09/26/2022
We are proud to support our friend and local playwright/director, Don Fried, in his latest presentation of Blood Privilege.
Go see it, y'all! 'Tis the spooky season!
"BLOOD PRIVILEGE": ACCLAIMED PLAY BY LOCAL PLAYWRIGHT TO BE PERFORMED AT THALIAN HALL, SEPT 29 – OCTOBER 9
"Blood Privilege," by local playwright Don Fried, will be presented at the Ruth & Bucky Stein Studio Theatre at Thalian Hall Thursday, September 29 – Sunday, October 9.
The play has been performed in London, New York City and Boulder, Colorado. Reviews of the sellout London production said:
“A challenging and provocative work. We are drawn into a different world – forbidding and ominous. Don't miss this play." UK Theatre Network
“This is a picture of the way someone can be schooled into transgression, of how the law can be followed and yet manipulated, and how power can be concentrated in an elite, none of which has been limited to sixteenth-century Slovakia.” British Theatre Guide
The Thalian Hall production features a number of the Wilmington’s most popular actors, including Heather Setzler, Brent Schraff, Maxwell Paige, Katie Villecco, Braxton Williams, Ashley Flowers and Kaleb Edley. Together, they have played the leads and other starring roles in dozen of area plays.
According to playwright Fried, who also directs the play, Blood Privilege is based on a true story.
“In the early 1600s, Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory was convicted of murdering hundreds of women to bathe in their blood as part of a beauty ritual. She may not have done it though,” says Fried. “What is certain is that she lent a lot of money to the Hungarian King and then had the bad judgement to demand that he pay it back.”
He adds, “Although Blood Privilege is a period piece set in the early 17th century, what it’s really about is the concentration and abuse of wealth and power in the hands of a tiny elite. That’s not something that’s changed much in the last 400 – or 4,000 – years.”
Fried, whose plays "Senior Moments," "Shakespeare Inc." and "Betta Daze" have had Wilmington productions, was commissioned to write "Blood Privilege" by Second Skin Theatre of London.
Performances are Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 pm, and Sundays at 3 pm.
Tickets are $27.00 plus required box office and historic preservation fees for Thalian Hall.
Phone 910.632.2285
https://www.thalianhall.org/blood-privilege-22
