December 1–4, 2016
Leeds Theatre
Written by Marina Carr. Directed by Sienna Vann ’17.
Hecuba by Marina Carr is a retelling of the Greek play by Euripides. Hecuba, the wife of King Priam, has survived the death of her husband and the defeat of her people at the hands of the victorious Agamemnon. She suffers further agony as her children are taken from her and her previous life is destroyed. In this visceral retelling of the myth, Carr uses contemporary language and staging to give a new voice to Hecuba as a woman of agency and power. As the narrative moves forward, Carr’s Hecuba makes new choices and takes back control of her legacy. Stepping out from her own myth, Hecuba challenges us to consider how we want to be remembered.
This production was Brown Theatre’s annual Senior Slot. The Senior Slot production is reserved for a production proposed by a Brown undergraduate senior student. The design team for the Senior Slot is also led by Brown students, with mentorship and support offered by the production staff and faculty of the department. With a large budget and the resources of the department behind it, the Senior Slot offers an unparalleled opportunity for students to experience professional theatre making and create a fully realized theatre production on a scale not available anywhere else at Brown.
The director of Hecuba was Sienna Vann ’17, the Chair of Sock & Buskin, the student-faculty board that produces the mainstage performance season for Brown Theatre. Vann is a double concentrator in the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies and the Department of Modern Culture & Media and was recently seen as the eponymous lead in By The Way, Meet Vera Stark. Taking on this project, Vann hopes to bring attention to the legacies of women in history and in war: how woman find the strength to continue in the face of overwhelming adversity, and how history judges women for their choices.
This year’s performance season grew out of ongoing conversations on campus at Brown University about issues of diversity and inclusion. Sock & Buskin, the student-faculty board that selects the Brown University Theatre season, wanted to represent this conversation through their choice of plays, writers, directors, and casting. The season aims to reflect the strengths and the challenges that students face in making contemporary performances that embrace diversity and can effect social change. This play deals with themes of war, genocide, and womanhood and asks deep questions about how we remember women in the past, and how we think about the creation of our own legacy. How will you be remembered, and how do you change your own story?
—
SPECIAL OFFER: Dinner and a Show
A special offer provided by Brown University Theatre and The Brown Faculty Club on Friday, December 2. The Brown Faculty Club in collaboration with the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies offered a night out on campus for only $49.95. First, a three-course meal at the Brown Faculty Club followed by entry to the 8pm showing of Hecuba at Leeds Theatre.
Produced by Sock & Buskin and Brown University Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies.
