Unbecoming
by Emma Catherine Watkins
Presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Theater
January 2021
unbecoming.princeton.edu
CAST
Lady Charlotte Guest — Paige Elizabeth Allen
Blodeuwedd — Nora Aguiar
John Guest/Llew/Lady Beatrice — Naomi Park
Maria/Lady Mary — Eliyana Abraham
Susanna/Gronw/Tegid — Hannah Wang
Wife of England/Gwydion/Lady in Waiting — Eliana Cohen-Orth
PRODUCTION TEAM
Director — Eliana Cohen-Orth
Music Director — Halle Mitchell
Composer — Delaney McMahon
Acrobatics/Movement Coach — Ruth Schultz
Choreographer — Paige Allen
Technical Director & Video Editor — Adam Olkin
Set Designer — Isabella Hilditch
Costume Designer — Noelle Quanci
Lighting Designer — Naomi Park
Sound Designer — Minjae Kim
Dramaturg — Paige Allen
Stage Manager — Nora Aguiar
Sound Engineer — Nora Aguiar
Assistant Stage Manager — Casey Beidel
Camera Operators — Rachel Olkin, Ava Rand, Owen Ristic
Run Crew — BT Hayes, Gaea Lawton
Welsh Consultant — Sioned Davies
Set Advisor — Lawrence Moten
Lighting Advisor — Tess James
Sound Advisor — G Clausen
Production Advisor — Will Davis
Unbecoming is a play by Emma Catherine Watkins inspired by the story of real-life Lady Charlotte Guest, a Victorian housewife and mother who aspires to become the first person to translate the Mabinogion — a collection of ancient Welsh stories — into English, and the encounters that ensue as mythic characters invade Charlotte’s world.
The first staged production of Unbecoming was produced by Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts as the senior thesis of Paige Elizabeth Allen and Eliana Cohen-Orth. Originally conceived as a live production, the project was reimagined in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a cast of six actors living in a quarantine pod, many of whom also took on roles on the production team, Unbecoming was workshopped, revised, and rehearsed in the backyard of an Airbnb for nine weeks before performances were filmed and edited into a cinematic presentation of a theatrical piece.
The dramaturgical home for the project, curated by Paige, lives at unbecoming.princeton.edu where you’ll find context for and insights into the play and this production including historical information, interviews with the creative team, and glimpses into the process of building this unique production. More information, including videos, available here.
Photos by Catherine Watkins
