by Cori Hilsgen
news@thenewsleaders.com
Fifteen students from the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University will present “The Good Woman of Setzuan” play for two weekends in November.
Written by German playwright Bertolt Brecht, the play is a parable about a young woman who is torn between morality and human society, love and the realism of her own desires and those of friends and neighbors.
In the play, three ancient Chinese gods arrive in search of honesty and goodness but find only evil, dishonesty and greed. An exception is Cin Te, a young prostitute who donates a night’s wages to let her family rest at her home. The gods reward her with a large sum of money, making her a target for the greed of others. Cin Te reinvents herself as a powerful male cousin named Shue Ta. Her problems become more complicated when she falls in love with an unemployed pilot named Yangsun, and he exploits her for his own selfish needs.
The cast includes CSB seniors Marcelline Gangl, Rose Gangl, Cindy Gonzalez and Sue Yang; sophomores Abby Baggenstoss, Heidi Hurrle, Julia Odima and Emily Schoenbeck. SJU seniors include Gabriel Oldrych Drouet, Tom Schultz and Alex Yanik; junior Rob Goetzke; sophomores Kurt Baldwin, Elliot Drorlet and Cristian Zamora.
The cast of students represent a wide variety of majors from peace studies to chemistry. Many cast members are playing a couple of roles.
Students will present seven performances of the play at the Gorecki Theater in the CSB Benedicta Arts Center. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15-16 and Nov. 22-23; and 2 p.m. Nov. 17 and 24.
Admission is free for the Nov. 15 performance. For more information, contact the BAC box office at 320-363-5777.