Bowling. Small town Wisconsin. Adulthood. If you have heard any of these words utter together within the past two weeks, that’s because UW-Madison’s Theatre and Drama Department recently started rehearsing for their upcoming production of Rebecca Gilman’s new play Twilight Bowl, directed by guest artist Jessica Fisch. Gilman’s play features the lives of 5 girls (Sam, Jaycee, Clarice, Sharlene, and Brielle) who have grown up in the small town of Reynolds, WI. As these girls are faced with new challenges and decisions they each experience the societal pressures of what it means to be successful, with attempting to find their own personal happiness. New and unlikely friendships are forged over time whilst old friendships slowly wither away, reflecting the reality that comes with growing up.
On Sunday March 10th the entire cast and design team had the incredible opportunity to meet and visit with playwright Rebecca Gilman in-person. They had the chance to ask her questions about her inspiration for the play, especially since she grew up in Alabama, a state nowhere near Wisconsin. Gilman talked about how the play came to life over time, and the many drafts she’d written of the script until it was just right. She explained that her original script wasn’t anything near the final product that became Twilight Bowl, and that of all of the characters she had originally written, the only two she actually liked were a male bartender and girl named Jaycee. So, Gilman scraped the script (something to do with a wedding and a reunion of friends set in a bar) and started over with Jaycee and the bartender, but thought “Why did I make the coolest character a guy [the bartender]? That’s dumb! So I threw him out and he became Brielle [from Twilight Bowl]”.
Thanks to Rebecca Gilman Twilight Bowl features an all-female cast, with UW-Madison’s production starring: Bri Hunter as Sam, Erika Marks as Jaycee, Shasparay Lighteard as Clarice, Zhiyun Zhao as Sharlene, Erin Wathen as Maddy, and myself as Brielle. Not only that, but this production also features a fully female design team with: costume designs by Shannon Heibler, lighting designs by Alice Combs, sound designs by Isabel Coff, and scenic designs by Arianna White.
Performances will be in the Hemsley Theatre, accessible through East Campus Mall, April 11th-28th. Tickets are only $15 for students ($10 if you go on preview night, April 11th) and can be purchased at the Vilas or Memorial Union Box offices, as well as online at: https://artsticketing.wisc.edu/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=1C70AFA6-5AF2-4EDF-8791-8F8D7D2A1BF6
Photos of cast with Rebecca in rehearsal taken by Scot Shepley.