Granite Theatre Presents TRIFLES Virtual Performance

Judy George directs Trifles at Granite Theatre.

In 1916, during the height of the first wave of feminism, journalist and author Susan Glaspell turned her investigative reporting of a true story into a single-act play that examines patriarchal themes of female subordination, emotional abuse and the impact of forced isolation and guilt across gender relations.

Glaspell's play is frequently cited as one of the greatest and earliest works of modernist American theatre. Paying homage to the complex story lines and gravity of the social issues Director Judy George meticulously hand-picked character actors and uses a stylized stage performance to reconstitute this period piece, giving the audience a compelling and gut-wrenching experiential view into the mental and emotional plight of Mrs. Wright, what led to her violent actions and the decisions her female friends would ultimately make.

Trifles is filled with ironies the author uses to prick the audience's moral conscience with needle-point precision again and again:

• The irony of men's roles perceived as superior to women's while it is the women not men that ultimately solve the mystery and uncover the murder rationale.

• The irony of the caged song-bird and its parallel to the entrapment of women in gendered roles of domesticity made more intolerable by male inflicted mental and emotional abuse - which left women feeling caged and their homes more like prisons rather than havens of safety, comfort and love, etc.

However, the greatest irony of this production and one directors could not foresee when Trifles was selected for the theatre's October performance was that the show would be overshadowed by the death of Supreme Court Justice and liberal feminist icon, Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

That event and its reverberating Supreme Court impact makes this production of Trifles timelier and more thought provoking than ever...

Written by Susan Glaspell. October 9th at 7pm (EST). Tickets available at www.granitetheatre.com.

A portion of Trifle's proceeds will go to support the Domestic Violence Resource Center of South County (DVRCSC). You may be aware that October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the DVRCSC is working with south county businesses to co-sponsor multiple awareness events in support of domestic violence victims and survivors.

The Granite Theatre is pleased to participate and help broaden DVRCSC's community outreach. You can learn more here, https://www.dvrcsc.org/dvam-2020.

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