DePauw Theatre to present ‘The Revolutionists’ April 18-21

Four women who lived during the French Revolution (from left) — deposed queen Marie Antoinette (Rachel Schludecker), Haitian rebel Marianne Angelle (Laila Padilla), playwright Olympe De Gouge (Elizabeth Davis) and assassin Charlotte Corday (Carly Hajducky) — hang out, murder Marat, lose their heads and try to beat back the extremist insanity in Paris of 1793 in the DePauw Theatre production of “The Revolutionists.”

Courtesy photo/HA CHU

DePauw University Theatre will present four performances of Lauren Gunderson’s “The Revolutionists” April 18-21 in Moore Theatre at the Green Center for the Performing Arts located on the DePauw campus.

Described by the playwright as “a revolutionary dream fugue,” “The Revolutionists” imagines a French Revolution-era friendship between playwright Olympe de Gouges, assassin Charlotte Corday, Haitian rebel Marianne Angelle and the queen of France, Marie Antoinette herself.

The DePauw production of Gunderson’s irreverent comedy unites 18th-century France’s Reign of Terror with 1990s femme punk to explore ideas about violence and legacy, art and activism, feminism and terrorism, extremist insanity and chosen sisterhood and how we actually go about changing the world.

“The Revolutionists” has been produced around the country, where it has been described as “wonderfully wild and raucous” and “an invigorating journey” (The Cincinnati Enquirer); “sparkling” and “very, very funny” (Houston Chronicle); and “ingeniously conceived” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution).

The DePauw production is directed by Dennis Sloan, assistant professor of theater in the Department of Communication and Theatre.

Show times are Thursday through Saturday, April 18-20 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 21 at 3 p.m. Tickets, which are $10 for adults and free to all students, can be obtained online at dpugreencenter.eventbright.com, or in person at the Green Center box office, beginning 60 minutes prior to any ticketed performance.