Prof. Maya E. Roth adapts and directs online reading of “The Rover (ReFrame)”

As part of Georgetown University Theater & Performance Studies Program’s Home Season “Dreams of Crossing,” Prof. Maya E. Roth adapted and directed a livestreamed reading of Aphra Behn’s “The Rover,” featuring the creative talents of Georgetown students on April 18, 2020. This festive and bold Restoration comedy by the first professional female playwright (also a spy!) explores gender, class and cultural crossings with wit.

Originally scheduled to be fully staged at the Davis Performing Arts Center’s Gonda Theatre as part of TPST’s Home Season March 26-April 4, the project was reframed online due to social distancing for COVID-19. S/wordplay, masquerade, and physical theater were central to the original staging, set in Carnevale amid the Silk Road’s crossings. The reading shared glimpses of the world, and the team will also produce a website with creative responses and research in May, and an installation of design elements in the Davis Performing Arts Center when the building reopens.

Check out the video of the reading, as well as some dramaturgical information and fight choreography at The Rover (ReFrame) on YouTube.