Playwrights Horizons Theater School presents...
AURORA LEIGH
Adapted by Katherine Humes from the epic poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
We encounter Aurora in the branches of a tree on her aunt's estate in the English countryside, flowers wound through her hair. It is her 20th birthday. Her older cousin, Romney, a staunch social and political theorist, maligns her attempt at poetry and asks to marry her in the same breath.
Much to his surprise, Aurora refuses him.
This simple act of denying marriage and declaring artistry instigates a mission inside Aurora— she will be a poet, and she will be alone.
We follow Aurora on a quest across Europe, to London, then Paris, then Florence, encountering a cast of women along the way, all at war with their place in society, as Aurora herself wrestles with her identities as a poet and woman in a world that has little time for either. An Odyssey for the modern woman, the romance of Aurora Leigh explores her love affair with both her art and the women and world that inspire it.
Based on EBB's legendary poem, AURORA LEIGH is a lively, fast-paced, intellectual, sapphic, metropolitan, feminist heroine’s journey through 19th century Europe, combining heightened text with original live music and period dance and movement.
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AURORA LEIGH: Jo Allen
ROMNEY LEIGH: Christian Dinsmore
LADY WALDEMAR: Angelena Shohail
MARIAN EARLE: Julia Ordway
AUNT LEIGH / LADY MAUD: Rebekah Raphling
MOTHER / DANCE CAPTAIN: Baylee Hughes
FATHER / PUBLISHER: Jackson Steinberg
LORD HOWE: Bryce Gastelum
THE CHILD: Ava Longarzo
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THE PIANIST: Julia Crafton
THE VIOLINIST: Emma McAninch
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Colette Pitts
SET: Joy Zhang
LIGHTING: Mouna Saab
COSTUMES: Sasha Nikolaevna
INTIMACY COORDINATOR: Alex Taylor
STAGE MANAGER: Cori Diaz
PROJECT ASSISTANTS: Nghi Nguyen & Joy Zhang