[cid:image005.png@01D3A3EF.DA48C630] Feb. 12, 2018 Contact: Shirley Skeel, sskeel@pugetsound.edu<mailto:sskeel@pugetsound.edu> ph. 253.879.2611, cell. 510.684.6715 You on the Moors Now, by Jaclyn Backhaus Directed by Jess K Smith Friday, Feb. 28-Saturday, March 3 [cid:image006.jpg@01D3A3EF.DA48C630]TACOMA, Wash. - Those coming to see the play You on the Moors Now at University of Puget Sound are likely to find the evening a salient respite from some of the headlines that now dominate newspapers. The playful, smart, feminist play goes back more than a century to give some of our favorite literary characters a 21st-century makeover-taking a more expansive view of women's agency and providing a cutting, but humorous, view of male fragility. It's a refreshing and irreverent spin on gender attributes that today have become deeply politicized. You on the Moors Now, by critically acclaimed playwright Jaclyn Backhaus<https://www.jaclynbackhaus.com/>, is directed by Jess K Smith '05. It will be staged at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23-24; and Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, March 1-3, in Norton Clapp Theatre in Jones Hall. There will be a matinee performance at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 3. Ticket information and a map of campus are below. The play, performed by University of Puget Sound theatre arts students, opens with the heroines from Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and Jane Eyre running from their marriage proposals. The men don't take rejection well and respond by waging a war-the "Moors War." Through ridiculous wordplay, hilarious banter, and heightened stakes, playwright Jaclyn Backhaus navigates a playful contention with the gender norms of the 19th century. "This ultimately moving and inventive play ends in beautiful prose, like a chapter from the books where these women originated-asking us all to reconsider how we love, how we grieve, and maybe, just maybe, if female friendships can be enough," says director Jess K Smith, assistant professor of theatre arts at Puget Sound. Time Out wrote<https://www.timeout.com/chicago/theater/you-on-the-moors-now> about a Chicago Den Theatre's production of the play: "In providing respectfully irreverent new angles on these not-so-little women-complete with an unexpected, gleefully anachronistic, but thoroughly satisfying epilogue-and rendering them via a fiercely talented, charming, and casually diverse ensemble, Moors scores." You on the Moors Now is produced by the Department of Theatre Arts: Jess K Smith, director; Kurt Walls, scenic designer; Mishka Navarre, costume designer; and Patty Mattieu, lighting designer. FOR TICKETS: Tickets are available online at tickets.pugetsound.edu<http://tickets.pugetsound.edu>, or at Wheelock Information Center, 253.879.3100. Admission is $11 for the general public; $7 for seniors (55+), students, military, and Puget Sound faculty, students, and staff. Any remaining tickets will be available at the door. For directions and a map of the campus: pugetsound.edu/directions<http://www.pugetsound.edu/directions.xml> For accessibility information please contact accessibility@pugetsound.edu<mailto:accessibility@pugetsound.edu> or 253.879.3931, or visit pugetsound.edu/accessibility<http://www.pugetsound.edu/accessibility>. Press photos of the dress rehearsal will be available shortly before the first performance. Tweet this: News headlines getting you down? Soak up a lighter view w/ "You on the Moors Now" staged @univpugetsound Feb 23-Mar 3 Follow us on Twitter! twitter.com/univpugetsound<http://www.twitter.com/univpugetsound> -0- Visit our "Newsroom" page featuring a searchable index of Puget Sound sources on a wide variety of topics at http://www.pugetsound.edu/about/offices--services/office-of-communications/newsroom/ University of Puget Sound is a 2,600-student, national undergraduate liberal arts college in Tacoma, Wash., drawing students from 46 states and 8 countries. Puget Sound graduates include Rhodes and Fulbright scholars, notables in the arts and culture, entrepreneurs and elected officials, and leaders in business and finance locally and throughout the world. A low student-faculty ratio provides Puget Sound students with personal attention from faculty members who have a strong commitment to teaching and offer 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 areas of study. Puget Sound is the only national, independent undergraduate liberal arts college in Western Washington, and one of just five independent colleges in the Northwest granted a charter by Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's most prestigious academic honor society.