My First Boss
a solo by Mercilee Jenkins
SHOW DESCRIPTION: A woman faces her #metoo moment with honesty, humor and a hula hoop revealing the influence gender violence has had on her life. She arrives in New York City in the 1970’s to realize her ambitions to be something other than a secretary, and ends up with a good job but a lecherous boss. She comes back thirty years later for an unexpected reckoning that changes her understanding of herself. Directed by Heather Arnett.
ARTIST BIO: Mercilee Jenkins is an award winning playwright, performance artist and poet. Her poem, “Peonies in a Pandemic” was published in the San Francisco Chronicle (July ‘20). She performed with Cat Call Choir in Nevertheless at CounterPulse in 2018. She is a 2014 winner of Poets Eleven, San Francisco’s citywide poetry contest. Her one act play, Winning, is included in Best American Short Plays (2014-’15). Her latest 10-minute play, Armistice at Home, received a staged reading at the Short Play Festival in Mill Valley in 2019. She is currently working on a new full-length play, Always Home.
Photo by Robbie Sweeny, CounterPulse 2018