While reporting on the sensational events surrounding a murder, newspaper journalist Susan Glaspell saw the opportunity to tell a story of rich characters and deep themes. In August of 1916, she gave the theatrical world Trifles, the story of a man heinously hacked to death at his home and the pursuant investigation.

The one-act piece written in the midst of the first wave of the Feminist Movement centers its narrative voice around the women in the story. It is one of the first plays to explore a female character’s perspective and acknowledges the emotional and physical abuse that mars some relationships, a lamentably uncommon plot point at the time.

As literary and dramatic critic Sharon Friedman wrote of the play many years later,"Feminism as a theme should not be understood as simply a call for women's rights on the part of the playwright or her characters. Rather, it may be a statement about feminine consciousness, the feelings and perceptions associated with a female character's identity of a woman."

Glaspell’sTrifles is an intense, exciting mystery play which we are overjoyed to reinvigorate with this treatment.

WHAT: Trifles by Susan Glaspell

George Bernard Shaw wrote “St Joan” in 1923, three years after Joan of Arc’s canonization by the Roman Catholic Church. This present-day adaptation will be performed as a radio-play and released on Goldfinch Productions’ Podcast Network on Sunday, April 25.

Among acclaimed British Isles playwrights, Shaw is considered second only to Shakespeare. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925 when they celebrated him “for his work which is marked by both idealism and humanity.” In his preface to “St Joan,” Shaw wrote, “There are no villains in the piece. Crime, like disease, is not interesting: it is something to be done away with by general consent, and that is all there is about it. It is what men do at their best, with good intentions, and what normal men and women find that they must and will do in spite of their intentions, that really concern us.”

In the original play, we are told the story of Joan of Arc, a medieval teenage girl who leads the French army to victory over English invaders. The young warrior is driven to action by the plight of her starving village only to be burned at the stake when her popularity threatens those in power. In our retelling, Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist, stands in for Joan of Arc and the battles she fights are about climate change. This new play follows Thunberg (“Joan”) to America where she fights for climate change regulation, enlisting her new friends Jay Inslee and Kamala Harris and battling climate deniers, represented by the likes of Mitch McConnell and Tucker Carlson. Along the way, “Joan” is met with both resistance and support by such players as Bernie Sanders, Pope Francis, Kellyanne Conway, Pete Buttigieg, Stephen Miller, and Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

“Saint Joan in America” is directed and adapted by Ed Thorpe, who also serves as Board Vice President and Resident Dramaturge of Goldfinch Productions. The show is produced and engineered by Kevin McManus, who serves as the company’s Artistic Director.

Ed Thorpe says of this production “this season, our company is performing shows that address some of the most powerful issues of our time and we are doing through plays that were written a hundred years ago. Shaw is revered because he wrote plays that examined the great issues of the day and their impact on everyday people. This particular piece talks about the relationship between common people and those who govern them. It took a heroic teenager to spark a change in that relationship. I feel that the play has a message that needs to be heard and the best way to make that happen is to put it in a modern setting with people struggling over the most important issue in world history, climate change.”

WHAT: Saint Joan in American – a Radio Play

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"Rachel" by Angelina Weld Grimké was the first play written by an African American with a fully African American cast produced by a theater for a mixed-race audience in the United States. First performed over one-hundred-years ago, this deeply powerful work by Grimké— a journalist, poet, and educator— was written as a response to D.W. Griffith’s filmic celebration of the Ku Klux Klan, “The Birth of a Nation.”

The play examines the life of a young African American woman, Rachel Loving, as she comes to realize the dreadful reality of racism in her community and the harm that may come to the black children she brings into this world.

The presentation of this marvelous piece in 1916 marked the first time theater was used to enlighten the white community as to the tragic conditions of African American life in the United States.

Rachel by Angelina Weld Grimké was the first play written by an African American with a fully African American cast produced by a theater for a mixed-race audience in the United States. First performed over one-hundred-years ago, this deeply powerful work by Grimké— a journalist, poet, and educator— was written as a response to D.W. Griffith’s filmic celebration of the Ku Klux Klan, “The Birth of a Nation.”

The play examines the life of a young African American woman, Rachel Loving, as she comes to realize the dreadful reality of racism in her community and the harm that may come to the black children she brings into this world.

The presentation of this marvelous piece in 1916 marked the first time theater was used to enlighten the white community as to the tragic conditions of African American life in the United States.

WHAT: Rachel by Angelina Weld Grimké

In this cautionary tale written in 1935 by Sinclair Lewis, a populist is elected by an overwhelming majority to the US Presidency. The power-hungry, maniacal new leader proceeds to degrade the institutions of democracy and scurrilously attacks those who oppose his dangerous agenda.

We follow the story of the rebellion as they rise against the destruction of their country and its values.

“Every man is a king so long as he has someone to look down on.”

In this classic Christopher Marlowe tale, we follow a young scholar in his search for ultimate power, willing to risk anything and lose everything to attain it.

Just in time for Halloween, this original made-for-radio adaption is sure to keep the audience in a spooky mood!

Thank you for tuning in to the Goldfinch Podcast Network. Goldfinch Productions is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit theater organization located in Lacey, Washington. We designed this network to engage our audience with new and unique digital media content. Please visit https://goldfinchproductions.org for more information about the company, our people, and our projects. You may also contribute to keep our work alive. All donations are tax deductible, and no amount is too small.