First Ladies and the Big White Lie

As part of the BA Theatre Studies’ Theatre in Society course, students engage with various theatrical works that either respond to or hold conversation with current events, social movements, shifts in cultural paradigms, etc. This semester, in anticipation of the upcoming election, Theatre in Society students have put together a staged reading of First Ladies and the Big White Lie, a political play by Janine Sternlieb with Lennie Dean. First Ladies and the Big White Lie challenges us to rethink what we have learned about the origins of America, the Founding Founders, and women’s place in society.

Through extensive research and discussion, students strive to inspire activism, hope, and moral clarity about what we want our own legacy to be as individuals and as a nation through the voices of America’s First Ladies. In recognizing and honoring our nation’s past, with all of its good and bad, students hope to encourage audiences to use their voices this election to determine what the future of our nation will be.

From dramaturg Natalie Geoghegan, “This play is real and raw, which we need right now. Hearing politics from a female perspective is very important, especially in an election year when female reproductive rights are being debated.”

There will be one performance held on Monday, Nov. 4th at 11:15am in the Student Center Ballroom A. The performance runs for 90 minutes. If you are interested in attending, please fill out the RSVP form at your earliest convenience.