The Age of Innocence

By JACQUELINE DEVINE

2007

“I have sometimes thought that a woman’s nature is like a great house full of rooms: there is the hall, through which everyone passes in going in and out; the drawing room, where one receives formal visits; the sitting room, where the members of the family come and go as they list; but beyond that, far beyond, are other rooms, the handles of whose doors are never turned; no one knows the way to them, no one knows whither they lead; and in the innermost room, the holy of holies, the soul sits alone and waits for a footstep that never comes.” Edith Wharton, 1891

Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence becomes the centerpiece for the second season of the Terrace Hill Foundation’s Victorian Voices. The play an original adaptation of Wharton’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece will be staged on the south lawn of Terrace Hill and followed by an elegant dessert reception in the Victorian garden.

Performance dates are scheduled for the evenings of June 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 and 17. Tickets are $50 per person, with proceeds to benefit the restoration, maintenance and development of Terrace Hill. A gala premiere is planned June 8 at $500 per couple. Reservations may be made for the performances or gala by calling 515-280-3450.

Although written in 1920, The Age of Innocence is set in the early 1870s. Consistent with the Victorian Voices purpose, it provides insight into the minds, manners and mores of that time, when Terrace Hill was new.

The Age of Innocence, the story of an “impossible” love triangle, was adapted for film by Martin Scorsese with a cast that included Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder. The cast for the Foundation’s presentation will include acclaimed Midwestern actors under the direction of award-winning playwright and producer Lorenzo Sandoval.

This is Newland Archer’s story, his carefully structured life or is it? He is betrothed to the proper May Welland, yet attracted to her cousin, the exotic Countess Olenska, who has returned to America seeking a divorce. Imagine a soap opera within the confines of a society in which classic opera is the reality.

Now, imagine the cast of characters and scenes that come with this story of proper old New York: the society gossips, the weekend “cottages” of Newport, the corset challenges of Victorian dining, the rules of engagement, and the power of unspoken words.

Audiences will delight in this original adaptation to be premiered at Terrace Hill. And, yes, you could rent the movie or read the novel. In fact, you should. But there is nothing like a great story performed live by a great cast at a great location for a great cause to create a lasting memory of what theatre and Terrace Hill are all about. Combined, it is a magical transportation to another time: the age of innocence.
Call early for reservations: 515-280-3450.

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