I was introduced to On the Verge in 2000 at a friend’s play reading. As an actor, how could I not be instantly smitten with such an intelligent play about strong women in luscious costumes traveling through time? I talked up the play to anyone who would listen, but was met with resistance because of the intense costume, set, and prop demands. I first considered this play from a director’s standpoint when Jeremy, who understood my love for the script, approached me last year. I had reservations, but was quickly surrounded by people who felt as passionate about the project as I did, and so my creative team was born. They have carried me through this process and amazed me at every turn with great ideas. Though I originally hoped to perform in the show, as the director I have the opportunity to take this journey in the Victorian boots of each of these wonderful women.
As a small child, I believed that I would never grow up; perhaps it seemed impossible, too difficult, or just hard to fathom. Even now, I enter into each birthday with a sense of resistance. So I think the reason I love this play is because these women remind me to accept everything the future has to offer...good or bad. Every path leads to change, knowledge and growth--you don’t have to blissfully skip down every path, but you do have to travel.
- Rebecca Blum, Director
On the Verge is a play which delves into the world of words and the human experience. As you become fellow sojourners with these ladies, take nothing for granted in the events and characters you see, even the words you hear.
Originally produced in 1985, the play's action begins almost a century earlier. Overmyer captures the speech from that time period and explores how people and their language change over a tumultuous century. Though fictional, this play is based upon a reality of the late Victorian era: female explorers! In 1888, women were clamoring for all manner of rights in society, including the right to explore Terra Firma alongside men. As you will see in the play, women ranged the spectrum from arguing the benefits of petticoats and dresses to insisting that trousers are the only thing for traveling.
Another issue discussed by the lady travelers is colonization. At the time the play begins, the United States was expanding ever westward and many of the world superpowers had empires stretching across the globe. Consequently, these ladies question what it means to be a “native” and what it means to be a colonizer as they seek to explore, rather than exploit, the lands they encounter.
The central message of the play is that we are always on the verge of something: a new era, a new place, a new adventure. The question is, do you have the courage to go beyond?
- Maegan Mercer-Bourne, Dramaturg
