Rehearsals are well underway for the Wellesley College Theatre’s mainstage production of RHINOCEROS.
Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist masterpiece will run in the Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre from the 15th-18th of November.
Thanks to the Wellesley Townsman/Wicked Local News for a great recent feature on the production:
“Wellesley College Theatre will present their interpretation of “Rhinoceros” by Eugene Ionesco, translated by Derek Prouse, at 7 p.m. Nov 15-17 and 2 p.m. Nov. 17-18 at the Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre on the Wellesley College campus, 106 Central St.
The play, written in 1959, was inspired by the pre-World War II state of human existence, bringing into question the themes of conformity, culture and morality. Wellesley College Theatre performs the play with a modern twist.
“Rhinoceros focuses on one main question: how can the human race avoid being destroyed by mass-conformity?” said Marta Rainer, director of the Wellesley College Theatre production. “I am inspired by the storytelling in social thriller movies such as ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers,’ ‘The Stepford Wives’ and ‘Get Out,’ which present a view of our world through an imaginatively distorted lens. We hope to leave our audiences similarly shocked and stunned, in a compelling, and sometimes even darkly funny way that will lead them to join us in reflecting on the central themes explored in the show.”
General admission tickets are available for $15; seniors can receive tickets for $10, while admission is free for students from Wellesley, Babson, Olin and MIT.
“Being a part of this production is an incredible experience,” said Elise Griffin, Wellesley College student and assistant director. “We’re being asked to look inside ourselves to see what situations or circumstances may cause us to follow the crowd and transform, helping us to understand why the characters choose to transform.”
“It has been a privilege to have been given the opportunity to partner with the students, bringing this work to the live stage,” said Rainer. “I purposefully chose this as my first show as the director of Wellesley College Theatre because it speaks to a lot of the fears we’re currently witnessing in our country about the normalization of actions and beliefs by which we are personally shocked.”
To purchase tickets, call the Wellesley College Box Office at 781-283-2000 or visit https://wctrhino.brownpapertickets.com.
To learn about the Wellesley College Theatre Department, visit http://wellesley.edu/theatre.”