From Tennessee Williams to Shepherd Mead to A.E. Hotchner, the University boasts a strong tradition of original drama. This year the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences will celebrate that tradition with four original plays by alumni, faculty and students.
“This is a season of world premieres — works as daring in subject matter as they are formally innovative,” said Henry I. Schvey, Ph.D., professor and chair of the PAD. “I think audiences will find this to be some of the most dynamic and challenging art in St. Louis.”
The series begins Sept. 29-Oct. 8 with Hickorydickory, a playful, Magical-Realist-style work by Marisa Wegrzyn, a 2003 alumna. The series continues in February with Schvey’s own Kokoschka: A Love Story about the relationship between the Austrian painter Oskar Kokoschka and his mistress, Alma Mahler; and civil disobedience, a politically charged work by Carter Lewis, playwright-in-residence. The series concludes in March with Highness, a historical drama about Queen Elizabeth I. The work, which won the 2006 A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Competition, was written by Carolyn Kras, a 2005 alumna.
Hickorydickory tells the story of Cari Lee, a young woman whose “mortal clock,” a literal biological clock that tells the time and date of each individual’s death, has been permanently frozen, trapping her at the age of 17 — the same age as her daughter, Dale. Yet Dale has clock troubles of her own, even though her father, Jimmy (Cari’s ex-boyfriend) is now an expert clocksmith.
“The play is a kind of fantasy about the delicate nature of family relationships,” said director William Whitaker, senior lecturer in drama. “What if we had such clocks? What if we could add more time, or take time from our own clocks and extend it to our loved ones?
“As a writer, Marisa finds these outrageous images, pushes them to extremes, then domesticates them, pulling them back together like a puzzle. In the end, her plays take place in a very ordinary world in which extraordinary things can happen.”
The five-member cast is led by senior Caroline Rau as Cari Lee, with junior Elizabeth Birkenmeier in the roles of Dale and young Kate. Also starring are junior Rosie Mandel as Kate and Helen; senior Robert McLemore III as Jimmy and Richard; and junior Kelly Riley as Rowan and young Jimmy.
Set design is by senior Lauren Dusek, with lighting design by senior Derek Dohler. Costumes are by Bonnie Kruger, senior lecturer in the PAD.
Wegrzyn, a native of Wilmette, Ill., already has found considerable success in the theater. This summer, Chicago’s prestigious Steppenwolf Theatre Company debuted her The Butcher of Baraboo, a black comedy about a small-town butcher with an ax to grind.
Performances of Hickorydickory begin at 8 p.m. Sept. 29 and 30 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 1 in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre in Mallinckrodt Student Center. Performances continue at 8 p.m. Oct. 5 and 6 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 8.
Tickets are $15; $9 for students, senior citizens and WUSTL faculty and staff and are available through the Edison Theatre Box Office at 935-6543 and all MetroTix outlets.