MONMOUTH,
Ill. – The Monmouth College
Department of Theatre will
present two one-act plays by
pioneer feminist playwright
Susan Glaspell Oct. 5-8 at
the Fusion Theatre in
downtown Monmouth, 230 S.
Main St.
Titled “Pieces of Glaspell,”
the evening will feature two
of Glaspell’s plays that
deal with murder – Trifles and Woman’s
Honor. The plays will
be directed by theatre major
Amanda Grissom ’19 of
Eldridge, Iowa, who grew up
not far from Glaspell’s
hometown. A recipient of the
Pulitzer Prize in Drama,
Glaspell hailed from
Davenport, Iowa, and she
worked for a time for the
Des Moines Daily News.
Trifles is a classic
murder mystery based on a
real-life case Glaspell
covered while working as a
reporter for the Daily
News. Woman’s
Honor is a satirical
piece about an attractive
young man accused of murder
who chooses to suffer for a
crime he did not commit
rather than spoil the honor
of the woman with whom he’d
spent the night of the
murder and who could give
him an alibi.
While Trifles is
a more serious play, Grissom
said Woman’s
Honor is “lighthearted
and funny, but it’s still
making statements about
women in society and what
their perceived roles are.”
“The interesting thing about
doing these two shows
together is they have
similar subjects ... but
they are presented in such
different ways,” said
Grissom. “It’s an
opportunity to have this
conversation with stark
contrasts so audiences will
get different points of view
on the same kinds of
things.”
Trifles was first
performed in 1916, and Woman’s
Honor premiered two
years later.
“Even though these shows are
from a hundred years ago,
Susan still has really
important things to say that
we need to hear today and we
need to engage in and see
today,” said Grissom. “I’m
excited that her work gets
to live on, and I get to be
a part of sharing (it).”
Grissom said she enjoys the
challenge of directing a
play.
“I really love analyzing a
play and figuring out what
the playwright wants to say
and then I get to put my own
creative twist on it,” she
said.
Grissom called immersing
herself in plays “this
strange amount of time when
I’m not myself, but I’m the
most myself I’ve ever been.
... It’s this freeing
experience of just stepping
outside of myself.”
Grissom said she was excited
to follow her passion for
theatre at Monmouth College.
“On my campus visit, I got a
free ticket to see their
production of Frankenstein,
and it was so powerful and
so beautifully done that I
left thinking I had to be a
part of this theatre
department,” she said.
Grissom has done “a little
bit of everything” while
pursuing her theatre major,
including working in the set
shop and various acting
roles, in addition to work
as a dramaturg, props
designer and as the director
for multiple productions.
“That’s one of the nice
things about a small
school,” she said. “You can
have so many opportunities.”
An English minor, Grissom
said she hopes to use that
discipline to secure a day
job in a field such as
editing or tutoring while
she continues to pursue her
passion for the stage.
“In the evenings, I want to
do anything in theatre,” she
said. “I will be the person
who sweeps the stage. I will
be the person who strings
the lights. I’ll be the
person acting. I’ll do
whatever needs to be done to
further theatre.”
# # #
Monmouth College will
present “Pieces of Glaspell,”
featuring Susan Glaspell’s
one-act plays Trifles and Woman’s
Honor, at 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 5-7 and at 2 p.m. Oct.
8 at the Fusion Theatre, 230
S. Main St. Tickets can be
purchased online at
department.monm.edu/theatre.
Tickets are $8 for adults,
$7 for seniors and students,
and $6 for students and
faculty with a Monmouth
College ID. Season tickets,
which provide a 20 percent
discount, are also
available.
