Starlighters prepares for ‘Inheritors’

     Starlighters II Community Theatre is presenting “Inheritors” by Susan Glaspell, as adapted by Iris Smith Fischer, in cooperation with The Susan Glaspell Society, on Friday-Sunday, Sept. 22-24, and Sept. 29-Oct. 1. The Box Office opens Monday, Sept. 11, from 5-9 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday.

     “Inheritors” is written by an Iowa woman, Susan Glaspell, who grew up in Davenport, Iowa, graduated from Drake University, and wrote for both Des Moines and Davenport newspapers before she devoted her time to writing magazine articles, novels, and plays. She received a Pulitzer Price in 1931 for her play, “Alison’s House.” Her one-act play, “Trifles,” was presented on Aug. 20 at Starlighters, along with a companion play inspired by “Trifles,” “Sometimes I Sing” by Milbre Burch. Burch, along with Glaspell scholar Cheryl Black of the University of Missouri at Columbia, will join the cast on Sept. 24 (after the Sunday matinee) for a special talk-back event.

     The talk-back will allow audience members to talk with the director, Jennifer Beall, the cast, as well as Glaspell scholars Burch and Black. Although the talk-back is on Sunday, audience members who attend a different performance are welcome to join after the show on that Sunday. Anyone who saw Polly Chalstrom perform “Sometimes I Sing” will very likely wish to meet the author of that powerful selection.

     As the International Susan Glaspell Society explains: “Her writing is concerned with social justice and the delicate balance between law and rights that are fundamental to American democracy. The play (“Inheritors”) evokes questions about what it means to be an American, raising issues central to American identity: individuality, conformity, immigration, racism, and nationalism.”