(Pictured: SOU Theatre Students Elizabeth Adams and Violet Love. Photo Credit: Josh Gefken)
Southern Oregon University invites audiences to experience The Welkin, a bold, darkly comic and thought-provoking play by acclaimed British playwright Lucy Kirkwood. Set in rural Suffolk, England, in 1759, the play brings 12 women together to determine the fate of the prisoner Sally Poppy. A murderess who has pled “the belly,” meaning she is pregnant, and the jury must determine whether her claim is true. Their decision forces them to confront questions of justice, prejudice, power and the role of women in a society designed to keep them powerless.
As Halley’s Comet crosses the sky, the women are given an extraordinary position of authority: deciding whether another human being lives or dies. Accustomed to lives defined by marriage, motherhood and relentless domestic labor, they must navigate personal biases, religious expectations and deeply rooted social inequalities.
The playwright Lucy Kirkwood, born in East London in 1984, is known for plays that examine complex social and political issues. She studied English literature at the University of Edinburgh before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her acclaimed works include Chimerica, which received the 2013 Evening Standard Theatre Award for best play, and The Children, which received a 2018 Writers’ Guild Award. Her experience working with Clean Break, a theater company focused on telling the stories of women affected by the criminal justice system, helped inspire The Welkin.
Although set more than 250 years ago, The Welkin carries a striking relevance to contemporary audiences. The director describes it as “a big, messy, hungry play filled with uneasy questions, complex dynamics, and startling community,” noting that the historical setting is part of the play’s magic. Its themes challenge audiences to consider whether society has truly changed.
(Pictured: SOU Theatre Students Elizabeth Adams, Violet Love, and Connor O’Ryan. Photo Credit: Josh Gefken)
At its heart, the play asks what happens when women who have spent their lives looking down at their work and circumstances are finally given permission to look up. As the director explains, “To look up provides imagination, possibility, freedom.” For all its weighty questions, The Welkin is also raucous, funny, tender and deeply human.
As the director observes, the women “bicker and disagree, but they also gossip, laugh wholeheartedly, share intimate experiences that bond them tightly, and hold, sing to, and nurture each other.” Through dark comedy, historical perspective and uncomfortable conversations, Kirkwood challenges audiences to reconsider the relationship between the past and present.
As the director asks, “What are we looking down at? What might it take for us to dare to look up?”
(Pictured: SOU Theatre Students Violet Love and Connor O’Ryan. Photo Credit: Josh Gefken)
The Welkin is rated PG-13 for intimate partner violence, miscarriage and adult themes and will run for approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, with a 15 minute intermission. Performances include both evenings and matinees, Thursday-Saturday, November 12th-14th and 19th-21st at 8pm and Saturday-Sunday, November 21st-22nd at 2pm. Tickets are $25 for general admission/$20 for seniors at https://sou.universitytickets.com. FREE Admission for Students (of any school) and SOU Employees. Tickets can also be purchased in-person at the OCA Box Office one hour prior to the performances, or by phone at 541-552-6348.
Director Biography
Domenique Lozano is delighted to be back working with the SOU Theatre Department. She’s a west coast-based Director, Actress, Educator and Writer. Directing credits include Threshold, Pretend It’s Pretend (ANPF); The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Wolves (SOU), Much Ado
About Nothing (Marin Shakespeare), The Comedy of Errors, The Importance of Being Earnest (SPARC Theatre), The Caucasian Chalk Circle, (St. Mary’s College), A Christmas Carol (ACT). Acting credits include work with Cal Shakes (15 seasons), A.C.T., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, CenterRep, Rogue Theatre Company, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Recent writing work includes ICU, a play about the Women/Life/Freedom movement in Iran, co-written with Leyla Modirzadeh; and Show Up, Listen, Connect: A User’s Guide to Unlocking Your Life Skills Through Performance Techniques, co-
authored with Victor Talmadge. Translation work includes Schiller’s Don Carlos, (New Strands Festival at ACT), and Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle, (ACT).
About the Southern Oregon University Theatre Department
The SOU Theatre Department offers students a unique and rigorous professional training experience focused on hands-on production and collaboration. Situated near the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the department prepares students for careers in performance, design, and technical theatre through a diverse curriculum and intensive practical application.
