One has seen the work of Artemisia Gentileschi, even if they don’t recognize the name. Considered a master of Baroque painting, her works appear in museums worldwide.
She worked on commissions for the Medici Court, the Court of Charles I, Philip IV of Spain and many others. The first woman ever to be accepted into the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, she is best known now for being raped.
“It’s reductive to say that her art is just about her rape. It’s reductive to say any woman’s art boils down to just one thing,” says Billy Barrett, co-artistic director of Breach Theatre and co-conceiver of It’s True, It’s True, It’s True. The show will premiere in the U.S. on April 18 at Mill Valley’s Marin Theatre.
Make no mistake; the play is about the subsequent trial of Artemisia’s rapist. It’s about the terrible torture inflicted on her. It’s about the allegations thrown at her. It’s about the damage to her reputation and career. It’s about friends looking the other way. It’s about a whole bunch of things that sound a lot like rape trials today.
“Any retelling always says more about the modern times than it says about the original,” Barrett agrees. “But it’s important to remember that we’re artists, not historians. Artists should always have something to say.”
Breach Theatre’s co-writers, Barrett and Ellice Stevens, always have something to say. “We are interested in how historical stories can speak to the modern moment,” Barrett explains. So in 2018, at the height of the “Me Too” movement, Barrett was excited to learn that the 400-year-old trial transcript still existed and had been translated into English.
Meanwhile, Stevens was inspired to do an all-female play with women playing men on stage. These two ideas formed a three-act outline. Pulling together an all-female cast, the two set about devising a piece of theater inspired by the historical document and Gentileschi’s subsequent art.
“People will be surprised how funny it is,” Barrett says with a smile. “That rehearsal room was filled with laughter and fun. But it still has a strong undertone of rebellion.” Even the title reflects that tongue-in-cheek attitude. “It was always meant to be a play on the fact that it’s a true story of a woman who was telling the truth and not being believed,” Barrett continues.
This isn’t light theater, but neither is it doom and gloom. It’s a story that will feel sadly familiar.
After all, it’s true.‘It’s True, It’s True, It’s True’ runs April 18 through May 4 at Marin Theatre, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley. Weds – Sat, 7:30pm; Sat & Sun, 2pm. $10-$81. 415.388.5208. marintheatre.org.
