for/word company presents “Patience Worth”

for/word company
presents
“Patience Worth”

March 9 & 10 – 8pm
March 11 – 4pm & 8pm

$25 General Admission / $15 Students with ID

Pearl Curran was a housewife in early twentieth century St Louis. She was also the operator of a Ouija board through which Patience Worth, a long-dead early British colonist and thwarted authoress, spoke. Over the course of two decades, a remarkably prolific Patience dictated (and, with the help of Pearl’s husband John, published) millions of words in books, poems, and plays through Pearl’s Ouija board and ultimately through Pearl’s own voice.

Over Pearl’s long career as a medium and lecturer, Patience regaled throngs of curious visitors, believers and nonbelievers alike, with cryptic, extemporaneous bon mots. Patience carried on a love affair with a local newspaper editor; Pearl demurred that she was merely the transporting vessel. Patience adopted a child; childless Pearl was delighted.

Plumbing the rich archival holdings of the Missouri Historical Society, Patience Worth explores fragmented identity, sublimated love affairs, a nagging desire for fame, and the limits of credulity.

About the for/word company
The for/word company is dedicated to dynamic stagings and innovative interpretations of material from the historical record. Playtexts are built exclusively out of the text written by and about fascinating historical figures. The for/word company has consistently produced high-quality theatrical performances, with the work staged in Chicago, Seattle, Lexington (KY), Columbus, Off Broadway in New York, and in London (both in live performance and in broadcast on BBC Radio 4). The company calls Columbus its home base for development and experimentation.

http://www.for-word-company.net
http://www.for-word-company.net/patienceworth.html
http://www.jenniferschlueter.com/