Performance

ONE NIGHT ONLY! Thursday, October 2nd, 2014 at 8pm.

Suggested Donation $5 — General Admission — No reservations required

Location

Vivat Regina and Overtones were presented at Unity Somerville, 6 William St., Somerville.

The performance space is not wheelchair-accessible.

Parking on William St is by permit only. General parking is available on College Ave. Please read signs carefully to avoid ticketing.

In this sequel to Victorian mystery caper, Mrs. Hawking, Mary Stone is doing her best learn the trade of her mistress's work as a covert agent for women victimized by Victorian society. Mrs. Hawking's nephew Nathaniel, too, struggles to find what contribution he can make to his aunt's work, and neither one seems to be serving to their mentor's satisfaction. But when a mysterious lady under a false name comes to them with a next-to-impossible mission, Mrs. Hawking and her assistants must bring together all their varied strengths and capabilities in order to see that justice is done. Vivat Regina is the second in the Mrs. Hawking series, but does not require knowledge of the previous installment to be followed or enjoyed.

Overtones tells the story of two women having tea. On the surface, their conversation is pleasant but loaded, with each woman hoping to take something precious from the other. Not content to settle for subtext, playwright Alice Gerstenberg employs two extra actresses to portray each woman's hidden desires. This 1915 play is not only one of the earliest examples of split protagonists, but one of the earliest popular experimental plays by an American woman.