Westminster University Theatre Department Will Perform THE HATMAKER'S WIFE

Westminster University’s theatre season will kick off with The Hatmaker’s Wife from award-winning playwright Lauren Yee, directed by Dr. Kimberly Jew. Students will perform in The Hatmaker’s Wife in the Dumke Student Theatre on the Westminster University campus October 2-4 and October 9-11 2025, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 per person and free to K-12 students and their chaperones, along with local university students.

In The Hatmaker’s Wife, written by award-winning playwright Lauren Yee, a young woman moves in with her boyfriend expecting domestic bliss, but their new house reveals the magical tale of its previous inhabitants. This sweet and surreal story bends time and space to redefine the idea of family, home, and true love itself.
 

“The Hatmaker’s Wife is a truly surprising play,” said Dr. Jew. “It blends elements of fable and contemporary life in a shiny wrapper of magical realism. The story is as funny as it is tragic, with more layers than an onion. Audiences will leave this play feeling like they have traveled across time, the globe, and the emotional spaces of love, isolation, recognition, and yearning.”
 

“With how complicated and difficult it can be to navigate the world right now, I think for many people, it would be nice to enjoy a show that takes things back to the basic principles of what makes us human–namely, love and compassion,” said Westminster student Noah Schiffman, who portrays Meckel in The Hatmaker’s Wife.

Playwright Lauren Yee is the winner of the Doris Duke Artist Award, the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Horton Foote Prize, the Kesselring Prize, the ATCA/Steinberg Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters literature award, and the Francesca Primus Prize. She has been a finalist for the Edward M. Kennedy Prize and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her plays were the #1 and #2 plays on the 2017 Kilroy’s List. A Residency 5 playwright at Signature Theatre, Yee is also a New Dramatists member (class of 2025), Ma-Yi Writers’ Lab member, former Princeton University Hodder fellow, and Playwrights Realm alumni playwright. Current commissions include Arena Stage, Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Second Stage, South Coast Rep. Yee has also been a writer on Pachinko (Apple TV+), Soundtrack (Netflix), and a soon-to-be announced upcoming FX limited series. She is executive producing the adaptation of Anthony Veasna So’s Afterparties for television. She is currently developing new work for Apple TV+ and Netflix.

Dr. Kimberly M. Jew is an Associate Professor of Theatre and Ethnic Studies at the University of Utah. She specializes in modern and contemporary drama and ethnic American theatre. A theatre generalist by trade, she is the incoming associate editor for Theatre Topics as well as the current co-editor for the upcoming volume, Women’s Innovations in Theatre, Dance and Performers: Leaders, published by Bloomsbury Press. She has directed 20 university productions during her academic career.

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