Thurs 11/10 *Pay What You Can Preview* @ 7:30pm
Friday 11/11 *Opening Night* @ 7:30pm
Sat 11/12 *Matinee* @ 2:00pm
Sat 11/12 @ 7:30pm
Thurs 11/17 @ 7:30pm
Friday 11/18 @ 7:30pm
Sat 11/19 *Matinee* @ 2:00pm
Sat 11/19 @ 7:30pm
Selkies are mythical creatures that appear as seals in the sea, but they have the ability to remove their seal pelts and emerge in human form to travel on land. However, selkies cannot return to the sea without their seal pelt. In the traditional folktale, The Selkie Wife, a fisherman falls in love with a selkie and steals her pelt forcing her to stay on land with him in hopes that they will marry. Most versions of this tale span years in which she has his children, but always longs to return to the sea.
Thanks to a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, we were able to conduct Devising New Theatre residencies with community partners as well as a cast of CTC students. We examined the original folktale narrative and some of its variations, exploring its themes, identifying toxic behaviors present within the characters’ relationships and then began to devise how we would reinvent and perform it. Devising theatre is a playbuilding process in which all participants are performers and writers, creating a new original script together through acting exercises, improvisation, discussion and writing prompts.
This show includes themes of loss, separation, and toxic relationships.
All ages are welcome at CTC at Parent’s Discretion. The Selkie Wife is recommended for ages 11 and above.
Selkie folklore originates as oral stories on the islands and shorelines around Scotland, Ireland, Norway and nearby areas. Stories of selkies were first written down in the 18th and 19th centuries, though we can assume that they existed long before then in the tradition of oral storytelling. There are many stories about selkies and the story of the Selkie Wife has many variations of its own. When I first read the story of the Selkie Wife, it troubled me. The Selkie Wife is traditionally portrayed as a victim who is helpless to the things that are happening around her. When she is finally able to make a choice for herself by the end of the story, she’s forced to decide between two things that she loves – her children or returning home to the sea. It is because the story troubled me that I wanted to unpack it with women and young people in our community. I wanted to know what they saw in the story and to have them break it apart with me and reassemble it for ourselves. Folklore of the oral tradition has always evolved, and while there is something to be learned from the past, I believe that we must give ourselves permission to retell stories in the ways that fit our own meanings and needs. The most sacred part of folklore is that it is alive as an artform. Forcing folklore into verbatim is the opposite of its origin.
As I shared this folktale with women and girls in the community, I think I expected to find common ground or a majority opinion leaning towards one ending or another. What I found instead was a wealth of creativity and ideas to reinvent the story in many different ways. Our participants wanted the selkie wife to choose to take her children to the sea with her, they wanted her children to split up and be divided between mother and father depending on their devotion, they wanted to invent a selkie brother who would come and find his sister and help her come home to the sea, they wanted sister selkies to give pieces of their pelt so that the selkie wife could create a new pelt, and on and on. Again and again, I’ve been the recipient of inventive new ways that the story could go. I believe that all of our participants contributed ideas that I would never have thought of by myself. It would be impossible to make all of the ideas fit in one play, however every notion enriched our process of examining our options and making decisions to honor the spirit of what was being shared.
The most universal commonality between all of our participants was the desire to see the selkie wife character solve her own problems and choose for herself.
The most universal experience I’ve had in this process was that of people being willing to be curious, to share creatively, to help, and to verbalize support.
And that’s what this project has taught me about feminism this year. I believe that the core and the future of feminism is recognizing women’s authority to make decisions for themselves in all the various ways that is best for them individually and how we make each other stronger when we share with and support the women in our lives.
I’ve felt humbled by this opportunity. I’m grateful for everyone’s patience with me and my guidance of this process. I’m so proud of the cast who have truly invested in the devising process and have put the story at the center of our efforts, while being so genuinely accepting, respectful, creative, and fun. My very deepest gratitude goes to Aletia Robey and Meg Caudill, two beautiful souls and artists, who have put so much time and love into this project.
It is so much better because of you.
Bea Friesen is a senior at the J. Graham Brown School and has been attending CTC for about 6 years. Their favorite roles at CTC include Boyet in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Peggy in The Children’s Hour and Dogberry from Much Ado About Nothing with Kentucky Shakespeare.
Charlotte Meeley is a junior at the J. Graham Brown School entering her 5th year with CTC. Credits include Romeo & Juliet, The Hound of the Baskervilles (Stage Management), The Hardcore Club’s Haunted Stories Tour (Directing), The Children’s Hour (Evelyn), Hamlet (Bernardo/Player Queen), Young Playwrights Festival 2020, Pride and Prejudice (Lady Anne de Bourgh), and Young Playwrights Festival 2019. Other theatre – Urning It (Nat) and Benny the Bearded Frog (Benny) with the Brown School, and Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice) with Kentucky Shakespeare’s Globe Players.
