CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Washington College Theatre Department is pleased to present its Spring 2019 schedule of performances, including Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, The Flick, and The Rape of the Sabine Women, by Grace B. Matthias.
Unless otherwise noted, all performances begin at 7:30 p.m. in Tawes Theater in the Gibson Center for the Arts. Tickets are available at the door, and for reservations, which are suggested, please visit the department’s eventbrite page.
“Our students routinely seek plays that challenge, delight, frustrate and provoke themselves, each other, and audiences,” says Chair and Theatre Associate Professor Michele Volansky. “I am so pleased at the ways that they choose to present their points of view and put their classroom learning to practice in these senior capstone experience projects. We hope that the Chestertown and Washington College community shares our excitement at the spring line-up.”
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moises Kaufman is a senior thesis directed by Jacqueline Glenn on Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23. In April 1895, Oscar Wilde brought a libel suit against the Marques of Queensberry, the father of his youthful lover, who had publicly maligned him as a sodomite. In doing so, England’s reigning man of letters set in motion a series of events that would culminate in his ruin and imprisonment. For within a year the bewildered Wilde himself was on trial for acts of “gross indecency” and, implicitly—for a vision of art that outraged Victorian propriety. Expertly interweaving courtroom testimony with excerpts from Wilde’s writings and the words of his contemporaries, Gross Indecency unveils its subject in all his genius and human frailty, his age in all its complacency and repression. The Honorary Producers are Mike and Carin (Janet) Golze ’09.
The Flick by Annie Baker is a combined directing and acting senior thesis, directed by John Leslie and featuring Patrick Huff, taking place Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6 in Norman James Theatre of William Smith Hall. The Flick takes place in a seen-better-days movie theater, one of the last which continues to use a 35-millimeter film projector. The story focuses on the employees whose job is to sweep up other people’s trash after the movie ends and follows as they grapple to understand themselves and each other. Annie Baker’s play challenges the audience to consider how silence is louder than words, the uniting power of movies, and how moments of theater can be found in everyday activities.
The Rape of the Sabine Women, by Grace B. Matthias by Michael Yates Crowley is a senior thesis directed by Elizabeth Clemens and will be presented on Friday, April 12 and Saturday, April 13. As described by The Playwrights Realm, “When Grace B. Matthias is raped, her world spirals into chaos. Between navigating emotionally unstable guidance counselors, overbearing lawyers, an angry championship football team, and useless Wikipedia answers, Grace tries to make sense of her world anew. A complex collision of satire and dark comedy, The Rape of the Sabine Women, by Grace B. Matthias fearlessly explores rape culture in America.” The honorary producers are John Beck ’05 and Carol Landis ’06.
For questions, please email Michele Volansky at mvolansky2@washcoll.edu. The Gibson Center for the Arts is located on the Washington College campus, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown. For more information: drama.washcoll.edu/
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