ABSTRACT
This essay addresses three of the plays circa 2020 being presented about Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi’s life and works. Breach Theatre’s It’s True, It’s True, It’s True toured the United Kingdom and was presented electronically. The New York-based Anthropologists’ production of Artemisia’s Intent toured in the United States. The work’s director, Melissa Moschitto, and its star, Mariah Freda, also hosted Zoom gatherings that presented segments from the performance, along with discussions and Artemisia-themed quiz competitions. The third play, Emily McClain’s Slaying Holofernes, was a 2019 winner of Essential Theatre’s New Play competition. Artemisia’s striking artistic works, combined with the well-documented aspects of her painful personal history, translate into powerful theater.
