Seven (play)

Seven is a documentary play, first performed in 2008, written by seven women playwrights based on interviews with seven women around the world who have fought for the rights and well-being of women and girls.^[1]

The women

The women whose stories form the basis of Seven are all involved in the Vital Voices Global Partnership. They are:^[1]

• Hafsat Abiola, Nigeria, who founded the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy and works to improve relations between Chinese and African women; winner of 2016 Global Leadership Award for Leadership in Public Life^[2]
• Farida Azizi, Afghanistan, campaigner for women's rights and peace in her country^[2]
• Annabella De Leon, Guatemala, congresswoman and campaigner against corruption and for the rights of the poor; winner of 2003 Global Leadership Award for Political Participation
• Mukhtar Mai, Pakistan, survivor of a gang rape and campaigner for women's education; winner of 2006 Global Leadership Awards Fern Holland Award^[2]
• Inez McCormack, Northern Ireland, former president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions; winner of 2002 Global Leadership Award for Political Participation^[2]
• Marina Pisklakova-Parker, Russia, founder of first Russian hot-line for victims of domestic violence; winner of 2004 Global Leadership Award for Human Rights^[2]
• Mu Sochua, Cambodia, former Minister of Women's Affairs and campaigner against sex-trafficking; winner of 2005 Global Leadership Award for Human Rights^[2]

The playwrights

Seven women collaborated to write the play:^[1]

• Anna Deavere Smith
• Ruth Margraff
• Gail Kriegel
• Paula Cizmar
• Susan Yankowitz
• Carol K. Mack
• Catherine Filloux

Development of the play

Each playwright worked with one of the women whose stories make up the play over a series of interviews in 2006–2007, and wrote a dramatic monologue based on these. The writers met in February 2007 to read the monologues together, and then worked them into a unified script during a Residency Fellowship retreat at Bard College. The first draft was read in July 2007.^[3]

The play was first performed on 21 January 2008 at the 92nd Street Y in New York, directed by Evan Yionoulis. Since then it has been translated into 20 languages and performed in 32 countries, as of May 2016^[update].^[3][4]

Some productions have involved well-known professional actors, as when Meryl Streep read the part of Inez McCormack at the Hudson Theatre on New York's Broadway.^[5][6] Other productions have involved amateur groups or public figures, as when a group of senior Belarus government ministers performed it in Minsk in 2015^[7] and Washington Supreme Court justice Mary Yu read the part of Farida Azizi at Town Hall Seattle in 2016.^[8]