In the heart of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, where disorder ruled and heads rolled, playwright Lauren Gunderson saw a story about the resilience and audacity of women. That’s also what grabbed Tamara Meneghini, an associate professor of theater at CU Boulder, who fell in love with Gunderson’s play The Revolutionists after attending BETC’s regional premiere in 2017.
“I was moved by the women, their stories and the gravity of their circumstances,” says Meneghini, who is directing an upcoming production at CU Boulder’s Department of Theatre and Dance, Oct. 6 through Oct. 15. “I enjoy working on historical plays … that feature characters whose voices we might not otherwise hear. Three of the four characters in this play are real people whose stories have largely been crafted through a male lens, so I was interested in learning more about the reality of these women’s lives.”
This intrepid comedy dives into the French Revolution of 1793 with a keen focus on four remarkable women. In the heart of extremist Paris, Olympe de Gouges is working on a play she hopes will advance freedom when she meets assassin Charlotte Corday, former queen Marie Antoinette, and a fictionalized Haitian freedom fighter named Marianne Angelle, who debate their legacies and try to change the world even as they approach their untimely deaths.
“The Revolutionists is a really interesting character piece,” says assistant director Allison Wilson. “It’s not necessarily a plot-driven play because, if you know the history of the women at all, you know that they are going to be guillotined by the end of it, but it is fascinating to watch these four very different women from very different backgrounds interact with and learn from each other. Even though it’s a historical piece, it’s written in a very contemporary, accessible way, with a nice mixture of loud-out-loud jokes and tender dramatic moments.”
Staging a revolution
Bringing the 18th-century setting to life demanded a delicate balance between historical accuracy and contemporary relevance. The challenge for Meneghini and dramaturg Sam Collier lay in understanding the nuances of the characters’ lives during a time when corsets, giant dresses and wigs were the norm.
“My vision is really pretty simple: It’s a period play, which means we have to understand these women in the time period in which they were living,” Meneghini says. “I believe there is real value in students learning about this time period. I spent my summer diving into history; I read a couple of books about Marie Antoinette and the other two real-life characters [Olympe de Gouges and Charlotte Corday], listened to a lot of podcasts on walks, and talked with a professor at Sewanee College who teaches a class on Olympe.”
The team also researched the Haitian Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when the people of the small island nation overthrew their French colonial rulers in the world’s first successful slave rebellion. The process helped provide direction for portraying the fictional Marianne Angelle.
“She’s a composite character based on several women who played key roles in the Haitian Revolution. This gave me a lot of room to build her from the ground up,” says Marie-Antoinette Banks, one of the actors who plays Marianne. “I focused on Marianne’s relationships with the other women in this play; she is the only character who has one-on-one moments with all of the other three. Marianne’s presence is grounding, and her love is palpable — she keeps the spirit of this play and story alive.”
Since there are only four characters in The Revolutionists, the department decided to double-cast the production to increase opportunities for engagement. During rehearsals, one cast would block a scene onstage while the other cast took notes until their turn to perform.
“We wanted as many people as possible to have the opportunity to do a show,” Meneghini says. “If people can see it twice, they should see it twice, because the casts are so brilliant and it’s been fun getting to develop two different versions of the same characters.”
To that end, the cast is sharing the eight public performances and will each get to present their work to an audience four times. For performers like Matilda Musser, who plays Marie Antionette in her first double-cast role, the process offered an opportunity to see their characters from a new vantage while building community with fellow cast members.
“At first, I was a bit intimidated. I was afraid it was going to turn into a comparison game or something between casts,” Musser says. “But it’s been really lovely having that extra support and getting ideas from watching their interpretation of the character. I believe it worked out; both casts are looking forward to seeing each other’s opening nights and cheering each other on.”
ON STAGE: The Revolutionists. Oct. 6-15, CU Boulder Theatre Department, University Theatre Building, 261 University of Colorado, Boulder. Tickets here.
