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Suggest pagesJeanmarie Simpson
| Jeanmarie Simpson | |
|---|---|
 Jeanmarie Simpson headshot, 1977 |
|
| Born | Jeannemarie Simpson November 20, 1959 Ray, Arizona, U.S. |
| Occupation | Theatre and film artist, peace activist |
| Years active | 1972–present |
| Spouse | David Christopher Stockton (1980-1982) Dwight Harbaugh (1983-1995) Wesley Eugene Hall (2010-present) |
Jeanmarie Simpson (born November 20, 1959) is an American peace activist and theatre/film artist.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Simpson was born in Ray, Arizona. Her parents are Maria Luisa Jugo, a Venezuelan immigrant, and Donald Leroy Simpson, an American mining engineer. Jeanmarie Simpson was raised in rural Arizona. Her family's move to Toronto, Canada in 1970 led to her theatre training.[1][2]
[edit] Career
She was founding artistic director of the Nevada Shakespeare Company, from which she retired in 2008.[3]
Simpson appeared in the American premier of the one-woman play, Shakespeare's Will, by Canadian playwright, Vern Thiessen. The production was presented by Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills, California, and was produced by Leonard Nimoy.[4]
She starred in the film version of her play, A Single Woman, based on the life of first US Congresswoman and lifelong pacifist, Jeannette Rankin. The film was produced by Heroica Films and directed by Kamala Lopez, a cousin of Simpson's.[5] Though the project includes the voices of many celebrities, including Martin Sheen, Peter Coyote, Judd Nelson and Patricia Arquette and includes in its soundtrack the iconic Joni Mitchell songs Woodstock and Circle Game, the film has not been picked up by a distributor, nor has it had a theatrical release.[6] Simpson was disappointed with the result, and in October 2011 she is quoted in the Huffington Post saying of the film, "That's probably the biggest disappointment of my life."[7]
In September 2009, Simpson opened in Tucson, Arizona in the one-woman show, Coming In Hot, based on the book Powder: writing by women in the ranks from Vietnam to Iraq. The show subsequently toured extensively, and garnered praise and also a fair amount of criticism by peace activists who thought it glorified war.[8][9][10][11][12]
As of February 2011, Simpson toured with readings of Mary's Joy - the anatomy of a martyr, her play based on the life of Mary Dyer, the first colonial woman to be executed in the New World. Dyer was hanged June 1, 1660, for being a Quaker and refusing to stay out of Boston, Massachusetts.[13]
[edit] Activism
Jeanmarie Simpson is a Lifetime Member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), sitting on the National Board of the US Section as of June, 2006. She has been a pacifist and human rights/peace activist since 1984, when she observed the disparity between the wealthy and socio-economically challenged members of society while working as a Special Projects Coordinator for Consolidated Agencies of Human Service in Hawthorne, Nevada.[14]
After September 11, 2001, Simpson, a "self-described 'artivist'," retreated from traditional theatre and began creating biographical works, political in nature, based on the lives of historical women.[15][16][17]
For the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, Simpson created an audio of her play about Jeannette Rankin. The video is titled Flight of the Dove, and is accompanied by visual art by Gene Hall and music by Vicki Brown. The video is based on the book with the same title, presented by Code Pink on their website, and can also be seen on Simpson's homepage.[18][19][20]
Her political commentaries can be found on Common Dreams.[21][22][23]
[edit] Personal life
Simpson has been legally married three times. She was first married at 16, but that lasted only 5 months and was later annulled. From 1995 through January 2007, she was in a relationship with Cameron David Crain, a waiter-turned actor who is now a drama teacher. They had a wedding ceremony in 1996, however they were never legally married. She is now married to artist and entomologist, Gene Hall, a contributor to the Tree of Life Web Project. Simpson is the mother of Domenic Francis Stockton, Donald Paul Stockton and Emily Maria Harbaugh. She is the grandmother of Casey Joel Stockton.[citation needed]
[edit] Current activities
She now resides in Tucson, Arizona and is theatre project specialist for the award-winning feminist publishing company, Kore Press.[24]
[edit] References
- ^ http://asinglewomanmovie.com/jeanmarie-simpson-crew.html
- ^ http://korepress.org/CIHAbout.htm
- ^ http://nevada-shakespeare.org/Theatre_Company/About_NSC.html
- ^ http://www.leonardnimoy.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=573:shakespears-will&catid=28:producer&Itemid=16
- ^ http://www.prlog.org/11512132-civilization-needs-peace-as-bread-needs-yeast-jeannette-rankin-back-in-the-kitchen.html
- ^ http://asinglewomanmovie.com
- ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-brody/jeanmarie-simpson_b_985669.html
- ^ http://www.newsreview.com/reno/content?oid=1861571
- ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-brody/just-the-facts-maam-a-rev_b_761525.html
- ^ http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/arts/report/092310_cominginhot
- ^ http://wildcat.arizona.edu/wildlife/coming-in-hot-designed-to-spark-discussion-1.1572491?MMode=true
- ^ http://www.prlog.org/10866546-boulder-actress-is-coming-in-hot.html
- ^ http://mediaroots.org/interview-with-artivist-jeanmarie-simpson.php
- ^ http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=33060
- ^ http://www.prlog.org/11271512-interview-with-an-artivist.html
- ^ http://ondemand.azpm.org/videoshorts/watch/2009/10/8/kuat-coming-in-hot/
- ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-brody/jeanmarie-simpson_b_985669.html
- ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-brody/jeanmarie-simpson_b_985669.html
- ^ http://codepink.nationbuilder.com/flight_of_the_dove
- ^ http://jeanmariesimpson.wordpress.com/flight-of-the-dove-an-audio-of-the-play-with-images/
- ^ http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/20-3
- ^ http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/28-3
- ^ http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/14-0
- ^ http://korepress.org/cominginhottourpage.htm
