Thornton Wilder is one of America\u2019s most celebrated playwrights. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: one for his 1927 novel, \u201cThe Bridge of San Luis Rey,\u201d and the others for his plays \u201cOur Town\u201d and \u201cThe Skin of Our Teeth.\u201d Wilder wrote \u201cThe Skin of Our Teeth\u201d shortly after the United States entered World War II, and it\u2019s a satirical allegory of Americans\u2019 and the whole human race\u2019s indomitable will to survive. It’s a poignant slice of Americana and the perfect production to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
The Antrobus family represents the archetypical American nuclear family, with its typical tension between the man of the house and the woman who actually runs it. <\/p>\n
Yet the play is replete with irony and humor. In it, the Antrobus family represents the archetypical American nuclear family, with its typical tension between the man of the house and the woman who actually runs it. <\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Antrobus likes to think he\u2019s the man of the house, but he\u2019s really not,\u201d observed Brielle Midler, who plays Momma Antrobus. \u201cMrs. Antrobus is a very powerful figure in the family, even if her own family doesn\u2019t view her that way. She knows what\u2019s right for her house and her family, and she always sticks to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilder pokes fun at the notion of the prototypical Judeo-Christian family by giving them a maid and the Mr. a mistress. Her name is Sabina, and she\u2019s played with vim and vigor by Janie Kate Knowles.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
A true drama queen, Maid Sabina (Janie Kateknowles) pictured with Mrs. Antrobus (Brielle Midler) will do anything for attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s very childish, but seductive,\u201d Knowles noted. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like Betty Boop, where it\u2019s childish innocence, but also overly sexualized. She\u2019ll do anything for attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
The built-in conflict between Mrs. Antrobus and Sabina is just one reason to see this play.
The antics are over the top, the costumes and sets are otherworldly and Barry Cavin\u2019s well-directed cast ensures that all of us survive three human extinction events \u2014 an ice age, a great flood, and a catastrophic war \u2014 by the skin of our teeth.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
Ice Age Antrobus is prone to fits of rage. <\/p>\n
MORE INFORMATION:<\/p>\n
The Play\u2019s Political Commentary<\/p>\n
Thornton Wilder\u2019s dramatic masterpiece, \u201cThe Skin of Our Teeth,\u201d opened on Broadway in November of 1942, less than a year after the United States entered World War II. On the heels of the Great Depression (1929-1939), the war meant more sacrifice and hardship for the average American family coupled with more fear, loss, and anxiety about the future of humanity.<\/p>\n
The play follows the Antrobus family through the ice age, a great flood and a catastrophic war. The name is a combination of the Greek word for \u201chuman,\u201d anthropos, and the Latin word for \u201call,\u201d which is omnibus.<\/p>\n
Lest the reference to the Bible\u2019s first family, Adam and Eve, isn\u2019t readily apparent, the Antrobuses named their son Cain, but changed it to Henry after he killed his brother with a stone shot from his slingshot.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
‘The Skin of Our Teeth’ follows the Antrobus family through the ice age, a great flood and a catastrophic war. <\/p>\n
The maid\/mistress\u2019 name, Sabina, is another Biblical reference, this time to Lilith. There are competing versions of Lilith\u2019s position in the Bible. The Judeo-Christian version is that she was banished from the Garden of Eden after refusing to obey Adam. The other construction, which vanished toward the end of the Middle Ages, was that Lilith left the Garden of Eden rather than accede to Adam’s demands that his wife be subservient. Under this version, Lilith and Adam were created at the same time and from the same clay, as compared with Eve, who was made from one of Adam\u2019s ribs to ensure her subservient status.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
Janie Kate Knowles plays Sabina for FGCU TheatreLab in Thornton Wilder’s ‘The Skin of Our Teeth.’ <\/p>\n
In either case, Wilder uses the character of Sabine as a metaphor for the independent and self-directed woman who represents an ever-present threat to male dominance, monogamy and the sanctity of the Judeo-Christian nuclear family.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
The cast of FGCU TheatreLab’s production of Thornton Wilder’s ‘The Skin of Our Teeth’ boast a strong ensemble that finds itself in unusual situations.<\/p>\n
The Play\u2019s Significance from the Perspective of Theater History<\/p>\n
Aside from its political commentary, \u201cThe Skin of Our Teeth\u201d was significant for the theatrical innovations Wilder introduced to tell the story of the Antrobus family. For example, Wilder used numerous surprising, illogical and humor artifices to represent the unconscious mind.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
The cardboard furniture and masks worn by the Antrobuses’ pet dinosaur and wooly mammoth remind the audience they are actually watching a play. <\/p>\n
