Theatre UAB presents student and professor’s original play, “Women of War”

Alumna Rebecca Harper will direct a new play, “Women of War,” to be presented Nov. 12-15 and Nov. 19-22 by the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Theatre.

This original work, compiled and written by Harper and Professor of Theatre Karla Koskinen, MFA, explores the complexities of the human impulse to engage in warfare and the determination and strength needed to recover. Through music, dance and text, this compelling piece presents the perspectives of both victor and victim as they examine the causes and effects of war. Touching on such subjects as post-traumatic stress, loss of homeland, survival and defeat, “Women of War” examines the male and female experience.

Harper, of Valley Head, graduated with a major in theater in spring 2014. She was one of two students selected for the Kennedy Center and National New Play Network MFA Playwrights’ Workshop/Directing Intensive, presented by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in conjunction with the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. The eight-day intensive, from July 26-Aug. 4, was held at the Kennedy Center and provided participants the opportunity to observe and work with a professional director as they guide a development-based rehearsal room, and the chance to meet one-on-one with the director to discuss the rehearsal process and the participant’s own work.

This piece evolved out of Euripide’s “Trojan Women,”which takes place in the aftermath of the Greeks’ overwhelming victory over the city of Troy. The Trojan men have been slaughtered, and the Greeks are holding the women of the city captive. As they await their fate, the women process their experiences of the war together, Harper says.

“After we studied several translations and adaptations of this story, certain themes emerged which all the versions held in common, such as waiting, the unknown future, the search for meaning, the cyclical nature of war, justifications for the use of force, and that it is told from the perspective of the women on the losing side,” Harper said. “To focus on these universals, we stripped away the particulars of the legend of Troy. Instead, we explored the cyclical nature of war by using stories and scenarios from many wars throughout history. Our aim was to create a piece that is timeless and geographically ambiguous to point up the universal experiences occurring in warfare.”

Harper compiled and wrote the script with Koskinen last spring while still a student, then they spent the summer rewriting and editing it.

“To develop a new show from scratch is a daunting and rewarding challenge. As a director, I am very interested in an ensemble-based creative process because I believe new experimental work must employ the creative energy of all involved,” Harper said. Guest artist Donnie Mather, of The Adaptations Project, led an intensive for the cast in viewpoints training to establish a working vocabulary for the ensemble. The show was born out of movement-based theater, which utilizes the body as an expressive tool for storytelling, she says.

“In conventional drama, the story is driven by the text. In our production, we seek to elicit a visceral response from our audience by intertwining text with movement influenced by dance and expressive gesture,” Harper said. “This process has allowed me to experiment with a new way of working in the rehearsal room and with a company of artists. I am so grateful for the experience I’ve gained, and I look forward to carrying the knowledge with me as I move to New York to continue my career.”

The cast is Alicia Batterson of Columbus, Ohio; Madelyn Burrell of Warrior, Alabama; Merideth Busby of Fairhope, Alabama; Carron Clem of Decatur, Alabama; Renita Lewis of Birmingham; Aly Merrell of Gulf Shores and Leeds, Alabama; Roxana Munoz of Hoover, Alabama; Amyna Price of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Ali Ribe of Pelham, Alabama; and Taylor Richardson of Corner, Alabama. The crew includes Stage Manager Rachel Walsh of Johns Creek, Georgia; assistant stage managers Brady Grimm of Fairhope and Irina Seale of Greenville, Alabama; Assistant Director Holly Morgan of Madison, Alabama; and Lauren Seale of Greenville, Alabama, as costume designer.

Theatre UAB, part of the UAB College of Arts and Sciences, chooses its season of plays each year with purpose. Plays are selected to offer students the widest array of roles and experience possible, and to give student-actors the skills they will need in the world of professional theater. Theatre UAB will present “In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)” for mature audiences only, Feb. 18-22, 2015. The 12th annual Festival of 10-Minute Plays is set for March 9-14, 2015, and the season will culminate in the quotable and quirky musical “Avenue Q” from April 8-12, 2015.