MONMOUTH, Ill. — Monmouth College’s Crimson Masque will continue its
theater season with Ariel Dorfman’s chilling mystery/drama, "Death and
the Maiden." Performances are scheduled for Feb. 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m.,
and Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. in the college’s WIT Theatre, located in the
basement of the Haldeman-Thiessen Science Center.
Tickets are $4 for MC students, faculty and staff; $5 for other
students and senior citizens; and $6 for adults. They may be reserved by
calling 309-457-2104 or by e-mailing theater@monm.edu.
First published in 1991, "Death and the Maiden" made its American
debut on Broadway in 1992. The cinematic version, which was directed by
Roman Polanski and released in 1994, starred Stuart Wilson, Sigourney
Weaver and Ben Kingsley and received nominations for best film by the
International Fantasy Film Awards and for best director by the
Independent Spirit Awards.
According to Janeve West, MC professor of communication and theater
arts, the play focuses on Paulina Escobar, played by freshman Ashley
Musser of Nokomis. Escobar, a freed political prisoner in an unnamed
Latin American country, was brutally raped and tortured by her captors,
who were led by a sadistic doctor whose face she never saw. The doctor
played Schubert’s composition, "Death and the Maiden," while she was
raped by various prison guards – hence the play’s title.
Years later, after the repressive regime has fallen, Paulina lives in
an isolated country house with her husband, Gerardo, played by sophomore
James Shepard of Chicago. As Gerardo returns from a visit to the
country’s president, he gets a flat tire. A stranger, Dr. Roberto
Miranda, played by freshman Jeremiah O’Steen of McHenry, stops to assist
him.
Dr. Miranda drives Gerardo home, where Paulina recognizes the
doctor’s voice and mannerisms as that of her rapist. She takes him
captive in order to extract a confession from him. Gerardo is
unconvinced of his guilt, Roberto is unrepentant, and Paulina is
enraged.
Audiences are left to wonder the outcome of the night’s events. Did a
murder take place? Was this all merely a figment of Paula’s damaged
psyche?
The production is directed by senior Sara Youngs of Bloomingdale,
with stage management by sophomore Kate Drost of Naperville.
Dorfman, a Chilean novelist, playwright, essayist and journalist,
moved with his family to the United States shortly after his birth, and
then later settled in Chile in 1954. He attended and was later a
professor at the University of Chile.
Forced into exile following the Chilean military coup of 1973, he has
divided his time between Santiago and the United States since the
restoration in 1990 of democracy in his homeland. Since 1985 he has
taught at Duke University.
Dorfman has written powerful fiction often dealing with the horrors
of tyranny and, in later works, the trials of exile. His novels include
"Widows," "The Late Song of Manuel Sendero." "My House Is on Fire" and
"The Nanny and the Iceberg."
Unlike the Wells Theater at Monmouth College, which is a
proscenium-style theater space, the relatively new WIT Theatre is
preferred for this production because of its flexibility. It can be
presented as theater-in-the-round or in a thrust configuration, allowing
for different relationships between the actors and the audience,
according to West. "WIT" is an acronym for work, inspiration and truth.
West cautions audience members that the script contains adult topics
and language.
