About the Play:

Athena has become a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues and Female/Female Scenes.

Athena is a full-length comedic drama by Gracie Gardner. Mary Wallace and Athena are brave, and seventeen, and fencers, and training for the Junior Olympics. They practice together, they compete against each other, they spend their lives together. They wish they were friends. Athena is a portrait of two high-achieving young women, simultaneously rivals and allies, pushing each other to be the best.

Athena looks at the ups and downs of two teenage girls in competitive fencing. Mary Wallace and Athena are both seventeen-year-old foil fencers training for Nationals. Mary Wallace lives in a house in New Jersey, loves marine biology and practices at home. Athena lives in an apartment in New York City, takes acne medication and Athena is not her real name. When Athena – it's her stage name for fencing; she likes the air of mystery – asks Mary Wallace to train with her, the almost evenly matched pair are total strangers. Follow their journey from competitors to confidantes as they form a hesitant friendship while they attack and parry their way through the struggles of high school and womanhood in a highly competitive arena. But only one will win. Athena is a searing look into two young women driven to make their way through the ranks of competitive fencing and their fascination with each other.

Athena received a critically acclaimed premiere in 2018 at JACK (a Multidisciplinary Art Center) in Brooklyn and was a New York Times Critics Pick and a Theatre is Easy Best Bet. Since then the play had regional premieres at professional theatres across the US and has been mounted by college theatre productions as a showcase of student talent.

Cast: 3 female

What people say:

"Wily and entertaining." — Village Voice

"A deadly serious comedy about ambition, success, and owning your superiority. In its delicate ferocity, it shows a playwright who is full-throttle funny and wise beyond her years." — New York Times

"...it's galvanising to see a play about two young women arguing over sport, to see a show dedicated to the importance of learning how to grow into yourself, how to improve, how to challenge, and how to fight." — The Guardian (UK)

About the Playwright:

Gracie Gardner is a Brooklyn-based American writer. She is a proud member of Ensemble Studio Theater's Obie-winning group Youngblood and she's the recipient of the American Playwriting Foundation's Relentless Award.