Event

Hosanna

Although Michel Tremblays remarkable play, Hosanna, hails from the 1970s, it has lost none of its relevance or poignancy

The play centres around Hosanna (John DuVall), an aging drag queen living in Montreal with her leather-clad partner Cuirette. (Jeffrey Albright). The emotional complexities of their multi-layered relationship drives this powerful play with Tremblays searing and truly heartfelt dialogue.

The audience follows Hosanna as she explores the aftermath of a practical joke that she was the victim of earlier that night. She describes her transition from a rural Quebecois town to Montreal which felt like a city of promise for a queer person in the 1970s. Imagine her surprise at being publicly humiliated by her friends in the queer community, and by her partner Cuirette as well. Hosanna and Cuirette passionately spar as Hosanna feels the full force of this betrayal.

Throughout the course of the night, Hosanna slowly deconstructs her elaborate transformation into the most-regal Cleopatra as embodied by her icon, Elizabeth Taylor. This play explores the themes of what it is like to feel like an outsider even an outsider in your own body. How much of our identity is performance and how much is essence? As Hosanna disrobes in front of Cuirette, we are asked to ponder the piercing vulnerability of this question.

Michel Tremblay captures the powerful realness of the human experience in such a way that it still resonates with audiences today.

Location

Studio Theatre-Center for Performing Arts at the University of Toledo (View)
1910 W. Rocket Drive (use the west entrance off Secor Road)
Toledo, OH 43606
United States