THE AGITATORS Comes to Pacific Conservatory Theatre This Month
Performances run from August 22nd through the 25th and August 29th through September 8th at Solvang Festival Theater.
By: Stephi Wild Aug. 06, 2024
Get ready for a powerful and moving theatrical experience as The Agitators, a compelling drama about the enduring friendship between iconic American figures Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, comes to life in the Marian Theatre from August 22nd through the 25th and August 29th through September 8th at Solvang Festival Theater.
About The Agitators
Young abolitionists, Frederick Douglass, and Susan B. Anthony, are full of dreams and seemingly common purpose when they meet in Rochester, New York in the 1840s and form an unexpected friendship. Mat Smart’s historical play of rebellion and revolution, personal passion and sacrifice, reverberates powerfully in our America of today.
Director Notes
“Good stories engage my interest, arouse my feelings, and agitate my thinking. This play inspires curiosity in me. I love history. I don’t know how a curious mind can not love history. Still, it's intrinsically difficult to do a play about real people, that treats upon real events, but that is not a documentary of their lives. We feel obliged to ‘get it right’ and that can be creatively stultifying.” - Mark Booher
Booher notes “But, this play is not a historical document. Mat Smart has given us a play about the friendship of two people, not a historical document of ‘two titans of American history.’ It is an exploration of the ally-ship and adversarial tension of people trying to make change in the world – the human side of it. Their relationship, often orbiting ‘the heat of their conflict’ with love and betrayal; passion and exhaustion; companionship and loneliness. The humanity - what they gave us, what it cost them, how much they did, how much remains to be done.”
“I won’t pretend, because it would be truly pretentious, that I can know or control what you will ‘take away’ from seeing this play. I take away a feeling of humility at the price of freedom and individual agency, exacted and paid by those who have come before us. Of course, it’s important to remember the intense, full life, exertions of people who struggled, and put their whole existence into the hazard, to achieve what were, and have been, rights of ‘identity privilege’ for so long in our country. The Agitators is rooted in our shared history, but it finds its energy as a living discourse on our world, society, human interactions today.”
Creative Team & Cast
The creative team includes Director Mark Booher, Costume Designer Skyla Robison, Lighting Designer Amber Whatley, Scenic Designer Jason Bolen, Sound Designer Nat Houle, and Stage Manager Lolly Tolan.
The cast includes Polly Firestone Walker as Susan B. Anthony and Cordell Cole* as Frederick Douglass. Together, the pair create an electric chemistry that drives the narrative forward, making The Agitators a must-see for theatergoers.
*Member, Actors’ Equity Association
To purchase tickets for the show, please visit www.pcpa.org or call the box office at (805)928-8313. If you bring a group of 12 or more, you can save 25% to 30%! For more information, contact Kelly Stegall at (805)922-7731 ext. 4150. If you're interested in reviewing a show, please reach out to Yanelly Garcia at yanelly.garcia@pcpa.org.
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