SWAN Day Pittsburgh – A Wonderful Model

SWAN Day Pittsburgh Video

Watch the YouTube video
of women artists talking
about what SWAN Day
Pittsburgh means to them.

Tressa Glover and Don DiGiulio of the No Name Players in Pittsburgh, PA have created a wonderful model for SWAN Days that give voice to the women in their community, encourage artists to create new works, and build strong bonds among the artists.

Each year they tape interviews of women of Pennsylvania and then invite women performers, writers, and other artists to create new works based on the women’s words. Their SWAN Day events consist of premieres of these new works that reflect the visions and perspectives of women from a wide range of backgrounds.

SWAN Day Pittsburgh Junior

Maya Williams, Flora Ianotta, and Angelena Jozwiak were interviewed for SWAN Day Pittsburgh this year.

The story of the singing duo Camelia Road (Addi Twig and Lauren Zurchin) is a perfect example of the kinds of career-building and networking for artists that SWAN events can foster. Camelia Road wrote a song for SWAN Day Pittsburgh 2012 called “Keep Going.” Since it was a big hit with the audience, the song is being adopted as the SWAN Day Pittsburgh theme song. This year a choral version has been created which will be sung by students from the Act One Theatre School.

Also, after performing in SWAN events together, Camelia Road and the solo singer Emay (Erika May) decided to write a song together for SWAN Day 2013. SWAN events often provide the stimulus for new artistic collaborations like this.

SWAN Day Pittsburgh is also reaching out to girls this year.  They included girls as young as age nine in their interviews for the main show, and they have created a special SWAN Day Pittsburgh Junior matinee that will feature theatre, music, dance and poetry by and about girls, including a new play that re-writes an old story, “The Ugly Duckling – A Quest for Beauty” created by the five Urban Impact Cygnets.

Date: Saturday, March 23, 2013
SWAN Day: 8 p.m.   SWAN Day Junior:1 p.m
Venue: New Hazlett Theater, Pittsburgh, PA
More Info/Tickets: No Name Players Website