Editor’s Note: The following was provided by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s College of Arts and Communication, Department of Theatre/Dance.
The College of Arts and Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater announces the final show of the Theatre/Dance season with “The Busybody” by Susanna Centlivre. Directed by Sara J. Griffin, this production will run in Barnett Theatre April 26-29 at 7:30 p.m. and May 1st at 2:00 p.m. In addition, an outdoor performance will be held on April 30th at 2:00 p.m. at the Frawley Family Amphitheater in Cravath Lakefront Park. Tickets are on sale for the performances in Barnett and can be purchased online at tickets.uww.edu or by calling (262) 472-2222. The outdoor performance is free to attend and is a bring your own chairs, snacks and beverages event. The Barnett Theatre is located in the Greenhill Center of the Arts at 950 W. Main St., Whitewater, WI 53190. Masks are suggested for anyone attending events in the Greenhill Center of the Arts and the Young Auditorium. Do not come to campus if you are ill. For the most up to date campus safety information, visit the Warhawks are Back webpage.
Parents just don’t understand! In a time when arranged marriages were the social expectation, a renegade couple and their friends plot to escape the lousy marriages their controlling caretakers have set up. Will a nosey nobleman ruin their plans or save the day? This hilarious restoration comedy, written by one of the most highly acclaimed female playwrights of the 18th century is full of wit, adventure, cunning and love.
Centlivre wrote many plays based on the social expectation of her own life from 1669 – 1723 in England. No stranger to the idea of arranged marriage, she was known to intertwine politics and comedy to get her own political ideas to the audience. Themes of feminism in comedy were extremely prevalent in her work and it’s because of this that many of her earlier works were written anonymously in order to avoid discrimination. “The Busybody” was the first one of her plays to become popular, followed by another five years later titled “The Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret.”
On choosing this production Griffin states, “We, as a department, are striving to diversify the playwrights we choose to showcase in our season, and I am so thrilled to direct this Restoration era gem of a play written by a woman! Finding a play written in that time period, by a woman, that isn’t problematic to the audiences of today is a tall order. But Susanna did it, and created a delightful tale that the cast and I are beyond delighted to share.” No stranger to feminist concepts and restoration comedies, Griffin has adapted the script in an effort to bring modern and current language to the forefront. “What fun is a play if all the references are over your head, or don’t make sense to you? The only way a play stands the test of time is if audiences can continue to relate. If the language is a barrier to that, the play either needs adapting or it will no longer be produced. I’m not suggesting that we discard historical plays because their language is antiquated, far from it. But we must be actively looking for ways to make that language resonate with our audiences, or we are missing the point of theater entirely. The plays should be for the audience, not an opportunity for an artistic flex.”
The cast includes: Harry Heinrich playing Sir Francis Gripe, Makayla Fedler playing Miranda, Emma Dutcher as Scentwell, Bryce Giammo as Charles, Kemi Ajao in the role of Whisper, Carter Waelchli [WHS ’21] as Marplot, Robert Chelius as Sir Jealous Traffick, Erin McKee as Isabinda, Valerie Gyorke in the role of Patch and Sam Behling in the role of Sir George Airy.
