In our inaugural play reading event, Fran Zell directs her humorous barb that breaks the stereotypes about what it means to grow old.  Reading Anna K takes a heartfelt look at life imitating art while exploring our endless need for friendship, love and new beginnings.  It was selected for the 2024 Shake Rag Alley Stage Reading Series in Mineral Point, WI and was a finalist in the 2022-23 Henley Rose Playwright Competition for Women.

THE ARTISTS

Fran Zell is a playwright, lyricist, fiction writer, freelance journalist, and former feature writer for the Chicago Tribune. Her plays have been performed at festivals produced by Underscore Theatre in Chicago, Love Creek Productions in New York, and the Chicago Writers Bloc. Her book, The Marcy Stories, won the Banta Award from the Wisconsin Library Association.  A former Madisonian, she currently lives in Chicago, where she often writes about theater and the arts for Splashmags.com.