Event

1905 Wife & Trifles

Two American writers penned the stories you will see in Trifles and 1905 Wife. Both were women. Both wrote 100 years ago, before the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in national elections in 1920.

They couldn't vote. But they could write.

Susan Glaspell was famous when she wrote her first play, Trifles, in 1916; she was already a successful novelist. She went on to become the 2nd woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Susan had also been a journalist; she was inspired to write Trifles because of a story she covered as a journalist in 1900. Trifles illuminates an intimate world of women's lives apart from men, as well the deep empathy one human being may have for another, which can transcend duty, and custom, and, even, the law.

The other writer is Anonymous. We don't know much about her except what she tells us. She lived in the Midwest and she married a farmer. All the rest you will hear from the actress who speaks her words in her story, 1905 Wife. Although we shorten her story and add dramatic elements, every word you will hear from her in the story is unchanged from her original manuscript as published in a local newspaper in 1905. She writes about her life, about how things are, and how things could be different. She loves to read but must hide books from her husband, who does not want her to read. By bringing her story to life now, we are helping to fulfill her fondest wishthat her story will be heard.

Both of our plays reveal lives "outside" the confines of roles imposed by society. Both appeal to our imaginations and our desire to love life and live joyfully.

d'moiselles present two powerful theatrical works revealing the life and decisions of women on a farm at the turn of the 20th century: Trifles and 1905 Wife. This pair of evocative, related plays has never been seen together before.