Molière in the Park and FIAF, after the success of virtual productions of The Misanthrope and Tartuffe, co-present a radically inventive and refreshing take on the classic play, The School for Wives.
At its core, Molière’s biting 17th-century satire about a privileged and misguided man so intimidated by women that he grooms his own ward for marriage, is about gender power dynamics. In this contemporary retelling, Tony Award–winner Tonya Pinkins (Jelly’s Last Jam, Caroline, or Change) stars as the patriarch Arnolphe, obsessed with keeping 17-year-old Agnès ignorant so that she will remain faithful to him.
Director Lucie Tiberghien examines this classic tale through the lens of an all-woman cast to shine a light on the ultimate absurdity of similar American systems of oppression. Like Agnès, no one’s humanity can be snuffed out.
Performance: 90 minutes
Post-Show Q&A: 20 minutes
Cast
Starring Tonya Pinkins, Tony Award-winner for Jelly’s Last Jam, writer-director of the upcoming socio-political horror film Red Pill, and host of the podcast You Can’t Say That on BPN.fm/ycst
Co-starring: Mirirai Sithole, Kaliswa Brewster, Cristina Pitter, Tamara Sevunts, Carolyn Michelle Smith, Corey Tazmania
Creative & Production Team
Directed by Lucie Tiberghien, Molière in the Park founder
Translated by Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Wilbur
Producer: Garth Belcon
Production Manager: Thyra Hartshorn
Technology Consulting Group: Liminal Entertainment Technologies, LLC
Video Engineer: Andy Carluccio
Set Designer: Lina Younes
Costume Designer: Ari Fulton
Composer: Paul Brill
Sound Designer: Daniel Williams
Animator: Emily Rawson
Assistant Video Engineer: Jonathan Kokotajlo
Production Stage Manager: Madison Lane
