The University of Rochester’s International Theatre Program continues its 25th season on Thursday, Dec. 4, with a production of Suzan-Lori Parks’s critically acclaimed drama, Venus.
The play is based on the true story of Saartijie Baartman, a South African woman taken from her home in 1810 and brought to London where she becomes an overnight sensation on the freak-show circuit. Later dubbed the “Venus Hottentot,” Baartman’s image became known in popular culture as a symbol of sexuality.
“Venus traces Baartman’s early notoriety and fame, and her yearning for love and acceptance in a world that views her ‘otherness’ as freakish and exotic,” said Nigel Maister, the Russell and Ruth Peck Artistic Director of the International Theatre Program. “The play also explores notions of choice and a woman’s control over her own body during an era marked by colonialism, prejudice, and sexism.”
Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks is a Pulitzer, Tony, and Olivier award-winning playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and recipient of a 2001 MacArthur “Genius” grant. Her plays often tackle topics that are steeped in history yet presented with a modern edge. In Venus, for example, she pushes beyond the historical facts of Baartman’s life to look at how history impacts the present. “Venus is about how it happened, not what happened,” said guest director Niegel Smith. “This means telling the whole story, which includes a side that shows Baartman as an accomplice as well as a victim.”
Smith, the production’s director, is a performance artist, theater director, and was recently named the associate artistic director of Elastic City. He is a politically active artist whose work has been seen at the Public Theater, the Classical Theatre of Harlem, the Magic Theatre, HERE Arts Center, the New York Fringe Festival, Abrons Arts Center, and PS 122. Smith was the associate director of the Tony Award winning musical FELA! (restaging that production in London, Lagos, and on its world tour), assistant director the off-Broadway production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and both the Broadway and off-Broadway productions of Tony Kushner’s Caroline, or Change.
The play stars Makia Green, recently profiled in The New York Times, in the title role. The production’s set design is by Arnulfo Maldonado, whose design credits include work at the BAM Next Wave Festival and Clubbed Thumb. Costume design is by Olivera Gajic, a recipient of the 2004 NEA/TCG Career Development Grant for Designers, a 2010 IT Award for Outstanding Costume Design, a 2010 TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award, and the 2012 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Costume Design. Lighting design is by Mike Inwood, an Emmy Award-winner whose recent credits include La Traviata at Boston Lyric Opera and God of Carnage at Perseverance Theatre. Sound design and original music is by Erik T. Lawson, whose recent work includes world premieres at Theatre for the New City and at Incubator Arts in New York.
Venus runs Thursday, Dec. 4, through Sunday, Dec. 7, and Wednesday, Dec. 10, through Saturday, Dec. 13. The shows begin at 8 p.m. except for a matinée performance on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 3 p.m. and a performance on Saturday, Dec. 13, at 6 p.m. Tickets are $8 for UR students; $12 for UR alumni, faculty and staff, and for seniors (65+); and $15 for the general public. All performances take place in Todd Theater, located in the Todd Union building on the River Campus. Tickets can be purchased online at www.rochester.edu/theatre, or by calling 585.275.4088. Tickets may also be purchased at the box office up to an hour before each performance.
