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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

'In the Next Room' Explores Sexuality

From April 30-May 3, the Middlebury College Departments of Theatre and Dance are presenting Sarah Ruhl’s Tony Award-nominated play “In the Next Room” (or The Vibrator Play). Associate Professor of Theatre Claudio Medeiros ’90 will direct the work, which stars seven students and serves as the final campus production for theater majors Mari Vial-Golden ’14 and Matt Ball ’14.

True to its title, the play explores the use of electric vibrators in treating women for “hysteria” in 19th century Saratoga Springs, N. Y. It also sheds light on doctors’ long-standing, limited understanding of human sexuality and, in particular, the female orgasm. After all, the hysteria diagnosis — which is no longer recognized as medically sound — was regularly applied to women exhibiting symptoms ranging from nervousness to fatigue to irritability to general “troublemaking.”

It was these themes of female sexuality and desire that drove Vial-Golden to audition for the role of Catherine Billings, one of the leading characters in the play.

“It is a period piece that takes place in the late 1800s, but the themes are so timeless,” Vial-Golden said.

Indeed, the play points to just how far we have come but also how much we still don’t know about human sexuality.

“To me, it’s mind boggling that it’s so recent that we have actually come to understand the female orgasm,” Medeiros said.

Although “In the Next Room” presents serious topics, it does so with humor and lightheartedness. This rich balance appealed to Medeiros but has also challenged him and the cast.

“Tonally, it’s a tricky piece because it’s funny and serious often at the same time,” Medeiros said. “The challenge becomes how to navigate that.  The director has to guide the actors to find a truthful connection with both the comedy and the drama. At the same time, one wants the audience to laugh at the situations but not the characters.”

Katie Weatherseed ’16, who plays Sabrina, a patient treated for hysteria, notes that the play draws some of its humor from characters’ genuine innocence, especially in contrast to that of a 21st century audience.

“The characters bring a charming naiveté that’s just really fun to play and also fun to watch,” she said. “I hope that the show can make the audience laugh while also giving them a little food for thought.”

In order to prepare for the show, the cast researched sex and intimacy in the Victorian Era, read the book that inspired the play, Rachel P. Maines’ 2001 text Technology of Orgasm, took a historical walking tour of Saratoga Springs and watched the 2011 movie Hysteria, which stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and explores similar topics to “In the Next Room.” In order to gain a better understanding of the “hysteria” diagnosis, Weatherseed also read Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s popular short story, “The Yellow Wall Paper. “

“[It] was probably the piece I looked to most, as it guides the reader through the consciousness of a woman who is stifled by gender roles and encouraged to suppress her emotions,” she said.

Blocking scenes was particularly important to the rehearsal process because the play takes place in two adjacent rooms. Action moves between both and sometimes occurs in each simultaneously.

“It’s almost like in film — whoever is in the foreground is in focus, but then the focus can shift to the background,” Medeiros said. “Finding a way to do that in the theater has been a really interesting challenge.”

Because the play will be her last at Middlebury, Vial-Golden is particularly grateful that “In the Next Room” has presented challenges like this unconventional blocking.

“It’s nice to end on a challenge and to end with a friend — Matt Ball — who I’ve been working with since freshman year, as well as a phenomenal cast of mainly underclassmen,” Vial-Golden said.

Medeiros hopes that “In the Next Room” will push audience members just as it has the cast. Hopefully, viewers will leave the play with not only a deeper understanding of the evolution of medicine, sexuality and gender, but also a revised definition of intimacy.

“I think the play ultimately proposes a return to a kind of radical intimacy, one that is not just sexual but erotic in the larger sense of the word: a true physical, emotional and spiritual connection...I find that quite beautiful,” Medeiros said.

“In the Next Room” (or The Vibrator Play) opened at The Seeler Studio Theater on Wednesday, Apr. 30 and will run through Saturday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m. each night. Tickets are $6 for Middlebury College students and available at go/boxoffice.


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