Hilary Bettis, American Girls (Youth Lessons)

Ean Sheehy reads three Youth Lesson monologues from Hilary Bettis's 2011 play American Girls.

Hilary Bettis’ first play, American Girls, was produced off-Broadway in 2008 and has just been published in Plays from New River 1 (McFarland). American Girls was anthologized in Best Monologues of 2009 and Best Stage Scenes of 2008, both published by Smith & Kraus. Recently, she was named the first recipient of a playwriting fellowship, sponsored by Tony-Award winning actress Cherry Jones and administered by the Abingdon Theatre, to celebrate the career of a female playwright under the age of thirty. Her first screenplay, B’Hurst, was filmed in 2008, and she is working on a feature-length version. She was the recipient of the 2011 James McLure Playwrighting Fellowship at New River Dramatists and of the 2009 John N. Wall Fellowship for playwriting at Sewanee Writer’s Conference. She was a 2010 semi-finalist for the Julliard Lila Acheson Wallace Playwright fellowship.

Ean Sheehy attended Bard College as a Drama major before moving to New York City, where he continued his work in comedy improv with a group called Kundalini Komedy, performing in countless venues around the city for many years. Meanwhile he became a favorite of Tony-Award winning playwright Warren Leight, who cast him in almost every play he wrote, such as Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine, Stray Cats, No Foreigners Beyond This Point, The Final Interrogation of Ceaucescu’s Dog, Mr. Morton Waits for his Bus, and many more. This in addition to a ubiquitous presence in new theatre, such as Lipstick Traces at the Ohio Theater, Thom Pain (based on nothing) , The Countess, and the Obie-Award winning Chautauqua! at PS 122, The Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, The Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, and The Public Theater in New York. He also has appeared on Law & Order Criminal Intent as Forensic Accountant Joshua Simmons, a recurring character in seven episodes, as well as appearing twice on the flagship Law & Order series. Ean was in the HBO mini-series John Adams and the films The Notorious Bettie Page, Precious, and the upcoming Company Retreat. He also has a part in the Onion Sports Network TV show, out in 2011. He has done voice work as well, performing in commercials, cartoons, radio improvisational work, and reading the Audiobook Step on a Crack by Andrew Vachss.

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