Polaris Shakespeare Company, Mary Baldwin University’s Shakespeare and Performance MFA company, performs The Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs by Ana Caro under the direction of Dawn Monique Williams.
Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, February 28 and Tuesday, March 1 at the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse.
Dressed as the dashing Leonardo, Leonor travels from Seville to Flanders, intent on bringing her lover Don Juan to justice for abandoning her after swearing his love and fidelity. What follows is a story of wild intrigue and lively ingenuity, in which Leonor repeatedly outwits the men around her in order to avenge herself against her fickle lover and restore her lost honor.
Through this stirring tale of a woman’s courage to right the wrongs she has suffered, the play scrutinizes contemporary notions of masculine honor and opens up space for women and their agency.
This rarely produced comic masterpiece was written by one of the Spanish Golden Age’s most accomplished playwrights, and was translated from the Spanish by the University of California, Los Angeles, Working Group on the Comedia in Translation and Performance.
Leonor and Don Juan cross swords
Dawn Monique Williams is the associate artistic director at Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley, CA. Her recent directing credits include an audio version of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye adapted by Lydia R. Diamond (Aurora), Lauren Gunderson’s The Half-Life of Marie Curie (TheatreSquared), Sweet Water Taste (Orlando Shakespeare Theatre), Letters to Kamala (American Stage Company), Bull in a China Shop (Aurora), Earthrise (Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Moon Man Walk, Tijean and His Brothers, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (American Conservatory Theatre, MFA program), an audio version of Lynn Nottage’s Las Meninas, The Secretaries (Profile Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Chautauqua Theatre), August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson (Le Petit and UNCO), Lynn Nottage’s By the Way, Meet Stark (Douglas Morrisson and UNCO), and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Town Hall). Williams’ awards include a Princess Grace Theatre Fellowship, a TCG Leadership U Residency Grant, and a Drama League Directing Fellowship. She holds an MA in dramatic literature and an MFA in directing, and is a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers.
The performance of The Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs runs two hours with no intermission. Admission is free, with pay-what-you-will cash or card donations accepted. Seating is limited, so please RSVP to [email protected] to guarantee a seat.
Per MBU and American Shakespeare Center policies, all individuals must remain masked at all times while inside the playhouse. All attendees must show either a valid MBU ID, proof of vaccination, or proof of a negative COVID test to gain entry to the show. In order to be accepted, the negative COVID test must have been administered within 72 hours of the event and it must be validated by a healthcare provider (meaning that at-home tests are not accepted). Please note that the performers will be unmasked during the show.