BC Theatre to Present ‘She Stoops to Conquer’
The Bluefield College Theatre Department will present the English comedy She Stoops to Conquer, February 27 through March 1, inside BC’s Harman Chapel.
The shows will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, February 27-29 and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 1.
“She Stoops to Conquer is about mistaken identities and misunderstandings,” said Charles Reese, professor of theatre arts and artistic director for the play.
The play is about a family called the Hardcastles that live in a house that looks like an inn. Marlow and his companion Hastings are going to meet the Hardcastle daughter Kate as a potential suitor. What they don’t know is they get sent to the house as an inn and start mistreating everyone. Kate has a deal with her father that she can dress up fancy early in the day and can dress soberly in the evening. Marlow, who is the young man who has come to ask for her hand, cannot talk to gentle women since he gets embarrassed and makes a fool of himself. But he’s a flirt with barmaids, and he assumes that Kate is the bar maid when she is dressed more soberly and begins to make advances on her not realizing that she is the daughter of the household.
“I am really looking forward to the audience seeing the comedy in this play since it’s a different form of comedy,” said Brian Fisher, who plays Tony Lumpkin who he describes as a trickster and low-class playboy who sets the events of the play in motion. “But it also plays against the same things that comedy today does, as well, but in a different form. So I’m excited to see how that translates.”
Members of the cast also said the dialects in the play are challenging, among other things.
“I have found that heels are a struggle, especially running in heels, and doing rock star slides in heels,” said Mary Jones, who plays Mrs. Hardcastle. “It’s a fun time.”
In addition to Fisher and Jones, the cast includes Aaron Sudderth as Mr. Hardcastle; Sarah Minnix as Kate Hardcastle; Ashley Burton as Constance Neville; Carrington Hawthorne as the landlady; Luke Saferight and General Smith as patrons at The Three Pigeons; Carleek Owens as young Marlowe; Andrew Viskup as Sir Charles Marlowe; Noah Jennings as Hastings; Robert Walls as Diggory; Alexandra Stout as the maid; and Nina Hairston, Darian Spaulding and Melissa Denson as servants.
The play is open and free to Bluefield College students, faculty and staff. Admission for the public is $10 for adults and $5 for senior adults and students from other schools.
