Soulstice Theatre Opens with Plays Written by Two Women

Playwright Nell Benjamin had experienced some sexism relatively early on in her career. She had once described an early writing job in which an older male colleague, “...demanded she greet him every day with the salutation, ‘All women are lying whores.’ ” Ahem...Charming. And though she’s probably met her fair share of sexism as well, it’s likely that local playwright Liz Shipe never experienced anything quite so awful. (I’ll have to ask her the next time I see her.) 

Both Benjamin and Shipe have plays opening this year with Soulstice Theatre. The first two plays on Soulstice’s, “Remapping Boundaries,” 2015 season are The Explorers Club by Nell Benjamin and Upon a Midnight Clear by Liz Shipe. 

Benjamin’s The Explorers Club debuted a few years back. It’s set in a Victorian-era men’s club devoted to science in all its many forms. When one of the gentlemen nominates a woman for membership in the club, things get a little uncomfortable in a comedy that sounds like a great deal of fun. The comedy makes its regional premiere with Soulstice Nov. 6 - 21.

Shipes’s Upon a Midnight Clear made it’s debut in recent memory from the basement of the Brumder Mansion. It makes an appearance here for a second holiday outing. Perhaps inspired a bit by William Joyce’s book The Guardians of Childhood and its subsequent Dreamworks animated film adaptation, Upon a Midnight Clear focuses on Jack Frost--an abstract entity who must decide whether or not he wants to be human. Frost, who has come to fancy himself a baker, is visited on Christmas Eve by Sandman, Wodan, the Krampus as an alluring woman and Father Christmas (who was brilliantly played in the original production by a very charismatic Bill Jackson.) Upon a Midnight Clear runs Dec. 4 - 21. 

For more information about Soulstice’s upcoming season, visit them online.