Rep Stage Closes Season with Lynn Nottage's Las Meninas

Rep Stage, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Howard Community College (HCC), concludes its 19th season with "Las Meninas," playwright Lynn Nottage's glittering account of the seduction of Louis the XIV's queen, Marie-Therese, and the consequences of her scandalous relationship with Nabo, her African servant. Irreverant, caustic and touching, Nottage weaves an imaginative tale based on a fascinating but forgotten time in history that examines truths about women and race. Eve Muson, who helmed last season's critically-acclaimed "Speech & Debate," directs a large cast in this rarely produced, thought provoking play. "Las Meninas" opens April 18 with a limited run through May 6, 2012, in the Studio Theatre of the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center (HVPA) on the campus of HCC.

"I came across a piece of obscure history that really intrigued me," playwright Nottage said of her inspiration for "Las Meninas" in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times. "The more I discovered about Louise Marie, the more fascinated I became with not just her but that era in history, the court of Louis XIV, and the rituals and mores of court society.''

The play's title comes from a 1656 Diego Velázquez painting, "Las Meninas," Spanish for "The Maids of Honour" (ladies in waiting to the Spanish Queen). Velazquez was considered to be the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age. "I was exploring the way in which women have been marginalized by history to the point that we are practically erased from it,'' Nottage said. "I had to dig very deep into diaries and primary resources in order to find any information about the women of that period. Particularly as an African-American woman, one would think there were no people of color living in France at that period.