Prequel play to iconic Virginia Woolf novel to hold world premiere in Gloucester

In the theater, there's nothing like having the playwright in the room with the actors before a new piece of work debuts.

This week, Gloucester Stage will launch a world premiere play, "Dalloway: First Love".

It's a prequel to the Virginia Woolf classic, "Mrs. Dalloway", filled with feminine energy on stage and behind the scenes.

Playwright Lindsay Joelle said, "I think that a script is really a blueprint of an experience, and so I'm writing vague directions, and then everybody really adds these layers on top to make it a collaborative piece."

Joelle has been a fan of the original work for years.

"I felt this strong attachment to it. I knew I wanted to adapt it, but I wanted a way in that was more immediate, more accessible emotionally," Joelle explained.

"It's a play that I was drawn to immediately," said Gloucester Stage artistic director and director Rebecca Bradshaw.

She leads the production where women are at the forefront. 

"We're having conversations that you don't necessarily have in a room with a lot of men in the room, so we're talking about these women and their oddities and their weirdness and their strange habits, but then also we're talking about the struggles that they face as well," Bradshaw said.

Actor Josephine Moshiri Elwood portrays Clarissa and told WBZ-TV, "You know there are some processes where you start and you're a little nervous at day one. But I'm not nervous. I feel incredible about this whole team. "

Haley Dyana Schwartz plays Sally, and said, "This is a story that captures the intricacies of human relationships."

The play is a coming-of-age tale, digging deeper into the moments of memory in the original novel.

Both actors loved having Lindsay with them during early rehearsals.

"Whenever we have questions about things, she's right there. She can help us. She can guide us through, and it's a very active process. We're getting new pages, and we're doing rewrites, so it feels really collaborative, which is really freeing," Elwood said.       

Schwartz added, "I'm such a fan of the original novel and getting to work on characters like this, it's like I feel this legacy of support. From the history of this character and what it's meant to people."

"This play's a lot about connection and deep friendship," said Bradshaw. "I hope that people walk away and maybe call up a friend they haven't talked to in a while."

"I think a play is really never done. Until you send it to the publisher and they hit print and say, please don't send us any more changes. So it's a living document, and it's always growing and it always evolving. So this is its first blooming," Joelle said.

The world premiere of "Dalloway: First Love" at Gloucester Stage is on Thursday, August 13. The play runs through August 29th.