Jan. 22-Feb. 8: REP presents 'Millionairess'
UD's Resident Ensemble Players to stage comedy 'The Millionairess'
8:54 a.m., Jan. 14, 2015--“I am the most interesting woman in England,” declares Epifania Ognisanti di Parerga, the richest woman in the world in George Bernard Shaw’s comedy The Millionairess, which will be presented by the University of Delaware Resident Ensemble Players (REP) from Jan. 22 through Feb. 8 in the Roselle Center for the Arts.
“Eppy” is spoiled, immensely wealthy, and utterly miserable. Disgusted with her husband Alastair and furious with her paramour Adrian, Eppy sets her sights on a new love interest, an Egyptian doctor who is not the least impressed with her money or her formidable personality.
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But before the stars can align, each must pass a monetary test — the doctor must turn £150 into £50,000 within six months, and Eppy must begin with only 35 pence and support herself for the same amount of time.
Ian Belknap, artistic director of New York’s The Acting Company, helms the REP production.
“Eppy is so rude and so funny and hurls the greatest insults of all time,” says Belknap. “It’s a very accessible, quick moving, fast paced comedy. Shaw said that when he wrote The Millionairess, he wanted to create a roster of hilarious people. He certainly accomplished that. The play looks at the world both through the eyes of the very wealthy – the 1 percent – and through those that have very little. The play is ultimately a satire and finds a lot of its humor in these wacky characters and in the hypocrisy that the 99 percent have to live in a world that is owned and run by the 1 percent.”
Performance information
The Millionairess will open on Saturday, Jan. 24, and will run through Sunday, Feb. 8.
Preview performances of the play are on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 22 and 23, at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $23-$29, with discounts for students and senior adults.
Tickets can be purchased online at the REP website, by phone at 302-831-2204, or in person at the Roselle Center for the Arts, 110 Orchard Rd., Newark, Monday through Friday, from noon until 5 p.m.
Prologues -- free preshow presentations -- will take place on Saturday, Jan. 31 and Sunday, Feb. 8, beginning at 1:15 p.m. in the Thompson Theatre. David Satran, from UD’s Associate in Arts Program, will discuss George Bernard Shaw and The Millionairess on Jan. 31, and REP actor Lee Ernst will discuss his experience as an actor in the play on Feb. 8.
Audience members have a chance to engage with the cast members at a talkback in the theatre following the performance on Thursday, Jan. 29, and at an informal gathering in the lobby with snacks and a cash bar on Thursday, Feb. 5.
The Roselle Center for the Arts is located at 110 Orchard Rd., on the corner of Orchard Road and Kent Way, in Newark, Delaware. A convenient parking garage is attached to the Center.
A complete schedule, directions, and information on purchasing tickets can be found at the REP’s website or by calling the REP’s box office at 302-831-2204.
The REP’s performances are sponsored in part by the Delaware Division of the Arts. Artist transportation is provided in part by Amtrak.
About the REP
The Resident Ensemble Players (REP) is a professional theatre company located at the University of Delaware whose mission is to engage audiences throughout the tri-state area with frequent productions of outstanding classic, modern, and contemporary plays performed in a wide variety of styles that celebrate and demonstrate the range, breadth, and ability to transform a full-time ensemble of nationally respected stage actors who have been trained in the same way.
The REP is committed to create future audiences for live theatre by offering its productions at low prices that enable and encourage the attendance of everyone in the region, regardless of income.