JANUARY 15 – FEBRUARY 7, 2016
CoHo Productions with Grace Carter and Sue Mach present the world premiere.
Written by Sue Mach
Conceived by Grace Carter
Adapted from the short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Directed by Philip Cuomo
Performed by Grace Carter, Chris Harder & Christy Bigelow
A new expressionistic performance of The Yellow Wallpaper by acclaimed Portland playwright Sue Mach, adapted from the American short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The story follows Charlotte to a single bedroom where she is confined by her doctor/husband for three months in 1890 as a “rest cure” for her postpartum depression and anxiety. Isolated and under-stimulated, Charlotte turns to an interior world of imagination, obsessing on the room’s ghastly wallpaper until a trapped figure appears to her in the pattern. Is it a hallucination, ghost or animus – the personification of her own trapped psyche? This multi-disciplinary live performance features immersive set design and original music, with a script that incorporates letters from Gilman. Descend to Charlotte’s inner landscape to follow this woman writer’s journey through constraint to creativity and transformation.
“Chris Harder’s John has a steam trunk chest full of 19th century confidence in his practicality and the grand roads that empiricism is paving.” – Oregon Arts Watch – full review here