​

​

World Premiere by Ava Geyer

​

Wagner New Play Festival, 2019

University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA

​

Directed by Joseph Hendel

Scenic Design by Hsi-an Chen

Costume Design by Natalie Barshow

Lighting Design by Justin Beets

Sound Design by MaeAnn Ross

​

About:

"When TV self-help guru Drew Capuano's compulsive masturbation comes to light, he retains the services of the only person who will still represent him: his power hungry twenty-four year-old female assistant. Meanwhile, survivor Mona Giotti works to make sure she's put Drew away for good. Monster is a brutal and brutally funny odyssey through America's media machine that puts perpetrator and survivor on an inevitable collision course of reckoning."

​

Concept:

When I first encountered the play, my first question was, what does a strong woman look like? And as we explored the play more, the question became, what does a strong woman look like in the media, in a world of money, in a world of voyeurism, in a world of shame and public shaming, in a world where her body is inherently sexual? All the women in this play are strong. They represent real women. When we think about the media, it is manipulated and curated, playful and serious. Just like in the set we have on-stage and off-stage. “On-stage” characters are bright and colorful, technicolor, vibrant. “Off-stage” is muted and black, just like a backstage crew. The feeling of this world is that the “on-stage” is manipulated and created by the “off-stage”. We will see some of the changes. We see the addition of items that shape the world, like body padding, make-up, jewelry, prosthetics.