Written byDIPIKA GUHA

Directed bySTEVE PEARSON

NOVEMBER 15-21

718 Devine St.

CENTER FOR PERFORMANCE

EXPERIMENT

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND DANCE presents

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND DANCE presents

Written byDIPIKA GUHA

Directed bySTEVE PEARSON

Lisa Martin-StuartKevin BushBen Blazer

Josiah LaubensteinK. Dale White

Andy MillsSam Gross

Charlotte DennistonLeigh Cowart

Ray JonesWim Roefs

Pam LedbetterNancy Lide

United Airlines

SPECIAL THANKS

Costume Design..............................................................................VERA DUBOSEScenic/Lighting/Sound Design............................................STEVEN PEARSONProduction Coordinator/Props.......................................................ROBYN HUNTProduction Assistant........................................................BRITTANY KMIECIAKDutch Translation.................................................................................WIM ROEFS

Lola..................................................................................................CARIN BENDASElla/Madame P/Hana..................................................LINDSAY RAE TAYLORMother Superior/Disinterested Assistant/Camille.................BROOKE SMITHHilmand/Andrei Laroche..................................................BENJAMIN ROBERTSTaxi Drivers/Waiter/Dutch Boy............................................DIMITRI WOODS*

Monsieur Ravel/Police Inspector/Francois..........................MATT CAVENDERSister Maria D’Anges/Sara/Lila/Madame Laroche...............MELISSA REEDHerculine Barbin......................................................................RACHEL KUHNLE

CAST

*Appears courtesy of AEA

From the Playwright DIPIKA GUHAHerculine and Lola began its life as a short play I wrote while I was in graduate school called Habeas Corpus. In it, an American family goes to Amsterdam to encourage their teenage intersex child to make a choice about her sex. Mostly set in their Connecticut living room, it was intercut with the story of two men in orange jumpsuits in cages. It was my way of investigating the relationship be-

tween democracy and torture. I wanted to look at the cost of our tendency towards binary thinking on real human bodies in space and time.

That summer my mentor Paula Vogel encouraged me to read the diary of the ‘first true hermaphrodite’ Herculine Barbin. I read it and fell in love with it immediately. I sensed that Herculine’s voice had a place in Habeas Corpus. I wanted to honor it and tell the story in a way that would bring it into the contemporary world, while holding it in its authentic time.

The first draft of Herculine and Lola was over a hundred and sixty pages. It’s lost some of its size over time and workshops all over the country including at WordBRIDGE, the Playwrights Foundation in San Francisco and Judson Church, New York. However, the work I’ve been able to do here at USC in being able to see the entire arc on its feet has been immeasurable.

Steve Pearson gave me an extraordinary gift which few playwrights ever get on a first production. He said, ‘See it first as you wrote it, rewrite later’. He has worked tirelessly with the actors, all the while keeping a sense of tone, pace and rhythm in a play that changes shape every act. It has been stun-ning to watch him work with these brilliant actors who shape-shift through the centuries in cosmic time.

I have not, as you can imagine, listened to Steve entirely! The actors got revised pages a day before their dress rehearsal and found themselves writ-ten into some scenes and out of others. But I have also had the time and space to listen deeply to the play. I am very grateful for the gift of the first production of this play in the hands of a company as generous, imaginative and hard working as this one. I bow to them for their courage in undertak-ing a play as large in scope and theme and slippery in tone as this one. And I thank you as the first audience of this play for holding the space for this story in its first incarnation on stage.

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LIGHT THROUGH A

PINHOLEMFA ACTOR SOLO SHOWS

Original solo works written and performed by MFA Acting Candidates

DECEMBER 2-4PERFORMANCES PRESENTED IN TWO GROUPS

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4MARATHON OF ALL PERFORMANCES

BEGINNING AT 6:30PM

WED, DEC. 2GROUP A 6:30 GROUP B 8:30

THURS, DEC 3GROUP B 6:30 GROUP A 8:30