Vol. 17, No. 20	Feb. 19, 1998

Actress presents solo show

Actress and playwright Ann Timmons will present a free, one-woman show, Off The Wall: The Life and Works of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, at 8 p.m., Monday, March 9, in Bacchus Theatre.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935), great niece of reformers Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher, also was concerned with the complacency of a corrupt and retrogressive society. Although she struggled throughout her life with the effects of childhood abandonment, poverty and reccurring depression that virtually incapacitated her, she was compelled to carry out her mission of reform and focused her attention on the plight of women and workers.

An avowed socialist, she refused to label herself a feminist, preferring to see her role as that of a humanist crusader in a masculine world. In her performance, Timmons shows Gilman's struggle to change the world and provides an intimate glimpse of her ongoing internal battles.

Timmons has performed in solo theatre works since 1979. Before a successful Off-Broadway run of Off the Wall in 1992, she toured Lincoln Center and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with The Pen and the Podium, a compilation of monodramas.

She has performed at schools and colleges throughout the U.S. and has been lauded by critics for her "engaging and spirited performances."

Additionally, she has been in 10 Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and her film and television credits include Wall Street, Saturday Night Live and Another World.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wellesley College, Timmons also trained at London's prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama and holds an MFA from the University of Illinois.

Presented in celebration of Women's History Month, Timmons UD appearance is held in conjunction with English Alumni Speaker's Night and is sponsored by UD Department of English, the Visiting Women's Scholars Fund and the Office of Women's Affairs.

For more information or to request special needs accommodations, call 831-1974.