Gay Play Tuesdays: A LATE SNOW by Jane Chambers (1974)

A Late Snow tells the story of Ellie, a professor at a conservative college in a conservative state who fears that being openly gay could cost her her job. When she finds herself trapped in a snowstorm with her first, last, current, and potentially next lover, she is forced to examine how she navigates the complexities of finding love, maintaining a meaningful relationship, and living an authentic life.Jane Chambers (1937 – 1983) was an American playwright and pioneer in writing theatrical works with openly lesbian characters. A Late Snow, produced at Playwrights Horizons in 1974 was one of the earliest plays to authentically and explicitly center on lesbian characters. In 1980, Chambers started to work with The Glines, writing Last Summer at Bluefish Cove for their First Gay American Arts Festival, about the impact upon a woman and her lesbian friends after she is diagnosed with cancer. Chambers was herself diagnosed with cancer in 1981. She continued to write, producing My Blue Heaven for the Second Gay American Arts Festival at the Glines, and The Quintessential Image for the Women’s Theatre Conference in Minneapolis. She died at her home in Greenport, Long Island in 1983. Starting in 1984, there has been an annual award in her name, the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award