PAD brings House of Desires to Edison Theatre April 13 to 22

Mistaken identities, hidden lovers, mischievous servants and duels in the dark. Welcome to House of Desires, a romantic comedy-of-errors written in 1683 by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a proto-feminist Mexican nun today considered one of the most brilliant writers of the Baroque period.

In April, Washington University’s Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences will present House of Desires — in a recent translation by Catherine Boyle — as its spring mainstage production.

Performances begin at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 13 and 14, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 15, in Edison Theatre. Performances continue the following weekend at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 20 and 21; and at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 22.

Tickets are $15 — $9 for students, senior citizens and Washington University faculty and staff — and are available through the Edison Theatre Box Office, (314) 935-6543, and all MetroTix outlets. Edison theatre is located in the Mallinckrodt Student Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd. For more information, call (314) 935-6543.

A satire of courtly conventions, House of Desires focuses on the rivalry between the noble Dona Ana and the virtuous yet impoverished Dona Leonor. When Leonor is separated from her lover, Don Carlos, by the machinations of Ana’s brother, Don Pedro, she seeks refuge with Ana. Unbeknownst to Leonor, Ana is also in love with Carlos, though she is formally wooed by the feckless Don Juan. Adding to the intrigue are Celia, Ana’s earthy maid; and Castaño, Carlos’ servant, who seeks to divert Pedro by disguising himself as Leonor.

“It’s a classic love triangle, or perhaps love quadrangle,” quips Trevor Biship, a guest director in the PAD. “It’s also very provocative. Women act like men, men dress like women, men fall in love with men dressed like women.

“Sor Juana was clearly a writer ahead of her time,” Biship adds. “Though House of Desires follows the conventions of Spanish Golden Age comedy — mistaken identity, romantic entanglements — it also deals with issues of identity, gender and patriarchy in ways that seem very contemporary. What does it mean to be a man in this world? What does it mean to be a woman?”

Sor Juana herself was no stranger to courtly maneuvering. The illegitimate daughter of a Spanish captain, she was born in 1648 near Mexico City and raised in the home of her maternal grandfather. A child prodigy, she read voraciously from her grandfather’s library and in 1664 became a maid-in-waiting to the wife of the Spanish viceroy. She remained at court for five years before entering the Convent of the Order of St. Jerome in 1669.

Over the next quarter century, Sor Juana emerged as a major literary figure, writing courtly and religious poetry as well as religious and secular plays. Her convent cell became something of a literary salon, frequented by writers and academics, though church leaders were often critical of her intellectual pursuits. She died of the plague in 1695.

Boyle’s translation of House of Desires was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) as part of its critically acclaimed 2004 series “The Spanish Golden Age.” Boyle, a reader in Latin-American Cultural Studies at Kings College in London, served as academic advisor to the series. The following year, the RSC moved its production of House of Desires to London’s West End.

Biship, a 2003 alumnus of the PAD, is the former literary manager for St. Louis’ Mostly Harmless Theatre. Now based in Los Angeles, he has spent the last several years as a freelance director for major regional theaters such as the South Coast Repertory, Theatre of Note and the Utah Shakespearean Festival.

The cast of 14 is led by sophomore Kaylin Boosalis as Dona Ana and senior Elizabeth Neukirch as Dona Leonor, with graduate student Chris Hartman as Carlos; senior Robert McLemore as Pedro; and Matthew Gill, the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in English in Arts & Sciences, as Don Juan. Junior Leo Osorio plays Castaño. Junior Dara Malina is Celia.

Sets, inspired by the painting of El Greco, are by Patrick Huber, visiting artist-in-residence in the PAD. Original music, scored specifically for this production, is by Jeffrey Noonan, adjunct instructor in music in Arts & Sciences.

Costumes are by Bonnie Kruger, senior lecturer in the PAD. Lighting is by Charles Chapman, artist-in-residence in the PAD. Sound is by sophomore Timothy Trinidad.