This press release was sent to the web site today from The American Century Theater, about their show at Theater II, Gunston Arts Center, February 23 to March 24. The theater is located at 2700 South Lang Street in Arlington, Virginia. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8 PM, and 2:30 matinees February 24, 25, March 4, 10, 11, 17 and 24. Tickets are $23-$29 with special discounts for groups.
The press release:
An absorbing collection of one act plays can create a story of its own, and so it is with Drama Under the Influence. The American Century Theater has assembled an evening of eight very different plays by remarkable women playwrights, each telling a different story but together telling one: how many of America’s best playwrights had their work shackled by a theatrical establishment that disdained female authors, and how they persevered nonetheless with talent, wit, and courage.
The 1920s was arguably the richest period in the history American theater, with innovation, variety, and too many plays, reviews and musicals to count. While the country was engaged in the doomed social experiment of Prohibition, women were experiencing an exhilarating rush of new experiences and possibilities signaled by women in the workplace, gender issues and the institution of women’s suffrage in 1920. Their heralds were adventurers like Sophie Treadwell, critics like Dorothy Parker, poets like Gertrude Stein, and trail-blazers like Susan Glasbill, Eulalie Spence and Rita Wellman.
The American Century Theater’s Associate Artistic Director Steven Scott Mazzola created a vibrant new production by gathering unique women’s voices to give their work the attention so long denied. “It was a time when women were exploring new freedoms and ever-changing relationships. They were no longer confined. Using their new powers to their advantage and their detriment” said Mazzola.
Mazzola’s cast, all playing multiple parts, is led by TACT veteran Mary McGowan, last seen in The Autumn Garden. Joining her is William Aiken (The Autumn Garden, Tea and Sympathy), Colby Codding (MacBird), Steve Luebens (Call Me Mister), Jay Tilley (MacBird) and TACT newcomers Gabriela Fernandez Coffey, Tanera Hutz, Lauren Krizner, Kate McCann, Jennifer Robison and Ellen Young. Mazzola and his cast will be backed by a team of designers who have all distinguished themselves in previous productions: Set designer Beth Baldwin (The Time of Your Life); sound designer, Ian Armstrong (Desire Under the Elms); Jennifer Tardiff, costume designer; Marc Wright, lighting designer (Danny and Sylvia and The Andersonville Trial), and resident prop designer Eleanor Gomberg. Karen Currie is the Stage Manager.
Drama Under the Influence is the latest installment of TACT’s “Reflections” series, featuring new works that explore important figures, events or movements of the Twentieth Century. This collection of eight plays explores all three. Eye of the Beholder by Sophie Treadwell, whose masterpiece Machinal amazed TACT audiences three years ago. Susan Glasbill, one of the most successful female playwrights of the period, is represented by two plays, Trifles and Suppressed Desire. Eulalie Spence’s Hot Stuff and Rita Wellman’s For All Time are rarely seen gems, and Dorothy Parker’s contribution to the evening is her by turns funny and cynical take on marriage, “Here We Are”. Finally, Gertrude Stein’s inimitable experiments with language and form distinguish her short play, Photograph.
Mazzola’s evening of unjustly neglected plays is guaranteed to be one of discovery and awe. “It is our culture’s tragedy that we didn’t make it easier for these women’s plays to get noticed and produced, but The American Century Theater will do what it can to right that wrong,” says Jack Marshall, TACT Artistic Director. “A fast, fascinating and moving evening to experience comedy, tragedy, and social commentary from rarely heard voices.”
Drama Under the Influence opens at Theater II, Gunston Arts Center runs February 23 to March 24. The theater is located at 2700 South Lang Street in Arlington, Virginia 22203. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8 PM, and 2:30 matinees February 24, 25, March 4, 10, 11, 17 and 24. Tickets are $23-$29 with special discounts for groups. As always, active duty military personnel with ID see the show for free. A child under 18 is admitted free with a paying adult. Call 703.553.8782 for information and reservations, or visit www.americancentury.org.
The American Century Theater is a 501 (c) (3) professional nonprofit theater company dedicated to production great, important and neglected 20th Century American plays and playwrights. TACT is funded in part by Arlington County through the Cultural Affairs Division of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources and the Arlington Commissioner for the Arts; the Virginia Commissioner for the Arts and numerous foundations; and many generous donors.