Hampshire Alum Sarah Saltwick 01F’s Play to Debut at The John F. Kennedy Center

Hampshire College alum Sarah Saltwick 01F is a playwright based out of Austin, Texas, who wrote the script and lyrics for the production The Girl Who Became Legend, a modern-day feminist folktale adventure centered around bringing rain to the drought-stricken town of Dustbin.

“The Girl Who Became Legend embraces many of my favorite things in theater — live music and transforming objects. Both are well loved in Austin, so I’m thrilled to bring that creative flavor to D.C.” Saltwick told The Kennedy Center. “One of the first things audiences will see when they enter the space are piles on stage — and all kinds of things will come out of those piles. The play is full of things that might feel almost impossible to stage from chasing a cloud — the appearance of a giant to the loneliness at the bottom of a well. Staging those moments was full of surprise and joy. I hope audiences will be inspired by this tall tale and Raina and her fierceness and imagination, and I hope they'll be inspired by the way the story moves and sounds too. I hope it will encourage creative play of all kinds and for audiences of all ages to dream about what might just be possible after all.”

After Hampshire, Saltwick graduated from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Austin. She was a Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. Her plays have been produced nationally and received critical acclaim from the Austin Critics Table and B. Iden Payne Committee. Recent productions include The Pleasure Trials and Egress, co-written with Melissa Crespo. Other plays include A Perfect Robot, Tender Rough Rough Tender, an adaptation of The Scarlet Letter. She is also a co-director of Holden & Arts Associates, a theatrical booking agency.

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Header image credit Suzanne Cordeiro, 2023.