Wilder employed the tactics of Bertolt Brecht and epic theater by constantly reminding audiences that they are watching a play. The furniture found in the Antrobus home is constructed of cardboard. There\u2019s a television set mounted stage right that introduces each act. And an actor walks across the stage at the end of acts one and two with a hand-printed sign that says, \u201cIntermission.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
Janie Kate Knowles traipses across the stage with a hand-printed sign during intermission that reminds the audience they’re watching a play. <\/p>\n
For all of these artifices, the play resonates with audiences because it involves relatable events that recur in the course of human experience such as marriages that continue in spite of marital infidelity, a parent\u2019s protection and love for a child who has done something terrible and making sacrifices for the sake of one\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
Wilder used numerous surprising, illogical and humorous artifices to represent the unconscious mind.<\/p>\n
Play Also Pushes Cast and Crew\u2019s Skills and Talent<\/p>\n
FGCU Theatre Professor Barry Cavin also chose to produce \u201cThe Skin of Our Teeth\u201d at this time because it uniquely challenges his cast and crew to expand their acting and technical skills. That was certainly the case of Brielle Midler, who plays Mrs. Antrobus, and Janie Kate Knowles, who plays her maid and Mr. Antrobus\u2019 mistress.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
Brielle Midler plays Mrs. Antrobus for FGCU TheatreLab in Thornton Wilder’s ‘The Skin of Our Teeth.’ <\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, I’m not a mother, and a lot of what she goes through I have not experienced yet,\u201d remarked Midler. \u201cSo, it was really interesting getting to figure out and personalize things that I’ve gone through that are similar to her challenges and getting to really make it truthful and honest so I can honor the women who have been through some of these things. That was the most challenging but really rewarding thing about the show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Midler appreciated Cavin\u2019s direction, she also relied on her own mother to better understand her character.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked to my mom a lot,\u201d Midler shared. \u201cI talked to my mom about some of the things she went through in her marriage with my dad and how it made her feel and how she stuck to herself through some of the challenges and hardships, and I tried to think about that during the rehearsal process.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
As Sabina, Janie Kate Knowles has to vacillate between childishly ditzy and deliberately vampish. <\/p>\n
Knowles had the opposite challenge. It fell upon her to portray a seductress, a cross between Betty Boop and Norma Jean Mortensen a\/k\/a Marilyn Monroe, a complex dichotomy of childlike innocence and naivete and sultry, sexy seductiveness.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is very much not like myself, my personal self,\u201d Knowles pointed out. \u201cI’m kind of more introverted, and she’s very out there and extroverted. So, trying to portray that was a bit more difficult, especially trying to get into the character. But Barry’s a wonderful director, and he’s really helped me kind of move past that, and just not think about it, and just perform as I think this character would perform.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knowles made a study of the physical attributes of seduction.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
To convincingly play Sabina, Knowles made a study of the physical attributes of seduction. <\/p>\n
\u201cPhysical movement is a big part of it,\u201d she observed. \u201cReally flowy, fluid, and calculated movements \u2026 long strides to make her legs look longer \u2026 clothes that make her waist thinner \u2026 makeup that makes her eyes bigger and her lips bigger. I also give her a lighter voice when she\u2019s acting normally and a flowy kind of Marilyn Monroe-sounding voice when she becomes seductive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then there are her facial expressions, such as smoldering eyes and pouty lips when she morphs into Sabina on the prowl.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall <\/p>\n
To play Sabina, Janie Kate Knowles made a study of the physical attributes of seduction. <\/p>\n
In addition to relying on Cavin\u2019s direction, Knowles drew inspiration from her experiences as a writer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took Barry’s playwriting class here in the theater department, and that was really fun. I wrote a 10-minute play in that class, and I’m planning to continue to edit it and publish it. I have a couple novels that I have ideas for,\u201d said Knowles, who is planning to pursue a master\u2019s in creative writing. \u201cIt’s easier to create compelling characters when you’re able to portray different characters because then you understand different personalities and how people would react to different things. But writing also helps my acting because it gives me a little bit more of creative freedom to see how characters would react in books and then see how they would react on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her performance in \u201cThe Skin of Our Teeth\u201d is rich and nuanced in spite of her character\u2019s shallowness. It\u2019s one of many highlights in this TheatreLab production.<\/p>\n
Remaining performances are Friday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n