Jen Silverman’s Bonnets: How Ladies of Good Breeding are Induced to Murder was written as part of a Big Ten initiative to produce more plays by women and with strong roles for college age female actors. This is a really good initiative, not only for getting the work of more female playwrights on stages, but also because it helps train women in university theatre programs by giving them material focused on women’s experiences. The production by Penn State’s theatre program, directed by Jenny Lamb, was extremely good.

Silverman’s play is a trans-historical history play, which is a genre I love anyway. The play is divided between three different eras: the Paris of Louis XIV, Puritan colonial Massachusetts, and Victorian England. In each of these three scenarios, women find their choices constrained and eventually rebel against the forces that restrain their freedom to be themselves and to pursue what they want in the world. In Paris, Claire (Ceci Garcia) has never had a satisfactory sexual experience with her husband and has never had a lover, so she asks her sister-in-law Valerie (Lucy Snyder) to give Claire her lover Laurent (Justin Roldán) rather than poisoning him—which Valerie is apparently notorious for doing. Claire even agrees to poison him after sleeping with him, but then discovers that she likes him and doesn’t want to poison him. In the Victorian scene, Webster (Malcolm MacKenzie) is the harried and degraded maid of Mrs. Wolcott (Rafaela Torchia), who constantly berates and insults her. Webster is in love with Georgette (Drake Arielle), Mrs. Wolcott’s daughter, but can’t say anything because of both Victorian sexual mores and class hierarchies. And then in Puritan New England, Prudence (Sophie Nicholson) is having an affair with Daniel (Dylan Henderson), who can’t leave his wife Mistress Stone (Anna Farris). Prudence’s friend Fortitude (Lucy Martin) counsels her to simply obey the rules and behave properly, but Prudence accuses Mistress Stone of witchcraft to try and get her out of the way. Eventually, Prudence kills Daniel after he decides to abandon her and move to Boston, Webster kills Mrs. Wolcott for her continual insults and overwork, and Claire kills Valerie rather than poisoning Laurent. And all of this is watched over by God (Cassidy Brown), who experiences existential and moral doubts about the overall movement of the universe.

One aspect of the play that helps both develop the characters and move everything along is the blending of seemingly competing elements. Deep philosophical moments are interspersed with jokes, anachronistic references, moments of elation, and moments of depression. And the swirling mixture of these different tones creates a dynamic energy that helps move the show at a quick and arresting pace.

Aesthetically, I could see this show being done with straight historical costuming for the various time periods, but instead scene designer Vega Hernandez and costume designer Lauren Bretl created a riot grrl/punk inspired aesthetic, reflected in the background and clothing. The set was painted with feminist, anarchist, and punk slogans. The costumes were typified by ripped clothes, safety pins, torn fishnets, combat boots, and punk patches, generally with a historically inflected feel. For instance, Mrs. Wolcott’s outfit was decidedly steampunk, with the general shape of a Victorian dress, but a shorter dress and small leather corset with buckles rather than a true Victorian corset. The design of the production fit extremely well with the themes of women rebelling against systems that constrain them—and I personally found it very cool.