Notes From Director:
As the director of “The Sweet Science of Bruising” I am proud to bring to audiences a play with specific historical context ranging from Victorian-era laws which restricted married women’s property rights to paradigm-shifting ideas such as the theory of evolution, and class distinctions and much more. The play revolves around four women from very different classes each with dreams of becoming more than Victorian society currently allows for women. These women’s lives intertwine in the boxing ring and beyond as together they become whole.
As a professor at a women’s college, this play speaks volumes to how women can lift each other up and tear each other down. In the end, only one woman can win or can she? Perhaps when women work together we all win! In a world where people still seem to be so divided, this play leaves the audience with a sense that regardless of station is society, culture, gender we can persevere in the darkest of times and when we champion restrictions that block our way.
This play has also allowed our theatre company to work towards establishing new standards for producing plays. Senior, Sasha Smith, served as our intimacy coach as we worked through scenes which required physical touch both intimate and gruesome. Fight Choreographer and Assistant Director, Klair Soukup, insured that actors felt confident in dealing with the physicality of boxing as well as working alongside the intimacy coach with scenes that required violence. As the director, I wanted students to feel safe at all times and for each actor to make choices about what they felt comfortable with. This included table work with Dyllen Andrews, the dramaturg and becoming comfortable with the violence that was normalized during the Victorian Period as well as boxing history.
I am so very proud of this cast and crew in taking on and telling a powerful story in women's history. They have been wonderful collaborators as we challenged ourselves with difficult and important material. I hope that they take away with them the professional standards we have set for our company in dealing with topics that need a safe space to be explored. We are changemakers, fierce and kind!
