The Country Wife Program

Chair
E.J. Westlake

Production Manager
Sherée Greco

Directors
Tom Dugdale & E.J. Westlake

Scenic and Properties Designer
Jessica Lynn Hightower

Costume Designer
Jo Fuller

Lighting Designer
Amber Whatley

Sound Designer
Keya Myers-Alkire

Technical Director
Chad R. Mahan

Production Stage Manager
Katie Stephan

Dramaturg
Gabriella Trigo-McIntyre

Theatrical Intimacy Director
Jeanine Thompson

Assistant Director
Megan Ward

Assistant Scenic and Properties Designer
Ladini Wallace

Assistant Sound Designer
Deken Foster

Assistant Stage Manager
Ellie Price

Theatrical Intimacy Captain
Tyla Daniel

External Relations and Publicity Coordinator
J. Briggs Cormier

Ticketing Services and Audience Services Specialist
Julia Buttermore

Graphic Design
Formation Studio

Scenic Studio Manager
Chad R. Mahan

Scenic Studio Teaching Associates
Braden Graves, Jessica Hightower, Katherine Simon

Scenery Construction Crew
Hannah Allen, Olivia Bernardo, Joe Blair, Torrey Brown, Holly Dellinger, Aly Diallo, Valerie Dunmire, Dianne Evans, Katie, Giffin, Rae Givant, Allison Hunter, Nate Johnson, Savanna Lenze, Ruth Luketic, Daija Mumford, Tia Nicholson-Bourn, Jordan O'Callaghan, Claire Pennington, Othman Shuri, Chayni Smith, Shailyn Stuckey, Madeline Watson, Rachel White, Gabe Willenberg, Lauryn Williams, Lyric Williams, Ansley Wilson, Harrison Woflhope, Christopher Wright

Scenic Run Crew
Alyssa Chambers, Holly Dellinger, Matt Henry, Gabe Willenberg

Costume Studio Manager
Coco Mayer

Costume Studio Teaching Associates
Jo Fuller, Catherine Huffman

Costume Construction Crew
Kami Bumpers, Max Center, Katie Giffin, Newt Harvey, Ramsha Ghani, Andrew Gilgen, Keona Hibbard, Renee Jones, Charlie Kaneer, Sophia Kortan, Angela Montecalvo, Iz Nichols, Jinblossom Plati, Katie Stephan, Isabel Tettau, Savannah Walton

Wardrobe Head
Katherine Williams

Wardrobe Crew
Avery Mukerjee, Kaitlyn Labo, Kennedy Latham

Lighting Studio Manager and Master Electrician
Eric M. Slezak

Lighting Crew
Qiuyu Dong, Robin Eaken, Audra Franke, David Ghanash, Anne Lang

Lighting Programmer
Yasmine Kashubeck

Lighting Console Operator
David Ghanash

Sound and Media Studio Manager
Keya Myers-Alkire

Sound Crew
Deken Foster, Allison Hunter, Lili Nelson, Arianna Swain

Sound Board Operator
Nicholas Younoszai

Microphone Technician
Zach Shafer

Automation Operator
Kate McCanna

Ticket Office Staff
Fatoumata Kante, Jason Speicher

House Managers
Bailey Haller

Varsha Babu (Lady Fidget), junior
Hometown: Knoxville, TN
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: debut

J.T. Baniak (Horner), 1st year student
Hometown: Lexington, KY
Major(s): computer science and engineering
Department Productions: debut

Hayden Beatty (Harcourt), senior
Hometown: Cleveland, OH
Major(s): materials science and engineering; physics
Minor(s): theatre
Department Productions: debut

Lydia Beyer (Margery Pinchwife), senior
Hometown: Dayton, OH
Major(s): theatre
Minor(s): creative writing; screenwriting
Department Productions: Violet

Shea Chandler (Sir Jasper), junior
Hometown: Orrville, OH
Major(s): political science; theatre
Department Productions: debut

Tyla Daniel (Alithea), senior
Hometown: Columbus, OH
Major(s): communications; theatre
Department Productions: Bonnets (How Ladies of Good Breeding Are Induced to Murder); Sweat

