Opposites and obstacles – for me, this is what She Stoops to Conquer is all about. Simple country life versus the lavish, fashionable city. Upper class versus lower class, and how people treat those in both. The old versus the new.  These oppositions create barriers to the characters’ quests for the lives they believe they deserve. Young Marlow’s inability to speak to “proper” women (and his boldness with those of a different caste) is an obstacle both to his and Kate’s happiness. Mrs. Hardcastle places her son Tony in the way of Constance and Hastings’ future, hoping a Tony/Constance union will allow her to keep her niece’s beloved jewels. The patriarch Mr. Hardcastle yearns for the good ol’ days to return, even as his insightful and enlightened daughter epitomizes the future. Throw in some tomfoolery and some elaborate practical jokes and you have a comedy that translates across time and geography.

She Stoops was particularly popular in America in the early nineteenth century, produced countless times by the touring companies that made up professional theatre in those days. In Washington, the play was produced almost every year throughout the 1810s and 1820s. I was intrigued. What made this play so resonant with capital audiences? What could Washington of today learn from Washington of yesteryear? (there’s that “old vs new” again)

Think Washington is crazy now? This is nothing new. This town has been a pile of contradictions since it became the capital in 1800. It took decades for Washington to look like a town at all, let alone the majestic national testament to democracy and freedom it was designed to be. The Capitol and President’s House – the first two buildings begun – weren’t even finished when the British burned them in 1814. The traffic circles we love to hate would have seemed like a dream in a landscape where only a few streets were carved out, and even fewer sidewalks. Cows wandered through town. No joke. Into this rural landscape came presidents, diplomats, congressmen, and their wives and families; they imposed their balls and dinner parties, their wealth and influence on their rustic environment in much the same way that Marlow and Hastings, Kate and Constance do in the Hardcastle house.

Washington today is full of it’s own contradictions. And plenty of obstacles. But again – this is nothing new. Today’s Red State/Blue State gridlock looks like childish bickering when compared to the election of 1828, which hurled personal attacks so vicious – murder, adulterer, even pimp among the insults – that Andrew Jackson’s wife died because of it (at least that’s what he believed). Sometimes a little perspective is good for us. And laughter is always good for the soul. I hope you enjoy our production!