'Indepedence' production features all-female cast

"Independence," an all-female play by Lee Blessing, opens this Friday and plays through next Saturday in the T300 Studio Theatre. The production is the first of many for the ensemble.\n Blessing, who came to IU as a Collins Lecturer in 1994, and whose play "Eleemosynary" was also done in IU's T300 the following year, is known as a generally masculine playwright. But, in this instance, he explores the vast and unique dynamic of family life without masculinity -- sisters and their mother.\nThe play takes place in the timeless town of Independence, Iowa where Evelyn Briggs and her daughter Jo live. Like Evelyn before her, Jo's family role is to stay in Independence and take care of her mother, that is until conflict breaks open when Jo becomes pregnant out of wedlock.\nThis brings home the eldest sister Kess, an independent, professional and lesbian woman whose ideals are in direct contrast to her sisters, especially Evelyn's. Along with Jo and Kess, the added dynamic of the youngest and rebellious sister Sherry makes this a character-driven play that closely explores the family unit.\n"I think that any person can relate to family life," said junior Mary Carothers, who plays Jo. "Everyone knows a Jo, Evelyn, Kess or Sherry. And, we've all been in a situation where we want something so badly and we haven't been able to get it."\nCarothers, who just returned to school after taking a year off, is making her first appearance in an IU Theater production with "Independence." She talked about Jo as having a specific role in the family that was broken by her pregnancy, therefore causing conflict.\n"I think she is held back because of her responsibilities to her family, but she never had a choice," Carothers said. "She has the obligation to take care of the family and follow in the footsteps of her mother. Evelyn was there for her mother and Jo must be there for Evelyn."\nExploring familial dynamics and obligation is something that Blessing uses often in his plays. From exploring different sides of Ty Cobb's family outlook in "Cobb" to the family dynamic of the family in Hamlet in "Fortinbras," Blessing seems quite interested in those relationships.\n"We are all striving to find a balance between asserting our own independence from our heritage and our parents' dreams for us, and maintaining contact with the people who have made us who we are," said the show's director Heather May, a graduate student.\nMay, who directed this summer's "Oz" during the Wizard of Oz festival, is directing her first show for IU Theater.\n"In this age of mobility and potential outside of the domestic realm, all of us, male and female, are likely to have to decide how much of our independence we are willing to give up to maintain the health and well-being of our parents and loved ones," May said.\nOther firsts in this production come in the design staff with graduate students Rebecca Jarell, costume designer; Morgan Brenner, lighting designer; and Namok Bae, set designer. Christine Woodworth, media liaison for the Department of Theatre and Drama, is making her first IU Theatre debut playing the role of Kess.\n"The challenge for me has been finding those moments when Kess can relax and feel like she is home where everything is familiar," Woodworth said. "That comfort can disappear in a second, however, when hurtfulness emerges in the family."\nAlthough no stranger to the theatre, this is Woodworth's first time acting since the Bloomington Playwright's Project production of "Tramaturgy" last winter. The arrival of her character, Kess, back to the home of Evelyn Briggs after a long hiatus is the play's starting point.\n"This production has been a wonderful experience from the very start," Woodworth said. "The four of us have become almost like a real family through the course of the rehearsal process."\n"Independence" by Lee Blessing plays in T300 Studio Theatre at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and Dec. 3-9 with 2 p.m. matinees Saturdays. Tickets are $8.50 and $7.50 for students and seniors Monday through Thursday. They are available at the IU Auditorium Box Office (812) 855-1103 or at all TicketMaster locations or by phone (812) 333-9955.