ADA, Ohio – The Ohio Northern University School of Visual and Performing Arts will present a staged production of “The House of Bernarda Alba” by Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca from Feb. 26 through Feb. 28 via livestream on freedcenter.com. Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27, with 2 p.m. matinee performances on Feb. 27 and Feb. 28.
After the death of the family patriarch, well-to-do widow Bernarda Alba is determined to uphold the social propriety of the house and exacts an unyielding control over the lives of her five adult daughters. In a theme underscored by a pandemic-era production, the women are cut off from the outside world until a blossoming romance threatens to topple the walls that hem them in. A rarely produced masterpiece (in a lean and powerful translation by Caridad Svich), “The House of Bernarda Alba” is a story about women locked in a struggle with a deadly inheritance, where wealth and status are inextricable from isolation and shame.
Tickets are $10 per device and $5 for students. To order, visit freedcenter.com or call the box office at 419-772-1900.
“The House of Bernalda Alba” is directed by Cait Robinson, a Drama League New York Directing Fellow and head of the college Summer Intensive Program at Cape Cod Theatre Project. “This play is increasingly topical,” says Robinson, “This COVID-compliant production explores the effects isolation can have and how challenging it can be to break free of toxic situations when you are so isolated.”
“The House of Bernarda Alba” will be performed by a cast of 12 ONU students, including Maggie Rucki, a senior musical theatre and communications studies double major from Findlay, Ohio, as Poncia; Kathryn Urosevich, a sophomore musical theatre and history double major from Huntley, Ill., as Bernarda Alba; Emily Estep, a senior musical theatre major from Fresno, Calif., as Angustias; Serena Chiappelli, a junior musical theatre major from Clarkston, Mich., as Adela; and Dani Miller, a sophomore musical theatre major from Charlottesville, Va., as Martirio.