Greater Boston Stage Company will present The Moors, written by the celebrated and widely produced playwright Jen Silverman. Directed by Producing Artistic Director Weylin Symes, performances run March 12 - 29, 2020. The Press Opening is Saturday, March 14, 2020 at 8:00pm.
The Moors is a darkly comedic mash-up of Beckett, Bronte, and Lizzie Borden. Enter into the quirky, upside-down world of two spinster sisters, their eccentric maid, and a philosophical talking dog who dream of love and power in an isolated estate on the English heath. When the arrival of a new governess and a talking moor hen upset the precarious balance of control in the household, the very foundation of everyone's lives start to crack. Jealousy, desperation, romance and a craving for connection push the sisters and their household members to the breaking point.
"If society doesn't give you a traditional framework for how to survive, you have to make up your own rules. This was particularly true in 19th century England. The women in this play discover some comedically unconventional-and often unsavory-ways of wielding power and asserting their need for authority, independence and emotional connection," muses Symes. "The fun part is that Silverman explores this theme while introducing us to an absurdist world in which talking animals, a murder ballad and locked up family members are de rigueur. The line between comedy and tragedy is ever-present."
The design team is comprised of Scenic Designer Katheryn Monthei, Lighting Designer Chris Fournier, Costume Designer Deirdre McCabe Gerrard, Sound Designer and Young Company Alum Caroline Eng, and Props Master Emme Shaw. Angie Jepson is the Fight and Intimacy Director and Bethany Aiken serves as Music Arranger and Instructor.
The cast features Nancy E. Carroll, Gillian Mariner Gordon, Lisa Kate Joyce, John Manning, Carolyn Saxon, and Young Company Alum Lily Steven.
With funding from The Foundation Trust, Greater Boston Stage Company is committed to producing the Giving Voice Series, over the next five years. This annual play will feature playwrights from traditionally underrepresented communities within the theatre industry. These communities include, but are not limited to, women, people of color, members of the LBTQ community, and people with disabilities. These plays will have been written within the last 50 years or be contemporary adaptations or explorations of classic work. Dr. Joseph Spinazzola, Executive Director of The Foundation Trust, explains: "Now more than ever, we need contemporary theater to build bridges between communities, to help us heal from individual and collective trauma, and above all, to teach us how to listen to and make space for the manifold voices and perspectives that surround us but that typically go unheard, or worse, get misunderstood and become the embodiment of our fears. Through Giving Voice: The Foundation Trust Drama Series, the Greater Boston Stage Company is taking a tangible step to help create a community of inclusion on a regional level."
Single Tickets for The Moors: $47-57 Adults; $42-52 Seniors; $20 Students (with valid ID). Thrifty Thursday tickets cost $15 at the door and are available for Thursday, March 12, 2020 at 7:30pm. Group Discounts are available. Contact Bryan Miner, Audience Development Manager, at 781-587-7907 or bryan@greaterbostonstage.org. For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Box Office at Greater Boston Stage Company at (781) 279-2200, or visit www.greaterbostonstage.org.
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