Student production to focus on women's lives

Northwestern College theatre students will present two productions focusing on women’s lives and themes March 18 and 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the England Theatre.

The first, Women on Display, is an original show featuring scenes, poems and songs by and about women. Women on Display will be presented by Greta Floding, Holland, Mich., and Anna Pitney, Wausau, Wis.; they are being directed by Hannah McBride, a 2009 theatre graduate.

Their performance is framed by five types of prayer: confession, thanksgiving, intercession, praise and petition. In addition to gospel music and a scene from Metamorphosis by Mary Zimmerman, Women on Display will include recitations of Proverbs 31, a Shakespearean sonnet, Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise and Emily Dickinson’s I Dwell in Possibility.

The second production is a play focused on three generations of women, Eleemosynary, by Lee Blessing. The cast includes Shelby Vander Molen, Pella, Iowa, as Dorothea; Ali Sondreal, Huron, S.D., as Dorothea’s daughter, Artie; and Honna Brown, Grove City, Minn., as Artie’s daughter, Echo.

The play spans the 16-year life of Echo, a national spelling bee champion, who has been raised by her eccentric grandmother after being abandoned by her genius mother. The women, playing mostly to the audience, explore their lives and the relationships they’ve forged and forfeited.

Tickets for Women on Display and Eleemosynary are free; reservations are not required. Doors open 30 minutes before show time, and seating is first-come, first-served.