwell, Yansa Fatima and Mike Albo.
Swallows is proud to be a sponsored project of New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).
NYFA is a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt project founded in 1971 to work with the arts community throughout New York State and the United States to develop and facilitate programs in all disciplines. NYFA will send a formal letter of acknowledgment for donations of $250 or more.