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triflesThe 2016–2017 University of Wisconsin Oshkosh theatre season, A Wayward World, opens on Thursday, Oct. 6 with Susan Glaspell’s Trifles, directed by Bryan M. Vandevender, and Milbre Burch’s Sometimes I Sing.

The production has performances at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6, Friday, Oct. 7 and Saturday, Oct. 8 and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 9.

A synopsis of Trifles and Sometimes I Sing: Farmer John Wright has been murdered and his quiet and forlorn wife, Minnie Wright, has been arrested. Loosely based on true events, Susan Glaspell’s 1916 Trifles depicts the process by which two women discover evidence—previously undetected by male investigators—that could link Minnie to the crime. In Grammy-nominated Milbre Burch’s 2012 Sometimes I Sing, an addendum to Trifles, Burch performs her original monodrama, told in Minnie’s voice, about her life with John Wright and her experience of domestic violence. This production of both plays celebrates the centennial anniversary of Trifles.

Written 100 years ago, the production of Trifles at UW Oshkosh is a centennial celebration of the play and its importance, which will include a faculty roundtable at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 in the Fredric March Theatre. The event is free and open to the campus community and public.

Trifles is widely celebrated as a landmark work of feminist drama. It is structured as a detective story and the female characters work to solve a mystery based on their understanding of the clues they encounter, which are based in domestic labor,” Vandervender said. “The play and its subsequent short story adaptation, ‘A Jury of Her Peers,’ established Glaspell as a one of the foremost voices in early twentieth century American literature.”

Ticket prices are $14 for general, $11 for senior citizen or alumni and $5 for UWO students with ID; tickets may be purchased at the box office, which opens Oct. 3. The box office is open weekdays noon to 4 p.m. and one hour before each performance.

 

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