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As part of the Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival, nexStage Theatre will present the contemporary comedy \u201cRapture, Blister, Burn\u201d by Gina Gionfriddo. Performances run July 26-27 and Aug. 1-3 at the nexStage Theatre, with all shows commencing at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n
Also being offered as part of the Festival will be William Shakespeare\u2019s haunting classic \u201cHamlet,\u201d July 28-31 and Aug. 4-6, nightly at 6 p.m. at Forest Service Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cRapture, Blister, Burn\u201d explores contemporary relationships between men and women.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s about challenging the notion that women can have it all, and that’s O.K.,\u201d explained Freddie Harris, who plays Catherine. \u201cIt\u2019s about how men and women negotiate current social constructions of femininity and masculinity \u2013 how do they move within the constraints of those constructions \u2013 and the laughs and sorrows that emerge out of those negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n
After completing grad school, Catherine and Gwen chose polar-opposite paths to lead their lives. While Catherine chooses the academic path, Gwen builds a home with her husband and children. Decades later, both women feel unfulfilled and covet the other\u2019s life. A dangerous game of musical chairs commences \u2013 the prize being Gwen\u2019s husband.<\/p>\n
The play uses “the grass is always greener\u201d idiom to explore theme.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s about how we may never be happy about the way we have spent our life, and it poses the question \u2018what if I had chosen a different path,\u2019\u201d said Brett Moellenberg, director.<\/p>\n
Playwright Gionfriddo uses extremely contemporary dialogue in her intellectual and witty text. The lines may be fragments, but come together to tell a fluid story. Her dialogue encompasses and sheds light on four distinct women of a range of ages, each from a particular era and way of thinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cGina is a very good writer,\u201d Moellenberg said. \u201cShe is excellent with foreshadowing, and she is able to write her dialogue with easy-to-follow subtext. There is a lot of \u2018unsaid\u2019 action in the dialogue that we get to draw out. That said, the dialogue is a big challenge for the actors. It is very colloquial and non-poetic, and that can be the hardest dialogue to memorize.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to Harris, the standout cast features Kate Moncrief, Prue Hemmings, Savina Barini Brown and Rich Rush. Jamey Reynolds is the set designer, Samuel Mollner is the lighting designer and Alison Higdon is the costume designer.<\/p>\n
Harris is thrilled to bring \u201cRapture\u201d back to the nexStage after a successful reading of the play two years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis play is just so relevant and relatable,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen we did the reading two years ago, I had like 10 women come up to me and say \u2018I am Gwen, I am Catherine.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAudiences will enjoy the parallels to their own relationships and life choices,\u201d added Moellenberg. \u201cAlso, the performances in this piece are exquisite. You have actors at the top of their game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opening night, Tuesday, July 26, will be Ladies Night with a special pre-show party starting at 7 p.m. featuring all-you-can-drink champagne for the women in attendance. Tickets are $20 or $30 for reserved seats. For more information about the Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival and \u201cRapture, Blister, Burn\u201d or \u201cHamlet,\u201d go to www.nexstagetheatre.org or call (208) 726-4857.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018Rapture, Blister, Burn\u2019 at nexStage BY YANNA LANTZ As part of the Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival, nexStage Theatre will present the contemporary comedy \u201cRapture, Blister, Burn\u201d by Gina Gionfriddo. Performances run July 26-27 and Aug. 1-3 at the nexStage Theatre, with all shows commencing at 8 p.m. Also being offered as part of the Festival […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,53],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calendar-2","8":"category-calendar-feature"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}