Tuesday, February 8, 2022

7:30 pm PST

The Ladies of the Camellias

by Lillian Groag

Directed by Joanne Doyle

The poster for the show The Ladies of the Camellias.

CAMPUS VACCINATION POLICY: Beginning October 18, 2021, all attendees at indoor or outdoor social events on campus must be fully vaccinated and must present proof of full vaccination status at entry to the event. Proof of a negative PCR test result from within 72 hours prior to the event will be accepted only for those individuals who have an exemption. Individuals who are not yet eligible to receive a vaccine (ages 11 and younger) are not required to show proof of vaccination or provide pre-entry testing results. Please see the Caltech Together website for more information.

This farce is set in 1897 Paris and gleefully imagines a meeting (which never occurred) between the two greatest actresses of the era: Sarah Bernhardt and Eleanora Duse. Groag's conceit is that the divas are starring in the same theatre in back-to-back productions of The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas. The play opens as the ingénue playing the maid quits. The great Dumas shows up. The leading men bemoan the tribulations of acting with their legendary leads, when a young Russian anarchist named Ivan arrives and threatens to blow everyone up. Enter the Divas! Using their only weapon-theatrical dialogue-they uncover Ivan's true ambition, while Cyrano de Bergerac, theatrical panache, and a secret passageway, lead to the denouement.

"The Ladies of the Camellias" is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists, Inc.