1898
One of the most well known performances was the Society's production of Midsummer's Night Dream in 1898. According to The Chicago World Newspaper, the performance was shocking and nearly scandalous because the students performed in front of a mixed audience, "in tights, real, genuine tights, the same wicked garments in which the naughty chorus girls do their highkicking in."
In the next few years, the Society would do something even more shocking - perform in men's attire. The college had a mandate prohibiting actresses to perform any role, even those of men, in anything but a long skirt. The penalty for transgression was expulsion. Not too many years after the scandalous tights, the Society wore pants. With the aide of a strategicly placed sympathetic faculty member who declared when the women walked on stage with no flowing skirts trailing behind them, "I'm so glad they got rid of that silly rule about not performing in men's clothes," no one was expelled.- Provider name - mdaley@wellesley.edu
- Created: October 1, 2004
- Last Modified: November 28, 2007