Open to Public
Pre-Existing Condition
Free Event
Thu, Oct 30.2025
Please join us for a dramatic reading of Marin Ireland's Pre-Existing Condition—a play exploring the challenges, shared community, and everyday indignities of learning to move forward after a life-altering, harmful relationship—as a catalyst for a powerful, guided audience discussion about domestic and intimate partner violence grounded in the perspectives of victims and survivors.
Featuring performances by Julia Chan (Saving Hope), Sarah Steele (The Good Fight), Myra Lucretia Taylor(American Fiction), and Greg Keller (Blue Bloods).
This event is a collaboration with the NYC Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Directed by Maria Dizzia
Facilitated by Bryan Doerries
Presented by Theater of War Productions, WNYC, and Chase This Productions.
Registration is required to attend in person or on Zoom.
This free, public, live, hybrid event will take place in person and on Zoom Webinar, broadcast from WNYC. In person registration does not guarantee you a seat. If you choose to join us online, this event can be accessed on personal devices. The event Zoom link will be distributed via email and available to registered attendees starting two days prior to the event. This event will be captioned in English on Zoom.
Explore Projects
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Gun ViolenceHerculesDrawing from an ancient Greek tragedy about a vicious act of violence committed by an angry man with an invincible weapon, this project aims to generate powerful dialogue between concerned citizens, members of the law enforcement community, victims and perpetrators of gun violence, and the general public.
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Domestic ViolencePatient and Impatient GriseldaTheater of War Productions and Margaret Atwood return to the Toronto International Festival of Authors with an exciting new collaboration exploring power and control, domestic violence, and family dynamics by way of two versions of the same story, one written by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1348 during the bubonic plague and the other by Atwood in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. In Bocaccio’s version, a woman named Griselda remains in an abusive and controlling relationship, showing great patience and forbearance in the face of her husband’s sadism and cruelty. In Atwood’s version, Griselda takes matters in her own hands and, with the help of her sister, turns the tables on her husband.
This free, public event featured a live, dramatic reading of the “Patient Griselda” story from Boccaccio's Decameron by Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Fleishman is in Trouble), Maev Beaty (Beau is Afraid, Mouthpiece), and Araya Mengesha (Tiny Pretty Things, Nobody). Then, in response, Margaret Atwood performed “Impatient Grisleda,” a story that is narrated to a group of humans in quarantine by an alien that looks like an octopus. The readings of both texts was followed by immediate responses by community panelists and culminated in a guided audience discussion, facilitated by Bryan Doerries (Artistic Director, Theater of War Productions).
Co-presented by Theater of War Productions and Toronto International Festival of Authors.
This hybrid presentation took place in person at the Toronto Harbourfront Centre Theatre and on Zoom Webinar on September 30, 2023.
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War & Mental HealthThe Tecmessa ProjectThe Tecmessa Project presents readings of Sophocles’s Ajax, an ancient play about the visible and invisible wounds of war, as the catalyst for discussions focusing on the unique challenges faced by military family members, including couples, children, caregivers, and communities. This project is designed to promote understanding, compassion, and positive action.