‘Taming’ the nation with an interesting twist
By Ashley Shah
“The Taming,” written by Lauren Gunderson, inspired by Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” will be the second to last performance for Scripps Ranch Theatre this season. It will run from April 15 to May 1.
“In my opinion, this is one of Lauren Gunderson’s best plays. It’s very witty,” director Marti Gobel said.
This comedy centers around the main question of what our nation would look like had women been the founding fathers.
“This play offers a look into something we have never seen, which is a female as a president, but it does it in a humorous, light way,” Gobel said.
The play begins in modern day Atlanta, Georgia, at a Miss America Pageant.
“Contestant Katherine of the pageant is using her platform to discuss issues our nation is facing,” Gobel said.
To further her aspirations, Katherine meets two other women at a pageant event who she believes can help her.
“She meets a high level aide to a southern Republican senator, and [also meets a] bleeding-heart liberal. Katherine tries to unite these two characters for her future plans,” Gobel said.
Patricia, the aide to the Republican senator, is played by Katee Drysdale.
“I really liked the idea this play presents,” Drysdale said. “It shows that if we could forget political divides and recognize that both sides don’t really have bad intentions, we could have an opportunity to converse and fix a lot of what’s broken in our system.”
Bianca, the bleeding-heart liberal, is played by Sutheshna Mani.
Through a series of events, Katherine is able to get these two women together, and explains her plans.
The rest of the show takes place in a “fever” dream that Patricia has.
“In the dream, they are taken back to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and each character plays a founding father. They work on rewriting the Constitution,” Gobel said.
Katherine is George Washington; Patricia is James Madison; Bianca is Charles Picknee.
Kylie Young plays Katherine.
“The rest of the play is Katherine basically living out what happened back then,” Young said.
Casting for “The Taming” began in December.
“I remember reading the description of the show, and loved it. It really shows how crazy dreams are possible. I loved Katherine’s character as well. She’s a very complex, layered character,” Young said.
Rehearsals began in mid-March, and will continue until opening night.
This play provided Gobel a unique opportunity.
“I actually have acted in this play before. When I was in the play, it was directed by a male. I wanted to direct it a different way, and see it from the female lens,” Gobel said. “When I acted in the play, we were casted to act like men, but I wanted to see this as women acting as women.”
Tickets for the play can be purchased by visiting Scripps Ranch Theatre’s website, scrippsranchtheatre.org, or by calling the box office: (858) 395-0573.
“This play is definitely a comedy. It’ll be a fun ride,” Gobel said.