Chloë Fitch is a senior at the J. Graham Brown School and has been a student at CTC since the third grade. Some of her credits include Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Rosalie Wells in The Children’s Hour. In addition to acting Chloe is thrilled to help teach and direct the apprentice level class at CTC. She could not be more honored to be a part of this project and cannot wait to share The Selkie Wife with you!
Lila Whaley is in 7th grade at Meredith Dunn School. Lila has been attending classes at CTC since they were 10. Lila’s credits include The Wizard of Oz, Aristocats, Aladdin, Seussical the Musical, and Madagascar.
Lorena “Lore” Rodriguez) is a freshman at Atherton High School and has been attending CTC classes since fall of 2021. This is her second mainstage production at CTC, her first one being The Hound of the Baskervilles (Laura Lyons). Lore loves Taylor Swift so very much.
Kaileigh Chesman is a sophomore at the J. Graham Brown school and has been a part of Commonwealth Theatre Center for 8 years. She has been in many summer academies and mainstage plays such as, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Welcome to Wandaland, The Secret Garden, and Love’s Labour’s Lost. She thanks her parents, grandparents, and friends for giving her rides to and from rehearsal and Heather Burns for directing this amazing show.
Nate Brantley is an actor/director from the Louisville area. His performance resume includes Hamlet, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, and The Liar. Directing credits include Little Red Riding and the 7 Hoods (2022 Young Playwrights Festival) and two Haunted Stories shows for CTC’s annual Fall Festival. Nate has been at Walden since he was 7 and intends to get a BFA.
Sophia Retone is a senior at Atherton High School and has been attending classes at CTC for 5 years. Her most recent performances at CTC were in Romeo and Juliet (Juliet) and The Children’s Hour (Mary Tilford). She is a KYGSA 21 Drama alumni and was a part of 2022 KY Shakespeare’s Globe Players.
Sylvia Buchenberger is a freshman in high school, and has been at CTC since 4th grade. Sylvia has performed in Sincerely Blue and Brightside in the 2022 Young Playwrights Festival. Sylvia has also been in Romeo and Juliet (Lady Montague) for the 2022 Young American Shakespeare Festival. She is very excited to be in The Selkie Wife, and had a great time working with such wonderful people.
Teddy Weber is an eighth grade student at Western Middle School for the Performing Arts. She has been attending CTC classes since she was 7 years old. She has been in multiple Summer academy shows such as Alice In Wonderland (bird and ensemble), Wizard Of Oz (Ensemble), James and The Giant Peach (Ensemble), and 1,001 Nights (Ensemble). She was also in the 2020 Young Playwrights Festival and the Young Company show The Hound of the Baskervilles: A Comic Thriller Starring Jennie Watson and Shirley Holmes (Shirley Holmes). She has participated in plays outside of CTC such as Seussical The Musical (Who and Who reporter) at St.Francis School and then did Seussical the Musical (Who) again at a YPAS musical theater camp. She was also in The Lion King Jr (Rafiki) at Bloom Elementary.
Zaden Boeckman is a 10th grader at Jeffersontown High School and has been attending classes at CTC since 2019. She has performed in the 2022 Young Playwrights Festival and was in Eurydice for the 2022 Young American Shakespeare Festival. Outside of CTC, Zaden performed in Just Another High School Play at Jeffersontown High School.
Written by: The Directors, Cast, and Community Partners
Directed by: Heather Burns
Assistant Director: Meg Caudill
Fiber Artist: Aletia Robey
Costume and Properties Design: Lindsay Chamberlin
Costume Specialist: Amy Davis
Scenic & Lighting Designer: Gerry Kean
Stage Manager: Lu Schmidt
Music and vocals: Jacqui Blue
Original music composition Where (Dinna Ken) by Jacqui Blue. Music and vocals by Jacqui Blue.
We are grateful to all of our community partners and supportive friends. Special thanks to Jennifer Wade-Hesse, Shelly Werts, Lotus Counseling & Wellness Center, Mera Kathryn Corlett, Margaret Phillips, Robert McFarland, Tessa McShane, William & Carol Burns, Sean Burns, Tony Dingman, Ambrose Dingman-Burns, Kim Root, David Dingman, Jefferson County Public Schools, Olmsted Academy South, Lotus Counseling & Wellness Center, Bellewood & Brooklawn, and the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
