Staged Reading at UCLA of The Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs

By Robin Kello

As part of an exciting fall at Diversifying the Classics, we renewed our annual collaboration with UCLA’s Department of Theater, Film, and Television with a staged reading of our most recent translation, The Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs. This lively comedia by Ana Caro tells the story of Leonor, who dresses as a man and travels from Seville to Brussels to track down the lover who spurned her. Writing back to the Don Juan myth, the play challenges traditional notions of masculine honor, while dramatizing female agency through Leonor’s wit and determination. There are also swordfights, identity mix-ups, and a comic servant who ends up drunk from a chocolate cocktail.

Directed by Michael Hackett, the staged reading included the first-year MFA students in Acting and Directing. Over the course of two evenings, an audience of the UCLA community and beyond experienced what is perhaps the first, but definitely will not be the last, staging of this play in English. It was a joy to see it move from page to stage, and we would like to thank everyone who attended the performance, TFT, and especially Professor Hackett and the actors, whose names appear below. We are grateful for our yearly collaboration to share the rich tradition of Hispanic Classical Theater with new audiences.

Sarah Boneysteele
Molly Corkins
Claire Edmonds
Oyemen Ehikhamhen 
May Fei-Bandit
Michael Hackett
Joseph Henderson
Natalia Noble
Zoë Wang
Tiger Yip