Lauren Gunderson's Comedy THE REVOLUTIONISTS to be Presented by The Theater Project

If you thought that all great playwrights of the past were men, Lynn Marie Macy would like a word with you. The actor, playwright, director, and theatre historian will portray the eighteenth-century playwright Olympe de Gouges in The Theater Project’s production of Lauren Gunderson’s The Revolutionists, July 11-21 in West Orange, as part of Luna-Stage/">Luna Stage's summer sublet program.

Olympe de Gouges (1748 –1793) was a French playwright and political activist. She is best known for her writings on women’s rights and the abolition of slavery.

Macy’s connection to De Gouges goes far beyond that of an actor to a role. She has long been fascinated with women playwrights of past eras such as De Gouges, who impressed her as “a woman ahead of her time” and “a visionary.” Macy points out that not only did De Gouges write at least thirty plays, she was also a political activist who was “fired up by social justice and wrote extensively on society's ills.” De Gouges promoted the rights of women, was one of France’s earliest public opponents of slavery, and even proposed a program very much like social security. Macy’s dedication to preserving the work of historical women playwrights once led her to directing one of De Gouges’ plays, making it even more striking that she will now portray the oft overlooked eighteenth century female dramatist in a play by the current and widely produced feminist dramatist Lauren Gunderson.
 
As an actor, Macy most recently appeared as Queen Alonsa in The Tempest with Theater 2020 in NYC. She is also a Jane Austen fan and has adapted two of the author’s works for the stage, most notably Northanger Abbey, A Romantic Gothic Comedy, which had productions in New York City and California. She is an active member of The Theater Project Playwrights Group and a Resident Playwright at Theater 2020. And she is especially proud of her role as Associate Producer and Resident Director of the On Her Shoulders program at New Perspectives Theatre Company, a reading series and database that celebrates the 1000-year history of women's contribution to the theatrical cannon.