The Children's Hour

This is our poster for Lillian Hellman's The Children Hour, designed by Sam Pleggenkuhle. I mostly wanted to advertise the show coming up, and just love the poster. Sam took my original idea and ran with it, and I am so glad! It looks and feels perfect.

When Immanuel and myself where deciding on our first season, The Children's Hour was one of the first shows I thought of, and I couldn't let the idea go. The show has meant a great deal to me ever since I read it as a scared, closeted freshman in college. I identified so much with Martha's character, and while I would never take the tragic path she takes in the play I could easily see where she was coming from. As I've come out slowly but surely over the years, and even throughout the research and rehearsal process for this production, this play has come to mean even more to me. Not only is it emotionally moving, not only does it expertly pinpoint what bigotry looks and sounds like (and my favorite thing is that it's not just homophobia featured. We see elements of a class war as well as a new-wave feminism versus old-fashioned values) but it was groundbreaking for GLBT persons of it's time. Homosexuality, when this show hit the stage, was illegal to portray in the theatre, in movies, etc. Somehow Hellman convinced the producers to put it on anyway and it was such a huge hit that the state of New York just overlooked the law. So the piece was essentially the first play to feature homosexual themes on stage! That's huge.

I did decide to set the production present day to showcase too things: 1) How far we've come in the struggle to even be recognized. In present day, the show takes a slightly different tone; not all of the characters are homophobic, not all of the "bad" characters are trying to be so, and this all happens without changing a word of the script. 2) How far we still have yet to go. The show should be a grim reminder that there's still a lot of work to do, still a lot of hearts to change, still a lot of ground to cover. There are positive things happening; we see women coming into their own, we see that present-day liberal schoolteachers are probably fine with (at least other people) being gay...but we ultimately see how tragic it is when people are not allowed to fully come into their own or be themselves.

So, now that you're interest is nice and piqued here's the skinny if you're interested in tickets:

It's directed by yours truly, produced by that kick-ass business partner of mine. In case you can't read the smaller print, the show takes place February 24th through 26th at 7:30 P.M. and February 27th at 3:00 P.M. Tickets are only $15 for adults, $12 for students, seniors or Fringe button holders. Student ID's and Fringe buttons must be presented for discounts to apply. Saturday's performance is a pay-what-you-can performance. To reserve tickets (which is highly recommended as this is a limited-run engagement), please e-mail gadflytheatre@gmail.com.

For group sales (which may be eligible for further discounts), e-mail Immanuel Elliott at gadflytheatre@gmail.com.

There is also a special performance to benefit to benefit MNCAAN on Saturday the 26th at noon. You can purchase tickets for this special performance here.

Hope to see you at the show!

Peace, passion, and love.