The Wind: A Literary Burlesque
Noveltease Theatre’s story of a young woman who finds herself living among queer cowbois, wicked sands, and the demon winds of West Texas. March 31st, April 1st, and April 2nd Theatre Off Jackson
Poster designed by Willy Nilly shows a desolate plain at sunset, with lone woman and a ghostly horse. The text reads, “The Wind: A Literary Burlesque”
“The wind was the cause of it all. The sand, too, had a share in it, and human beings were involved, but the wind was the primal force, and but for it the whole series of events would not have happened.”
So Dorothy Scarborough’s story of a young woman, named Letty Mason, begins. Driven from the lush peach orchards and sweet mimosas of rural Virginia, by death and debt, to the dry and wind swept plains of West Texas, Letty finds herself in a place altogether queer. And there, faced with the almost demonic nature of the wind, she must find new footing, or lose herself completely.
Adapted by Sailor St. Claire, from a 1925 novel considered so strange and salacious (and realistic) that it was banned in Texas, The Wind is the story of a young woman driven to the brink. It is a story about isolation and the effect it can have on the psyche, something many of us can relate to after two years of an ongoing pandemic, but it is also a story of how we can find community in difficult circumstances. The people of Scarborough’s Sweetwater cling to hope that the drought will end, and the spring flowers will return. They laugh, they love, and they learn to make the most of life in an environment that seems almost malicious. It is a lesson that Letty may not be able to learn, but it is one that we can.
The Wind is Noveltease Theatre’s first adventure into American literature, and we are so very excited to take our audiences into a world of queer cowbois, haunting winds, and rabbit twistin’ socials, in a ghost story worth telling round the campfire.
This show features the talents of Noveltease Company Members: Al Lykya, Fosse Jack, Jesse Belle-Jones, Polly Wood, Onyx Asili, Ramona Rhapsody, Sailor St. Claire, and Trixie Paprike, with special guest artist Peter King. With choreography by Trixie Paprika to the music of 3 Fiddlers 3 Traditions, and direction by Nikki Przasnyski and Shey Ruud, The Wind comes to Theatre Off Jackson March 31st through April 2nd.
Tickets are available here: https://noveltease.ticketleap.com/the-wind/
