The Yellow Wallpaper - Westchester Cultural Arts Center

With the support of Homestead Center for the Arts and in association with the National Alliance on Mental Illness What if Works announces an exciting, multimedia adaptation of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by 19th century author and social activist Charlotte Perkins Gilman featuring Marla Lopez as The Wife in this solo performance presentation.

Gothic in style and set in the year of its publication in 1892 What if Works’ unique staging presents Gilman’s semi-biographical short story verbatim. In an age in which women possessed few rights, being raised to respect and honor an ironclad patriarchy, the wife of a renowned physician is prescribed a three-month “Rest Cure” at an isolated, remote, country mansion as a curative therapy to overcome her unpredictable emotions following the birth of her child. In the eyes of medical science, the “Rest Cure” succeeded in eliminating all distractions that stood in the way of a woman regaining control over irrational hysteria. Such distractions included family, friends, and newborn baby. In an attempt to adjust to the nursery-turned-playroom to which she has been confined, the intricately detailed yellow wallpaper gradually morphs and changes as her mind dives deeper into a psychological journey that has kept its readers spellbound for one-hundred and thirty-two years. Still on the reading list in many schools across the country theatre audiences can now engage in the journey of a fearless author who stepped forward to raise her voice over a mental condition that even in the 21st century continues to be stigmatized

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