‘The Mill’ challenges 1800’s roles

A passionate woman is challenged by her provincial world in theplay “The Mill on the Floss.”

The play will be presented Thursday through Saturday and April22-25 by SMU’s division of theater and guest director JuliaGibson.

The setting is England in the 1880s, where protagonist MaggieTulliver’s imaginative and zealous nature clashes with theprim and proper ideal of females in that era.

“It’s sort of about her internal struggle,”Gibson said of the play, which is Helen Edmundson’sadaptation of the novel by George Eliot.

Gibson said that to illustrate Maggie’s conflict of beingherself versus who she is expected to be, Edmundson differentiatesbetween three different Maggies.

The first is Maggie’s younger, wilder self, whose impulseand passion is expressed in both anger and joy. Society rejectsthis personality.

Consequently, she adopts a second identity, one where sherepresses her true nature and seeks religion to help her focus onothers instead of herself. This attempt doesn’t fully workeither.

The third rendering is a more mature Maggie who strives tobalance the conflicting aspects of her character.

“[The first and second Maggies] are both real sides ofher, but neither one works by itself,” Gibson said.

Gibson’s visit as a guest director was made possible byDallas philanthropist Mildred M. Oppenheimer, said Tory Winkelman,public information officer for the Meadows School of the Arts.

Oppenheimer has provided a grant that allows Meadows to bring ina guest director and to commission one new play each year over thenext three years, Winkelman said.

Gibson said she has enjoyed working with the SMU students inthis production.

“They’re fantastic, a very talented, dedicated,committed group of actors. I’ve had a great time,” shesaid.

Gibson has worked with students at NYU and Juilliard. She waschosen to come to SMU for her high standards, combination of strongskills and good understanding of what it takes to direct students,said Greg Leaming, head of directing.

Gibson earned a bachelor of arts from the University of Iowa anda master of fine arts from New York University.

She has directed over 15 off-Broadway plays and in other NewYork theaters.

Additionally, Gibson has acted in many New York and regionalproductions. She has also appeared in movies, such as ChangingLanes, and television shows, such as “Law andOrder” and “Spin City.”