by TALENE MONAHON
Adapted from The Wonder: A Woman Keeps a Secret by SUSANNA CENTLIVRE (1714)
MAY 7 – JUNE 13, 2027
Previews May 7 – May 23, 2027
Dates subject to change
All hands on deck for chaos! A luxury voyage turns into a high-seas heist aboard the Aqua Royale: Paris to Portugal. Recklessly and unfaithfully adapted by playwright Talene Monahon (Meet the Cartozians) from Susanna Centlivre’s 1714 classic farce of the same name, Wonder! catapults the action (and the feminism) to 2027. A money-grubbing matriarch, a lonely toilet maid and a lascivious lady-detective round out this cast of characters. Poor Susanna is shuddering in her grave. Deeply bold (in a female way), Wonder! asks the provocative question: was anyone asking for this?
THE ARTISTS
Talene Monahon (Playwright) is a Boston-born playwright of Armenian descent. Her play Meet the Cartozians premiered at Second Stage Theater, directed by David Cromer, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a New York Times Critic’s Pick, and nominated for both a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award. Other recent plays include: Eat Me (South Coast Repertory, directed by Caitlin Sullivan), Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret (Northern Stage, directed by Aileen Wen McGroddy), The Good John Proctor (directed by Caitlin Sullivan; The New Yorker’s Top 10 Best Plays of 2023), Jane Anger (directed by Jess Chayes; 2022 Off-Broadway Alliance Best New Play nominee), and How to Load a Musket (directed by Jaki Bradley). In 2027, Meet the Cartozians will play at the Huntington Theater, Berkeley Rep, and others. Talene is currently under commission from Second Stage Theater and Protozoa Pictures. She teaches playwriting at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. B.A. from Dartmouth College.