Stage West Presents Thornton Wilder's THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH 9/3

A wife who looks after the home. A husband who is an inventor. Two growing children. A knowing and unreliable maid, and two pets. The Antrobuses are the classic American family. Well, except that the pets are dinosaurs, and the father is inventing the wheel and multiplication, and all are in danger from an onrushing Ice Age. And that's the way things are, in Thornton Wilder's funky--and very funny--take on history and the American family, The Skin of Our Teeth, beginning Thursday, September 3 at Stage West's Vickery playhouse.

George and Maggie Antrobus are clearly Adam and Eve (their son Henry has changed his name, has a departed brother, and a suggestive mark on his forehead), but their Garden of Eden is now the Garden State, New Jersey. And even though they face extinction from the aforementioned Ice Age, and later from a flood and a major war, their struggles are the same as ours-trying to survive crisis after crisis, and keep their family safe and together.
Writing about a recent production for Twin Cities Daily Planet, Matthew A. Everett said "The fact that the war could be any war, that the flood reminded me of Hurricane Katrina as much as Noah's Ark, and that the Ice Age brought to my mind the flipside of the fires of global warming, all without changing so much as a word of the text, says a lot about Wilder's genius. The fact that the end of the human race works as a comedy says still more about the writer."

And a comedy it is, drawing laughter from its adept skewering of things societal, theatrical, and political (the newly elected President Antrobus must defend himself against a 1942 version of birthers). Playwright Paula Vogel, while saluting Wilder's ability to face the darkness in human existence without apology, also notes that we should enjoy, in the words of critic Francis Ferguson, his "marriage of Plato and Groucho Marx."

As with Our Town, Wilder has stripped away the realistic elements of the stage. But here he also adds a good many anachronistic bits, removing the usual anchors to a specific time. Wilder states, as regards theatrical realism, "The stage is fundamental pretense and it thrives on the acceptance of that fact and in the multiplication of additional pretenses...The convention has two functions: 1. It provokes the collaborative activity of the spectator's imagination; and 2. It raises the action from the specific to the general." It is this which allowed him to change the face of the American theater, and which makes his work so timeless.

Thornton Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin on April 17, 1897. He began writing as a boy, and received his undergraduate degree from Yale. He then travelled to Rome to study archeology, returning to the United States in 1921, and he received a Masters in French literature from Princeton in 1926. In that same year, he published his first novel, The Cabala, well-received critically, but not otherwise. He achieved commercial success (and a Pulitzer Prize) with his second novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey. He won a second Pulitzer in 1938 for Our Town, establishing his reputation as one of America's pre-eminent dramatists. The Skin of Our Teeth brought him another Pulitzer in 1943, but it also brought controversy. Joseph Campbell and Henry Morton Robinson accused Wilder of plagiarizing James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, a work much-admired by Wilder, and this may have cost him a Nobel Prize. His other works include The Matchmaker (which was the source for Hello, Dolly!), The Long Christmas Dinner, The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, and Someone from Assisi. Mr. Wilder died on December 7, 1975, at his home in Hamden, Connecticut.

Jim Covault will direct The Skin of Our Teeth, which features a large and exceptionally strong cast. Jerry Russell, most recently seen in The Seafarer, will appear as George Antrobus. Playing Maggie Antrobus will be Stephanie Dunnam, recently returned to the area from Los Angeles, where her credits include multiple appearances in such shows as ER, Frasier, and Mistral's Daughter. Renée Kelly, critically applauded for her portrayal of Amanda in Stage West's Private Lives (as Kelly Grandjean), will be seen as Sabina. Gregory Lush, whose recent credits include the wicked Uncle Ernie in the Dallas Theater Center production of The Who's Tommy, will appear as the Fortune Teller. The Antrobus children, Henry and Gladys, will be played by Patrick Bibb and Cassie Bann. And rounding out the cast, in an interesting assortment of roles, will be Linus Craig, Cynthia Matthews, Skyy Moore, Marty Moreno, Evan Spreen, Heather Sturdevant, and Jordan Willis.

The set will be designed by Mark Evan Walker, who was the resident designer for both Stage West and Casa Mañana in years past and is now also an illustrator, with costumes by Leigh Ann Chermack, a recent transplant from Washington, DC. Lighting will be provided by resident lighting designer Michael O'Brien, while Lynn Lovett will handle props and set decor.

Estimated run time for the play: about 2 ½ hours plus intermissions. The play is suitable for all ages.

The Skin of Our Teeth will preview Thursday, September 3 at 7:30 and Friday, September 4 at 8:00. Performance times will be Thursday evenings at 7:30, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00, with Sunday matinees at 3:00. The opening night reception will be Saturday, September 5. Ticket prices range from $24 to $28, with discounts for students and seniors. Preview tickets are priced at only $15. Pay What You Can performances will be Sunday, September 6 and Thursday, September 10. Food service is available 90 minutes prior to performances (reservations strongly advised), and information is available through the Box Office, or on the website, www.stagewest.org.

 

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