Head Trick Theatre Presents WATCH ON THE RHINE

"It's an indulgence to sit in a room and discuss your beliefs as if they were a juicy piece of gossip." From the Farrellys' living room in Washington, the Nazis and the war in Europe seem very far away - until the war comes to them, when Fanny's daughter Sara brings her anti-fascist husband home after twenty years abroad. Kurt, Sara, and their children aren't Fanny's only guests, and conflict soon arises between them and an opportunistic count with Nazi sympathies, forcing the Farrellys to choose between standing by and standing up.

Watch on the Rhine confronts an American family with the struggle between fascists and freedom fighters in their own home: Lillian Hellman strips away the civility and intrigue of a comedy to reveal the violence and immediacy of a political thriller, showing us the impossibility of shutting our eyes to the crisis around us. "Hellman wrote this before the U.S. joined the war at the end of 1941," explains artistic director Rebecca Maxfield. "The world already saw what was happening and she didn't want America or Americans to be bystanders."

Watch on the Rhine continues Head Trick's 2018-19 season, "Making a World", which asks audiences to join Head Trick's performers in creating new worlds through innovative approaches to three classics. "This season grew out of the idea of escapism and fantasy," Maxfield says. "We wanted to ask: Is there a world we're running to, when we say a play is escapist? And does that world look the same if you're a woman, or gay, or a person of color? It's really about the purpose of the stories we tell each other and ourselves."

WITH:
Eden Casteel
Paula Faber
Ian Hudgins
Ibrahima Tylar Jahumpa
Ezra Jordan
Charles Lafond
Elizabeth Parent
Christine Pavao
Emma Sheldon
Jack Sheldon
Andrew Stigler

Head Trick Theatre is a performing group based in Providence, RI that puts on innovative productions of classic plays with a focus on the importance of liveness. Recent productions include Much Ado About Nothing, a feminist/gay look at Shakespeare's classic battle of wits; God of Vengeance, Sholem Asch's controversial drama about a good Jewish daughter who falls in love with a prostitute employed by her father, and Gabriel, George Sand's feminist parable performed by a cast of female and non-binary actors. Also upcoming: Goblin Market (spring 2019).

For more information, visit http://www.headtricktheatre.org or email headtricktheatre@gmail.com.