A Modern Voice from the 19th Century

In a classic work, a woman suffers in silence
Performances featuring a lone actor are a trend, says Caitlin Morley, the artistic director at Wayward Son, a theater company in New York City.
A solo adaptation of Dracula at Bannerman Island just closed, and Jim Dale comes to The Depot Theater in Garrison on Oct. 12 for An Actor's Nightmare. Sandwiched in between is Morley and Susannah Millonzi's premiere of The Yellow Wallpaper at the Depot on Oct. 10 and 11.
The pair, who are affiliated with the edgy troupe Bedlam, animated a short story written in 1892 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman that hews close to the original.

The first-person narrative, thought to be autobiographical, centers on a new mother - identified only as "woman" - who is drugged up by her husband, a doctor named John, who dismisses her ideas in knee-jerk fashion and isolates her in a room with bars on the windows.
When she tries to step outside one night, he says, "What is it, little girl? Don't go walking about like that - you'll get cold." In addition to cod-liver oil, he besots her with tonics, ale, wine and rare meat.
Although she is a writer, the woman is forbidden to work until she is "well again" and laments that her stifling husband "does not know how much I really suffer." John contends that the woman succumbs to hysteria and "temporary nervous depression"; the woman's brother, also a physician, agrees.
She takes "pains to control myself," which exhausts her, but wants to socialize, express herself and be with her child. The character continues to write secretly as a creative outlet and a form of rebellion. She becomes obsessed with the room's wallpaper and descends into a form of madness.

Morley, 25, encountered the short story during a gender studies class at Tufts University. "It has a cult following, and people consider it to be either about that crazy lady or a work of horror," she says. "It's often compared to Poe's 'Tell-Tale Heart.' I'm surprised there haven't been more adaptations; it's been marinating inside my head for five years."
She directs the production and Millonzi, an actor, dancer and choreographer who lives in Cold Spring, performs. (This year, Millonzi choreographed two plays for Hudson Valley Shakespeare.)
Though "The Yellow Wallpaper" is 133 years old, "I felt a connection - it reads like a monologue," says Morley. "Many people have a deep love for it and, given the recent movement to silence women, especially regarding health care, we're driven to do this right now."
She cites experiences of "going to the doctor and constantly feeling dismissed and not taken seriously about my own self-knowledge. This play shows the persistence in history of women's voices being minimized. Here, she silences herself; her husband knows better about everything, and he happens to be a doctor."
The Depot Theater is located at 10 Garrison's Landing. Tickets are $20 or $35 at depottheater.org. Both performances begin at 7:30 p.m.