LEWISTON, Idaho – The theatre program at Lewis-Clark State College and The Silverthorne Theatre Group will perform the fast-pace play “The Force of Habit” on Nov. 1-3 and again on Nov. 8-10 at 7:30 p.m. at the Silverthorne Theatre located inside the Administration Building on the LCSC campus.
Tickets for each night are $10 for general admission, $7 for veterans, seniors and students who don’t attend LCSC, and free for LCSC students, faculty, staff, and alumni with LCSC ID cards. For the Nov. 9 performance, admission will be free for those who bring and donate a non-perishable food item for the Warrior Pantry, which provides nutritional support to LCSC students.
“The Force of Habit” is a funny and controversial 17th-century play about gender roles and social customs. Written in Spanish by Guillen de Castro during the Spanish Golden Age, the play has been translated into English by Gonzaga professor Kathleen Jeffs and was first performed in English on the Spokane campus in 2013.
LCSC adjunct professor Jef Petersen and LCSC senior Ruby Walden are co-directing the LCSC production.
The play follows the lives of a brother and sister who are separated at birth and then each raised in ways that clash with the cultural norms of their societies. Raised to fight alongside her military commander father, young Dona Hippolyta returns home to meet her estranged brother and mother for the first time. Her brother, Don Felix, has been raised to sew and be a companion to their mother, Dona Constanza. Sparks fly when the family is reunited and both parents attempt to force their children into more traditional gender roles, while both Hippolyta and Felix feel the pull of physical attraction for the first time when they meet another pair of siblings.
Along with the nature vs. nurture theme, the play takes a contemporary and often painfully funny look at love and gender.
For more information on the LCSC performances, contact Nancy Lee-Painter, LCSC professor of Theatre, at either [email protected] or 208-792-2345.