Approaching Simone is an avant-garde and wildly serious play about a radical genius, who believed in love and the war-torn society that resisted her.
This Obie-winning play by Megan Terry will be performed on Friday and Saturday, July 29 and 30, at 8 p.m. and on Sunday, July 31, at 2 p.m. in the Maureen Stapleton Theatre. Admission is free. The show is appropriate for those aged 14 and older.
This production, directed by Rosanne Raneri, a member of the theater arts faculty, explores how individuals, especially women, “become” themselves in the midst of regulating circumstances.
Approaching Simone interprets the life of Simone Weil — prodigy, activist, writer, teacher, philosopher, laborer, soldier, revolutionary, mystic. She was a very unusual French woman born in 1909, who learned to “make the effort of attention.” In Terry-s play, Weil not only exemplifies the gradual liberation of a woman as she transforms herself into a fiercely autonomous, conscious, and creative person, she also represents the extreme possibilities of altruism, of goodness and being of service, but at what cost? Simone Weil struggled to overcome disability, criticism and an oppressive system that refused what she offered as a woman. Her story inspires many questions about the possibility and difficulty of asserting oneself within society, about the dehumanizing conditions of political power and war, about progressive, compassionate ideals and about initiating change.
If you would like more information about the production, e-mail Rosanne at rosanneraneri@msn.com.
“Approaching Simone” in Maureen Stapleton Theatre this weekend!
Published: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000 by d.gardner