Claudia Stevens Presents "Blue Lias" At Williams College
WILLIAMSTOWN - Claudia Stevens, playwright, composer, and performance artist, will present the biography of paleontologist Mary Anning in the form of a "postmodern musical" on Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 8 p.m.The performance will take place on the CenterStage at the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance at Williams College. It is free and open to the public.
In this one-woman musical, Stevens plays both the roles of a narrator and of the character Mary Anning.
Focusing not so much on Anning's career, but on her personal life and tragedies, the performance explores flaws in nineteenth-century society and their negative influence on the individual.
The music composed by Allen Shearer and the few humorous moments pleasantly vary the otherwise somber analysis of discrimination and social dogma.
Oxyweekly, in reviewing a performance, reported that "Stevens said, 'I didn't fabricate any of it,' regarding Blue Lias' thematic complexity. As for the somber tone, she pointed out that in some respects, society has not made much progress since Anning's lifetime in the mid-1800s."
Stevens completed the text for "Blue Lias" while in residence at Brandeis University. The official premiere occurred at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in March 2007.
Stevens is the author of a number of contemporary solo plays, including "The Poisoner on the Train," and "Dreadful Story, Guys."
Also a musician, she has been the featured artist in several Performance Today broadcasts on National Public Radio.
Stevens holds degrees in music from Vassar College, University of California at Berkeley, and Boston University. She is a visiting scholar in music at the College of William and Mary.
