An award-winning New York City theatre company committed to performing dramas with an eye on positive social change will perform three plays this month at Cayuga Community College.
The New Perspectives Theatre Company (NPTC), under the direction of Cayuga alum Melody Brooks, will perform “Oh My, Goodness,” “Our Lady of Broad Street,” and “Suffragists from the Stage” at Cayuga’s Irene A. Bisgrove Theatre in Auburn. The dramas merge serious topics and historical facts to create entertaining plays addressing past and current social issues.
Performances of “Oh My, Goodness” and “Our Lady of Broad Street” will begin at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 28, 2020, and the airing of “Suffragists from the Stage” is 7:30 p.m. Feb. 29, 2020.
“I am delighted to be bringing this work to my hometown and to Cayuga Community College, where then-Professor Dan Labeille inspired me to pursue a professional career in the theatre. It’s especially exciting to be presenting a piece on Theatre Women in the Suffrage Movement so near to Seneca Falls,” said Brooks.
Conversations about performing the plays at the College’s Bisgrove Theatre started in 2019, when Brooks returned to campus to work with students and Cayuga’s Harlequin Productions Director Bob Frame. The Cayuga County Community College Foundation’s Cultural Enrichment Fund agreed to sponsor the performances late the same year.
“The College Foundation is delighted to be able to create this opportunity for our students to attend these performances without cost and for our greater community to be able to join us, especially since Cayuga County played such a significant role in the suffragette movement,” said Guy Thomas Cosentino, the Executive Director of the Cayuga County Community College Foundation.
The three plays feature a variety of topics and techniques. “Oh My, Goodness,” by Cayenne Douglass, is based on a real event about a random connection tying two strangers together in a life-or-death struggle despite them being thousands of miles apart. “Our Lady of Broad Street,” by Jane Denitz Smith, tells how the Virgin of Guadalupe begins appearing to a New York architect after she restores a historic hotel.
The final show, “Suffragists from the Stage,” originally created by Mari Lyn Henry and further developed by Brooks, details the Women’s Suffrage Movement and the role Theatre Women played in women earning the right to vote. The performance will use the words of prominent suffragists to tell the story.
Saturday’s show also includes presentations on the Seneca Falls Convention and other historical events, plus trivia and fun facts about the Suffrage Movement.
There is limited seating for the performances. Single-show general admission tickets are $20, with $14 senior admission. Dual general admission tickets for the Friday and Saturday performances can be purchased for the reduced combined rate of $30, or $21 for senior admission. All admission is free for Cayuga students. All tickets are available at the door.
For more information about NPTC, visit https://www.nptnyc.org.