Saturday, June 26, 2010

Monetizing Emma

I had a good time seeing Monetizing Emma last night, an imaginative near-future play with some surprising plot twists and a heroine out of Jane Austen.

It's a New York play performed in a Chicago theatre by an Indiana theatre company. It was crisply directed by Laura Gouin, and the actors were all lively. I especially liked the performance by Lisa Caskey, who plays a ruthless corporate ladder-climber.

Here's a detailed review from its Manhattan debut last year.

The premise of the play is a new version of student loans for college. Instead of being run through a government program, financiers are setting up vehicles to invest in high-performing high school students. The students, and their families, get lots of cash now. But investors get a chunk of their earnings in the future.

The downside, for our heroine, is that she's not sure she wants to pursue a lucrative career. She's more interested in majoring in English.

Such is the dilemma
facing clever Emma
who does find her way
by the end of the play.

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