Boston Court Pasadena continues their 2019 theatre season with the world premiere of Kit Steinkellner's Ladies, directed by Jessica Kubzansky, May 24 - June 30 (press opening: June 1). Ladies features Meghan Andrews (Elizabeth Montagu), Carie Kawa (Elizabeth Carter), Jully Lee (Fanny Burney), and Tracey A. Leigh (Angelica Kauffman).
Ladies is a fictional account of the real women behind The Blue Stocking Society, the world's first major feminist movement in 1750's London, told through a modern lens. The ladies' ambitious goals soon create scandal in London society and conflicts amongst themselves, escalating into a tangled knot of electric and jagged relationships. These women are emboldened by their righteous cause and burdened by being revolutionaries far ahead of their time. This deliciously funny and irreverent world premiere examines the humanity and passion of these trailblazing ladies, and inspires us to carry on the work they began.
Elizabeth Montagu, author and bluestocking salonnière (1718-1800) was the leading woman of letters and artistic patron of her day. Montagu corresponded extensively with leaders of British Enlightenment coteries, such as Edmund Burke, Gilbert West,
David Garrick and
Horace Walpole, as well as the Bluestocking inner circle -
Elizabeth Carter, Sarah Scott, Hannah More, Hester Thrale Piozzi, Frances Burney, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Elizabeth Vesey, and Frances Boscawen. The Huntington Library in San Marino - a short drive from Boston Court Pasadena - has the largest archive of Montagu's letters, with almost 7,000.
Playwright
Kit Steinkellner is a trailblazing writer, with a focus on powerful female characters. Her recent collaboration with Facebook Watch, Sorry For Your Loss, starred
Elizabeth Olsen,
Kelly Marie Tran and
Janet McTeer, was number seven on The New York Times "Best TV Shows of 2018," and has been renewed for a second season.
In addition to an all-female cast, female playwright and director, this world premiere production also features an all-female creative team. Last year, Ladies was one of the four plays workshopped at Boston Court Pasadena's New Play Reading Festival.
"To direct a production about women blazing a trail to have their work and their societal contributions recognized and valued in the 1750s is thrilling, especially because the resonances reverberate right now," said Director and Artistic Director of Boston Court Pasadena,
Jessica Kubzansky. "To create this work with a brilliant all female team--playwright, cast, crew and designers--is even more exhilarating. Kit's imagining of this moment in time has brought these women, whose impact was diminished because history didn't value them, back to prominence. And to reinvigorate their recognition by telling their stories is a joy."
Single tickets range from $20 - $39 and are available now. Visit
BostonCourtPasadena.org or call 626.683.6801 to subscribe or purchase single tickets.
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