Peyton Drake (Mr. Pinchwife), senior
Hometown: St. Clairsville, OH
Major(s): theatre
Minor(s): history
Department Productions: The Seagull

Jo Fuller (costume designer), graduate student
Hometown: Elgin, SC
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: Violet

Jessica Lynn Hightower (scene designer), graduate student
Hometown: Seabrook, TX
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: The Seagull; Sweat

Nil Sena Kocaoglu (Quack), junior
Hometown: Madeira, OH
Major(s): theatre
Minor(s): English literature; history
Department Productions: debut

Madeline Kritzell (Dorilant), junior
Hometown: Wadsworth, OH
Major(s): neuroscience
Minor(s): theatre
Department Productions: debut

Grace McIlroy (Lucy), sophomore
Hometown: Twinsburg, OH
Major(s): theatre
Minor(s): musical theatre
Department Productions: debut

Shardai'Ja Mumford (Dainty Fidget), senior
Hometown: Canton, OH
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: Violet

Robin Phillips (Old Lady Squeamish), junior
Hometown: Dublin, OH
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: debut

Alex Rito (Sparkish), senior
Hometown: North Royalton, OH
Major(s): political science; theatre
Department Productions: debut

Gabriela Trigo-McIntyre (dramaturg), graduate student
Hometown: Columbus, OH
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: 1st department production

Madeline Watson (Miss Squeamish), sophomore
Hometown: Columbus, OH
Major(s): linguistics; theatre
Minor(s): musical theatre
Department Productions: Violet

Fops, wits, coquettes—oh my!

A frenzied spectacle of cutting wit, social masks and raunchy jokes: The Country Wife by William Wycherley exemplifies the 17th Century comedy of manners. Mirrors of their time, such Restoration plays reflect the extreme cultural shift that accompanied the reinstatement of the monarchy in 1660 with the rise of the lifelong party boy himself, Charles II. The mid-17th Century had been fraught for both England and the theatre. Between the English Civil War and the Commonwealth led by Oliver Cromwell, the strict Puritanical mores had more or less shuttered the theaters of London as hotbeds of sin and sinfulness—all in the name of the public good. In response to these moral and cultural restrictions, the restored Charles II unleashed upon London a torrent of French styles of art, theatre, and decorum, as well as an attitude of unabashed and permissive indulgence veiled under a brittle veneer of courtly manners. Suddenly, to delight in the pleasures of socializing, imbibing, intrigue, and sex scandals was not only acceptable, but encouraged . . . so long as one played their prescribed part correctly. Like a 1980s John Hughes movie, once the Puritan parents were out of town for the weekend, the Restoration’s party really got going.

Highlighting the artifice, superficiality, and hypocrisy of society’s upper crust, the humor in comedies like The Country Wife stemmed from the marriage of dramatic form and societal self-reflection: characters were archetypes, words were swords, and decorum armor. Stock characters such as the rake (witty, handsome, womanizing), the fop (thinks he’s witty but he’s not), and the coquette (flirtatious, manipulative) were familiar to the Restoration audience. Rather than focus on the modern preoccupation of psychological realism (a notion that did not even exist until the late 19th Century), The Country Wife mirrored the lavish and decadent lives of the aristocracy in part because Wycherley was one of them. Through intricate wordplay packed with wit and irreverent double entendre, not to mention situations that highlighted the very distinct difference in behaviors that occurred between the public and private spheres, Wycherley invited his aristocratic counterparts to laugh at and with their own reflections.  

Going to the theatre in the late 17th Century was a social event, where seeing and being seen was as important as watching the play. Noblewomen who went to the theater as audience members would often wear vizard-masks—round, black masks that obscured their faces in an attempt to perform public modesty, while also ensuring anonymity during more private pursuits. Aristocrats could buy seats on the stage itself not only to be closer to the action, but also to be seen (and admired) by the rest of the audience. And because the entire theatre, audience, and stage were well-lit with candles, everyone was on display. Although the seating reflected the social structure of the time, with the gallery seats primarily for richer patrons, a wide range of people from lower social classes could come and watch in the standing-room-only pit. Whereas the aristocrats would delight in seeing their wit and manners reflected back to them in the plays they saw, the lower-class spectators would devour the clownish and hypocritical behavior portrayed by the represented upper-class and delight in the savvy irreverence of the servant characters—there was something for everyone!  

