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By Mike Fischer, for World Premiere Wisconsin
In a festival spanning four-plus months, there’s no place or month that will be busier than Madison in April. The curtain rises this month on WPW offerings set in five centuries and four countries, through three full productions and two readings.
And while they were programmed separately, these productions collectively prove anew that juxtaposed plays talk to each other, enhancing the theatergoing experience by offering us unique variations on a theme.
Most notably, four of these Madison offerings revolve around women making their way and finding their voice in a man’s world.
Marcella Kearns’ Margaret – coming your way courtesy of an Illyria Productions reading – is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy showcasing one of the Bard’s great early heroines, who morphs from demure maiden to de facto ruler of England, repeatedly upsetting gendered expectations regarding a woman’s role.
Born just over 100 years after Margaret died, Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi knew all about upsetting gendered expectations; she became an internationally renowned painter at a time when the profession was dominated by men.
As embodied in playwright Lauren Gunderson’s Artemisia – presented by Forward Theater from April 13-30 – Gentileschi is also consistently the smartest, most charismatic, and bravest person in the room.
In Gunderson’s play, we first meet Gentileschi as a 17-year-old prodigy whose career was nearly derailed when she is raped by one of her father’s colleagues. Two 17-year-olds also take center stage in Sam D. White’s Hush the Waves, debuting in a Strollers Theatre production running from April 21 to May 6.
Each from Wisconsin but separated by thirty years, Mary and Liz are both pregnant and both hemmed in by men trying to tell them what to do about it, much as Gentileschi is initially hindered by her father as he tries to “handle” her rape.
But the two young 20th-century women have what their 17th-century counterpart did not: each other. In ways I can’t fairly reveal, they transcend the 30-year gap that divides them, suggesting how powerful sisterhood can be.
Such power also plays an integral role in Lisa Stoffer Sipos’ It’s All Overboard, a rollicking comedy that simultaneously scores some serious points involving the objectification of women – and the fun that can be had when women subvert dim-witted male perceptions regarding who they are. Presented by Broom Street Theater, it runs from April 14 to May 6.
The odd man out in the above discussion of Madison’s April WPW openings is Vincent van Gogh, brought to life through Dear Theo: The Letters of Vincent van Gogh, which will be presented as a reading by Fermat’s Last Theater Company on April 13.
Having attended Fermat’s reading, you’ll be primed to appreciate another conversation between two juxtaposed April plays: Dear Theo and Artemisia, both involving revolutionary artists ahead of their time, teaching us to see the world and ourselves in new ways.
Which is what a festival like World Premiere Wisconsin is all about as it continues to unfold through June, one new vision at a time.
For more information on WPW’s many April openings, including all five Madison shows, visit https://worldpremierewisconsin.com/all-shows/. For an expanded version of this article, visit WPW’s Backstage blog – with new posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday – at https://worldpremierewisconsin.com/backstage/.
Mike Fischer wrote theater and book reviews for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for fifteen years, serving as chief theater critic from 2009-18. A member of the Advisory Company of Artists for Forward Theater Company in Madison, he also co-hosts Theater Forward, a bimonthly podcast. You can reach him directly at mjfischer1985@gmail.com.
Mike’s work as WPW’s Festival Reporter is part of an ongoing series called WPW Backstage, collected on WPW's website. His writing here and elsewhere throughout the festival is made possible through the sponsorship of the United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF). Learn more: https://upaf.org.
