The beginning of autumn brings many events to the University of Rhode Island’s campus, and October sees the productions of the theatre department’s fall plays well underway.
The first of this season’s productions will be “Marie Antoinette,” written by playwright David Adjmi and directed by assistant professor of theatre Rachel Walshe. Opening night will be on Oct. 12th, with performances going through that weekend to Oct. 15 as well as the following weekend from Oct. 19-22.
While centering around the historical character of the Queen of France in the 1780’s, “Marie Antoinette” takes on a modern twist that allows for open interpretation.
Walshe explained the context and the intention of the story
“The play is not historical and it’s also not contemporary; it’s about universe,” Walshe said.
The setting, while not strictly accurate to the current climate, mirrors many aspects of American society.
“The playwright is more interested in offering a commentary on contemporary American culture than a period of history in France,” Walshe said.
The performance centers around themes of the abuse of power, celebrity culture, and self discovery.
“It’s a play that has some very powerful messages packaged in a really fun atmosphere,” Walshe said.
Filled with dance transitions and stage violence, “Marie Antoinette” promises to be action packed and meaningful.
In addition, the director, Rachel Walshe, has plenty of experience working with this script in the past, including professionally directing it at The Gamm Theatre in 2015.
“I have long wanted to do it at URI because it is a great student production, there’s a lot of very young characters and great roles for women,” Walshe said.
Walshe elaborated that, with this current cast, the play feels new despite having worked on it before.
“I think great plays are worth doing anytime, anywhere; and I think this play qualifies as one of those,” Walshe said.
“Speech & Debate” will follow “Marie Antoinette” as the second play of the season, running from Dec. 7-10 and mirroring the former’s modern setting while tackling heavy topics. Set in Salem, Oregon, “Speech & Debate,” written by playwright Stephen Karam and directed by senior URI student David Weber, follows the lives of a group of teenagers in high school. It centers around themes of the ironic censorship of adolescents as well as the purity and beauty found in youth. Weber believes that the play works particularly well with college actors because they are just coming out of their high school years where they would have been able to relate to the production’s characters.
When recalling plays his high school performed that touched on similar topics, Weber expressed his frustration with stories about kids being consistently written by adults.
Unlike many out of touch stories of high school experiences, Weber found this script to be “an accurate representation of a contemporary adolescent experience.”
“Speech & Debate” is also very confrontational, tackling difficult topics within a humorous context.
It challenges “conservative culture and ideas that are sometimes pushed in these places that have a hypocritical lens.”
Considering the growing “restrictions on the autonomy that kids can have … it’s as relevant as it will ever be,” Weber said.
Weber also noted that the show can be of interest to anyone, even if you are not typically interested in the theatre. “The scene is always constantly evolving and it’s great … there’s nothing you can really do better than supporting local theatre,” Weber said.
To purchase tickets for these upcoming shows, students can go to the URI theatre website in the weeks leading up to the performances as well as the URI box office. Tickets for “Marie Antoinette” are already available, and the two upcoming plays this fall are open for anybody to attend.