However, the true revolution of Restoration theatre was the never-before-seen inclusion of women performers on the stage. This is when the actress was born. Among the most celebrated, both famous and scandalous, was Nell Gwyn, mistress (one of many) to Charles II. Nell’s humble beginnings as an orange girl in the pit of the theatre (basically the popcorn-sellers of the time) prefaced her meteoric rise to fame. Roll over, Elizabeth Taylor; step aside, Nicole Kidman—Nell Gwyn (and Elizabeth Barry and Anne Bracegirdle and many others) were the OG superstars! Unsurprisingly, however, this historic inclusion elicited a massive misogynistic backlash towards women actors that linked the artistic profession with prostitution in public memory for subsequent centuries.

Not everything was fun and carefree. Under the glittering surface, political and religious tensions abounded, issues of class were beginning to bubble, the trans-Atlantic slave trade was growing, and the gender norms of the times were nothing if not suffocating. Therefore, in our production, while we strive to delight in the wit of the language and humor, we also want to acknowledge, and hopefully spark conversation around, the deplorable norms birthed by social structures rife with injustice. Even more than 300 years later, the play’s 17th Century mirror, though now full of metaphorical cobwebs and worn with age, still reflects glimpses of our own problematic reality back to us, including behaviors of toxic masculinity, misogyny, classism, and racism. Therefore, rather than setting it in 1675 when the play was originally performed, we begin our production with a visually recognizable pop-culture nod to the Regency Era of the Netflix phenomenon Bridgerton. Throughout the play, temporal boundaries blur and fray, and fragments of the past and the present merge and intertwine, until we are left with feelings and fragments of familiar timelessness that beg the question: who are we now beneath our social masks and what do we see in our own reflection?    

Wilderness
By Seth Bockley and Anne Hamburger
Directed by Mandy Fox

River Den
February 15 - 23

At an outdoor wilderness camp for troubled youth, six teenagers grapple with mental health, addiction, and gender and sexual identity. They laugh, cry, and rage against the world, finding friendship as they attempt to navigate their way to adulthood at a time when the society no longer offer a clear path. The trauma they experience leaves them with anxiety, sadness, and self-doubt.

This devastating docudrama by Seth Bockley (Gilgamesh and Enkidu; Tabletop Tragedies; Farewell Fables) and Anne Hamburger (A Dozen Dreams; Basetrack Live) explores the psychological trauma adolescents face today.

Everybody
By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Kevin McClatchy

River Den
March 1 - 9

In this allegory, Everybody seeks someone to accompany them through life’s journey in hopes of securing a positive outcome when judged by God at the end of their life. After being rejected by Friendship, Kinship, Stuff, Mind, Five Senses, and Understanding, Everybody turns to Love for support. In the end, only Love leads to salvation as together, hand-in-hand, they crawl into the grave.

2016 MacArthur Fellow Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Appropriate; An Octoroon; Gloria) was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Everybody, a contemporary take on the 15th-Century morality play Everyman. To symbolize the randomness of death, five of the actors are assigned a role each performance through a lottery.

The Country Wife is the final production in Thurber Theatre. This time next year, the Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts will be settled into a new home on College Road in the Arts District. Over more than 50 years, this theatre has seen everything from classics to experimental work. When this production closes, we will bid farewell to our proscenium arch theatre named after one of Ohio State's most celebrated alumni.

Writer, artist, and humorist, James Thurber was born in Columbus, attended East High School and entered The Ohio State University in 1913, beginning his literary career on the staff of the student paper, The Lantern. After leaving Ohio State in 1918, Thurber moved on to The Columbus Dispatch and, in 1927, joined the editorial staff of the prestigious New Yorker. Columbus and The Ohio State University remained central influences in Thurber's lifework and in his affections. His play, A Thurber Carnival, had its world premiere in Columbus at the Hartman Theatre in January 1960. Jabberwock, a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee based on the "improbabilities live and imagined by James Thurber in the fictional city of Columbus, Ohio" opened Thurber Theatre on November 18, 1972.