Written by Dr. Carole Levin and Produced in Support of The University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis’ Liberal Arts Department
Conceived originally as a reflection on significant moments in the life of England’s most significant regnant queen, Elizabeth I: To Speak or Use Silence dramatizes episodes in the life of Elizabeth I.
The docudrama was written by Dr. Carole Levin, Willa Cather Emerita Professor of History at the University of Nebraska, author and editor of numerous books and articles including Shakespeare’s Foreign Worlds: National and Transnational Identities in the Elizabethan Age, co-authored with John Watkins (Cornell University Press, 2009); Dreaming the English Renaissance: Politics and Desire in Court and Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008); The Reign of Elizabeth I (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002); and The Heart and Stomach of a King: Elizabeth I and the Politics of Sex and Power (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994), which was named one of the top ten academic books of the 1990s by the readers of Lingua Franca, September, 2000.
Dr. Levin is also the past president of the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women, the co-founder and president of the Queen Elizabeth I Society, and is Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
This debut production is mounted at her request by Dr. Tim Moylan, professor of English and director of the theater program at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis, and produced with the support of the Liberal Arts Department of the university’s College of Liberal Arts and Basic Sciences.
Dr. Moylan is a long-standing member of the South-Central Renaissance Conference, currently serving as secretary-treasurer as well as a member of the Queen Elizabeth I Society, for which he is also Lord High Treasurer. This is an amateur production, an extension of Moylan’s academic scholarship, and draws on the talents and contributions of fellow faculty, staff, alumni and friends of UHSP and its theater program.
The show further enlists the talented support of the Greenleaf Singers, a vocal ensemble with performance expertise in a cappella Renaissance music, currently under the direction of Dr. Tristan Frampton (https://greenleafsingers.org/) .
In addition, the project draws on the costume and prop resources of St. Louis Shakespeare / Smoking Monkey Theater (https://www.stlshakespeare.org/shows).
Show dates and times are June 9 and 10 at 7:30, in the ARB Auditorium on the campus of the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis. Tickets are $10 and available only at the door; all seating is general admission. Parking is free and available in the gated university garage.
Directions: Forest Park Parkway to Taylor Ave, south past Duncan Ave (four-way stop) to Children’s Place (three-way stop), east to the garage entrance on the right.
The show has two acts with a run time of approximately 90 minutes with a 10-minute intermission. For questions or additional information contact Dr. Tim Moylan via email at Tim.Moylan@UHSP.edu.
Lynn (Zipfel) Venhaus has had a continuous byline in St. Louis metro region publications since 1978. She writes features and news for Belleville News-Democrat and contributes to St. Louis magazine and other publications.
She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, currently reviews films for Webster-Kirkwood Times and KTRS Radio, covers entertainment for PopLifeSTL.com and co-hosts podcast PopLifeSTL.com…Presents.
She is a member of Critics Choice Association, where she serves on the women’s and marketing committees; Alliance of Women Film Journalists; and on the board of the St. Louis Film Critics Association. She is a founding and board member of the St. Louis Theater Circle.
She is retired from teaching journalism/media as an adjunct college instructor.