Ebby Barber, Megan Rohn, and Ella Schmidt in "The Secret in the Wings" at St. Ambrose University -- April 12 through 21.
Friday, April 12, through Sunday, April 21
St. Ambrose University's Studio Theatre, Galvin Fine Arts Center, 2101 Gaines Street, Davenport IA
With Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman's play lauded by the Los Angeles Times as a work "that ratchets the suspense to Hitchcockian heights," the fairytale-themed thriller The Secret in the Wings enjoys its area-debut staging in St. Ambrose University's Studio Theatre from April 12 through 21, this exciting, unsettling stage piece inspiring the Chicago Reader to state, "It's tasteful and smart, and it respects the mystery at the heart of the tales it tells."
A Tony victor for directing her 1996 Ovid adaptation Metamorphoses, Zimmerman’s The Secret in the Wings adapts a group of lesser-known fairy tales to create a theatrical work that sets their dark mysteries against her signature wit and humor. The framing story concerns a child and the frightening babysitter with whom her parents leave her. As the babysitter reads from a book, the characters in each of the tales materialize, with each tale breaking off just at its bleakest moment before giving way to the next one. With Variety magazine lauding The Secret in the Wings' "hypnotic appeal," nine actors in St. Ambrose's production will portray 35 assorted kings, queens, princes, princesses, ogres, and ghosts throughout seven different stories, all of which weave in and out of each other over the course of 75 minutes.
Directing The Secret in the Wings is the St. Ambrose theatre-department chair and professor Daniel Hale, whose previous stage presentations for the university have included She Kills Monsters, The Little Prince, and Columbinus. Hale's cast is composed of current St. Ambrose students Ebby Barber, Miranda Richards, Megan Rohn, Bella Ruscitti, Ella Schmidt, Maria Saucedo, and Zach Ulmer alongside SAU alum David Weaver and Calvin Vo, the Haus of Ruckus co-founder whose company staged Are We There Yeti? and Spaceworms in the Studio Theatre in 2023 and 2024.
Student members of The Secret in the Wings' creative team include Bella Vitale (stage manager), Grace Hagerman (assistant stage manager and assistant props designer), and Amber Rose (assistant stage manager, board operator, and hair designer). And with Hale also responsible for the show's sound design and choreography, additional members of the team include Aaron Hook (scenic and lighting designer and technical director), Dr. Emily Kingery (dramaturg), Peggy Hale (costume designer), Zach Meyer (props designer), and Becky Meissen (scenic painter).
The Secret in the Wings will be staged in the Studio Theatre of St. Ambrose University's Galvin Fine Arts Center from April 12 through 21, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Admission is $5-15, tickets are available by calling (563)333-6251, and more information can be found at Facebook.com/SAUTheatre.
