Virtual theatre production features cast of Ripon alumni Saturday

A cast of Ripon-connected thespians is featured in an upcoming Zoom production directed by Associate Professor of English Ann Pleiss Morris. The production will begin at 6:30 p.m. Central Time Saturday, March 20. Tickets can be purchased here.

The play, Margaret Cavendish’s comedy “The Sociable Companions” is being presented by Sweet Tea Shakespeare in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

“This play is part of my research for my book project on female playwrights in the time of and after Shakespeare,” Pleiss Morris says. “It sheds light on what it means to rebuild after a war and how men and women’s lives might be reshaped in the midst of rumble.”

Written in the early days of the Restoration after the English civil war, the story follows a group of cavaliers who return home to find their family estates have vanished and that they have no viable options for income. Meanwhile, their sisters find their marriage prospects bleak and their brothers less than helpful. This band of sisters joins together and uses their wits to navigate the marriage front in the midst of the English Restoration.

“As far as I know, this play has only had one other performance, so this show will be an opportunity to watch a gem that has spent most of its time in the archives,” Pleiss Morris says.

The cast includes:

• Jessie Lillis ’13 of Staunton, Virginia
• Charlotte Lee Wahle ’13 of Marshall, Minnesota
• Amanda Finn Haggerty ’14 of Chicago, Illinois
• Brennan Kane ’17 of Anoka, Minnesota
• Allison Rose Macknick ’17 of Chicago, Illinois
• Sophie Widman ’18 of Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Jimmy Ballesteri ’19 of Plymouth, Wisconsin
• Sam Ginkel ’19 of Mequon, Wisconsin
• Bailey Jerrick ’20 of Stoughton, Wisconsin
• Ryan Krogsgaard ’20 of Lewisville, Texas
• DeShawn Thomas ’20 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Ben Morris of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Pleiss Morris’s husband
• Philly D. Slim, who will do the preshow and intermission music. He is the son of Director Emeritus of Theatre Bob Amsden and Professor Emerita of Education Jeanne Williams.
• Dan Miles ’14 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will be the host of the show.