BEHIND THE SHADOW
by Liz Amadio
As sisters Harmony and Destiny hike in the woods, they fall upon a building that does not seem to belong there, nor can they find it on the trail map. Destiny is convinced that the landscape is shapeshifting. Harmony is skeptical but also elusive about where she got the map. An ominous shadow cast by the sole window does not seem to move, no matter from what angle you look at it. Nor is there sunlight coming through the trees that would create it. Destiny is convinced that they have entered a time warp. But why? Can a trail map, an old news article and a displaced building hold the key to unlocking a family tragedy?
- Cast Size: 2W
- Running Time: Under an Hour
- Royalty Rate: $40 per performance
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About the Playwright
Liz Amadio has a rich history in the Theatre as dancer, poet, actor, playwright, director, and producer. Her credits span NY, regionally and abroad. She has produced/directed staged readings, workshops, and productions of 75+ works showcasing 300+ artists, and provides dramaturgical support to colleagues, in a directorial capacity, and as a script consultant. As DAPLab Moderator (Actors Studio/NSD MFA Alumni), Liz produced all Spring and Phase II Staged Reading Seasons from inception to implosion, 2008 to 2018. These included her plays Evolution: Among Statues, Skeletons, The Bench, and Millennium Mom, which premiered at Theater for the New City’s Dream Up Festival, 2016. Liz played Militant Mom. Other mom roles include Tattoo Mother, Merri Biechler’s Occupation; Veteran Mother, Maria Micheles’ PhotoPlay; Mamo-O, Jorshi Taleon-Sonza’s Haiyan and Evelyn Swain, Killian Beldy’s The Surge. As Cosmic Orchid’s Artistic Director, Liz curates Integrative Theatre, a synergy of performing and visual arts in contemporary culture. The Voire Dire Project, its signature production, features 25 artists, 4 one-act plays, and 4 works of art. Cycles have integrated paintings, art glass and photography, at production venues including TNC, The Medicine Show Theatre and the site-specific Conscious Glass Residency. Featured plays written by Liz have twice been chosen for inclusion in the season’s The Best American Short Plays. (The Hoodie Play, 2015-2016) (Guardian of the Field, 2018-2019), for four university productions and a Thespian Festival performance, and also included In the Attic, The Goblet, & Behind the Shadow. Behind Closed Doors (2020), a virtual production featuring nine short plays inspired by the medium, had all characters on opposite sides of a closed door. It included her play, The Closing. #∞ (Hashtag Infinity) (TNC Fall 2023) weaves video, spoken word, monologue, and scenes with music and movement, from personal stories reflecting women’s oppression. It is now in further development. The Spring 2024 Reading Series Sundays at Westbeth included 15 short plays by Honor Roll! playwrights. The Fall 2025 series will include monologues from 365 Women a Year: A Playwriting Project. Liz created iPower Theatre Collective, a student arts program integrating performing and visual art with social justice. The documentary iPower Pandemic Empowerment is currently completing post-production. Cosmic Orchid and iPower are grant recipients of the Puffin Foundation, Leon Levy Foundation, Citizens Committee for NYC, Chelsea & Hudson Yards Grants and LMCC Creative Engagement. Liz received the 2024 Honor Roll! Honors for Inclusionary Festival, on behalf of Cosmic Orchid’s work. Liz’s plays have also been produced at Circle in the Square (Downtown), Manhattan Rep, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, South Oxford Space, Theatre Row and Vortex Theatre (Albuquerque). Her numerous directing projects include garnering a Best Director nomination for GC Grant’s PUSH at the 2011 Strawberry Festival. An accomplished photographer, Liz’s work was recently seen in NLAPW’s Resilience in Color & Form, Sifton Gallery, Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, a six-month exhibition launched in celebration of Women’s History month 2024. Photography informs her vision of integrative theatre. With 35 years of concurrent experience as a Financial Advisor, Liz served as Treasurer, League of Professional Theatre Women and Finance Manager, LPTW Lucille Lortel Award Endowment. She currently serves as Treasurer, Women in the Arts and Media Coalition and President, National League of American Pen Women-NYC Branch. MFA, Actors Studio Drama School. Lincoln Center Education Leadership Lab, 2019. Member: Dramatists Guild; Honor Roll!, LPTW, NLAPW, NYWIFT.
Review Behind the Shadow.