On March 29, alumna Carolyn Kras (’06) will see the world premiere of her play “Highness” — the culmination of two years of development.
The production by the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences is the honor given Kras for winning the University’s 2006 A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Competition.
The Hotchner Competition — endowed by alumnus, novelist, poet and playwright A.E. Hotchner — selects one student work for full theatrical production every two years. Winners are chosen by jury the year prior to performance and spend the interim refining their scripts.
In 2005, Kras took part in the University’s A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival, an annual development lab, where she worked on her play with renowned playwright Naomi Iizuka. Last September, a staged reading of “Highness” was held by Theatre Seven of Chicago, a new company launched by recent PAD alumni.
“Highness,” a historical drama, features a student cast and production crew. The play examines the yearly life of England’s Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) — among the most mythologized figures in history — before she rose to power.
Performances take place at 8 p.m. March 29-31 and 2 p.m. March 31-April 1 in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.
The play focuses on Elizabeth’s early adolescence, particularly her relationship with Katherine Parr, the sixth and final wife to Elizabeth’s father, King Henry VIII. The story opens on the eve of Elizabeth’s coronation but unfolds largely in flashback, beginning shortly after the death of Kathryn Howard, Henry’s fifth wife — executed, like Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn, on charges of adultery.
Henry soon begins wooing Parr, a twice-widowed noblewoman and devout Protestant, who is also courted by the Lord High Admiral Thomas Seymour. Yet when Henry dispatches his rival on a diplomatic mission abroad, Parr accepts the king’s hand in marriage.
“Katherine was basically the only mother Elizabeth ever had,” says Annamaria Pileggi, senior lecturer in the PAD, who directs the cast of 11. “Though she had no children of her own, she was very nurturing to all of Henry’s children and took a special interest in Elizabeth.”
Following Henry’s death, Parr is free to marry Seymour, and the couple retires to a country estate, bringing the teenage Elizabeth with them.
Parr soon becomes pregnant, and a mysterious rift develops between her and Elizabeth with rumors pointing to an affair between Elizabeth and Seymour. Parr sends Elizabeth away but dies shortly thereafter, following childbirth.
“It’s interesting to see how rash Elizabeth is as a young woman,” Pileggi said. “She had all of these stepmothers, and they kept dying. How does that affect one’s ability to trust? Then Katherine comes onto the scene and is able to gain Elizabeth’s trust, only to have Elizabeth betray her.
“Because of Katherine’s death, they were never able to reconcile, and I think that, for Elizabeth, this was a kind of tipping point,” Pileggi added. “In a moment of weakness, she acted on impulse and paid for it for the rest of her life. As queen, she would never again be so reckless.”
The cast is led by junior Elizabeth Birkenmeier as Elizabeth and senior Carolina Reiter as Katherine Parr.
The scenic design — inspired by 16th-century English court painting — is by alumna Megan Chafin (’06), with costumes by senior Leah Battin.
Tickets are $15; $9 for students, seniors, faculty and staff.
For more information, call 935-6543.