The 2019 Judith Barlow Prize Reading

On April 29th, 2019, HISTORY MATTERS/BACK TO THE FUTURE presented a staged reading of the 2019 Judith Barlow Prize winning one-act play:

earth's most customer-centric company
by Hannah Manikowski, Carnegie Mellon University

Teresa is an idyllic upper middle-class housewife, and she lives an idyllic upper middle-class life – except that her six-year-old daughter, Maddie, won’t speak: not to her mother, not to her schoolteacher, and not to her therapists.  When new Amazon delivery girl, Nat, communicates with Maddie more effectively than Teresa ever has, Teresa is immediately defensive… but Nat might be just what Teresa needs to finally confront a deep and secret well of familial pain. A snappy comedy with heart inspired by Maria Iréne Fornés's Fefu and Her Friends, earth’s most customer-centric company looks at the deep connection women can forge when given the chance to truly know one another.

                         
                     Hannah Manikowski                                                                               María Irene Fornés
                                                                                         

Directed by Kyle Brown
Starring Caroline Hewitt, Caitlin Cobb-Vialet, Emma Orme

The runner-up for the 2019 Judith Barlow Prize was Upasna Barath of North Central College whose play The Choice is Yours was inspired by Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.