The Rivals at Parson's Nose Theater

A reading of playwright Hoyt Hilsman's new adaptation of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 18th century comedy. First performed in 1775, The Rivals follows the complicated courtship of Lydia Languish and Captain Jack Absolute, whose attempts to navigate love, family expectations and elaborate deceptions lead to a cascade of comic misunderstandings. At the center of the action is the famously eccentric Mrs. Malaprop, whose gloriously misused vocabulary gave the English language the term malapropism. Hilsman's adaptation brings fresh energy while retaining Sheridan's sharp observations about romance, social class and vanity.