In directing Molière's "The Learned Ladies," playing February 20th through the 23rd at Muhlenberg College, James Peck had two choices.
He could either let Molière's 17th century sensibilities take the reins, and produce a play about the absurdity of its female characters' efforts to educate themselves.
Or he could dig a bit deeper, and find the ways in which Molière's comedy reveals a nobility and bravery in those efforts.
"I can see two versions of this play being produced," Peck says.
"It could certainly be done as a misogynist satire, and some directors really want to steer clear of the play because of that.
œBut I think it more fundamentally ” and the version we're trying to do, certainly ” is a play about the ridiculous lengths that men have sometimes gone to in order to keep women from educating themselves."
In support of this perspective that it's the sexism that's absurd, rather than the ladies themselves, Peck has cast women in all of the roles, male and female ” including his faculty colleague Francine Roussel in the role of Belize.
"I think having an all-female company of women who are themselves 'learned ladies' underscores the point," Peck says.
"And to be fair to Molière, often his female characters are the savviest people on the stage. As soon as you start thinking that the women are ridiculous, they do or say something that's really kind and beautiful and insightful.
"The play is also blindingly funny," he says. "I mean, these intellectual ideas are important to me, but the humor is as well."
In his 1672 satire of culture pretentiousness, Molière asks whether a woman can be both a devoted wife and a devoted scholar.
Henriette and Clitandre wish to marry. Henriette's father and uncle are in favor of the match, but the women of her family are obsessed with the allure of salon culture, and wish for her to marry Trissotin, a pompous but mediocre poet.
Henriette must decide whether she should live life as a highly educated but unhappy woman, or whether she can continue her education without sacrificing love.
The production features a 1978 translation by acclaimed poet Richard Wilbur, in which "words dance delectably," according to The New York Times.
Broadway lighting designer Rick Fisher, winner of the 2009 Tony Award for his work on "Billy Elliot: The Musical," is designing the lights for the show as part of a semester-long residency.
For Peck, the project also represented an opportunity to work with Roussel, who returns to the Muhlenberg mainstage for the first time since "Cabaret" in 2005.
A native of France, Roussel was among the founders of the Actors Studio in Paris. She has written and performed her own shows, and continues her acting career in France and America.
Her numerous film and television credits include "Sex and the City," "Saturday Night Live," and Sydney Pollack's feature film "The Interpreter."
Roussel directs frequently for the Muhlenberg mainstage and teaches acting at Muhlenberg.
"Working with Francine has been an incredible pleasure," Peck says. "She's a truly skilled actress. She has really penetrating insight into what's happening in the scene, as well as tremendous comic timing."
The set for the play, designed by Muhlenberg design professor Curtis Dretsch, is a giant armillary sphere ” a model of celestial objects consisting of a series of concentric rings that spin around one another.
The design concept reflects the characters' desire literally to map the heavens, and more broadly, to come to a greater understanding of the universe around them.
"The sphere provides unusual playing spaces for the action of the show," Peck says. "It also serves as the perfect image for the women's learned enterprises."
"The Learned Ladies" will be performed Feb. 20-23: Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for patrons 17 and under.
Performances are in the Dorothy Hess Baker Theatre, in the Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew St., Allentown.
Information and tickets are available at 484-664-3333 or muhlenberg.edu/theatre.