KEY FEMINIST ISSUES ADDRESSED IN UPCOMING A&M-KINGSVILLE PRODUCTION OF 'TOP GIRLS'
(KINGSVILLE, November 13, 1996) -- Have women in the 1990s really come as far as society indicates? "Top Girls," an upcoming Texas A&M University-Kingsville production written by British feminist writer Caryl Churchill and directed by A&M-Kingsville Professor Dr. David Deacon, will scrutinize whether or not women can really "have it all" by addressing social and political issues surrounding women, both today and throughout history.
Performances are slated for 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 20, Friday, Nov. 22, and Saturday, Nov. 23; 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21; and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 24, in the Little Theatre. Admission is $3.
Churchill, one of the more prominent feminist playwrights of the second half of the 20th century, gives serious scrutiny to the question of whether or not women have "come a long way" throughout the course of history. Intricately weaving her plot around many feminist themes, including economic, sociological and spiritual ones, she examines the price to be paid by women seeking "better prospects," according to Deacon.
"Top Girls is a 'must see' on any woman's list, particularly if she is an ambitious woman. It is a very intellectual kind of play," Deacon said. "Caryl Churchill is a very important feminist writer today. She seems to be dealing with trying to make women conscious of who they were and what they could be."
In a series of compelling scenes, the cast of eight women portrays women seeking and
achieving success while haunted by misery.
The play opens in a trendy London restaurant where five "top girls" taken from the pages of history and fiction are invited to dinner by Marlene, an attractive London executive and the story's protagonist.
Marlene, who strives to help women find better positions in a competitive job market, is celebrating her own recent promotion over a male colleague. Helping her celebrate are the five "ghosts" of women from history and legend who reveal much about themselves and society's treatment of women in past ages, including Joan, a ninth century Pope of the Catholic Church; Isabella Bird, noted Victorian traveler; Dull Gret, an eccentric and mythic figure from a Pieter Brueghel painting; Lady Nijo, 14th century courtesan and later Buddhist nun; and Patient Griselda, heroine from Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."
After the opening restaurant scene, the women change into contemporary English women -- mothers, children and career girls -- who learn to cope with their new social roles, as well as new found freedoms and entrapments.
"From this ... springs a series of scenes that take us into Marlene's top girl world where we discover that the road to success is strewn with its own peculiar kind of pain," Deacon said.
Members of the cast include Sundy Scarborough, Carolyn Fees, Rebecca Swanson and Tiffany Murphy of Kingsville, Debbie Loya of Hebbronville, Sandy Najarro of Chicago, Ill., Cynthia Ojeda of San Benito, and Jessica Nix of San Antonio.
Deacon, beginning his 31st year with A&M-Kingsville, has written a number of plays over the years, one of the most popular being "Tales of the Wild Horse Desert."
-TAMUK-
-Mary McAdam