Margaret Fuller was an educated woman, with a keen mind and a social conscience that forced her to speak out against injustice -- all traits that are admired today, but not during her lifetime, 1810 to 1850.
Fuller, an author, editor, journalist, literary critic, educator and a social misfit, is the subject of "Charm," which has its official opening tonight at the Salt Lake Acting Company.
Carianne H. Jones, a 2007 graduate of Weber State University's acting program, plays the key role of Anna Barker, Fuller's best friend. Jones also plays Sparkler, a water nymph who appears in a fantasy scene.
"She was pushing against the status quo," Jones said, of Fuller, played by Salt Lake City actress Cheryl Gaysunas. "She wanted women's rights, and freedom for slaves, and she wanted people to express themselves beyond society's rules."
Fuller, of Boston, was a contemporary of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne and had intellectually intimate relationships with both men, but both rejected her on a romantic level. Sam Ward, a socially prominent writer, was initially warm to Fuller, but went on to marry a woman with social status.
"She wonders if she will ever find someone who will love her as she is," Jones said, of Fuller.
Jones' character, Anna, is happy with the role life has assigned her, and thrilled to become a beautiful, obedient wife when the opportunity presents itself.
"My character breaks her (Fuller's) heart, in a way," Jones said. "Margaret tells Anna they will always be happy together, then a man Margaret cares about scoops up Anna, and Margaret is left alone."
Fuller's gifts
Salt Lake City author Kathleen Cahill wrote the new play, based on a historical character she first heard of when she lived in Boston. Fuller, hailed as the most literate and well-read Easterner of her time, also was a supporter of the American transcendental movement, which believed in freedom of the human spirit to transcend the confines of history and time.
"I like to feel that somebody's guiding the play so that Margaret can have her due," said Cahill, in a written statement. "Sort of cosmic justice. I hope audiences will be enchanted, amused, moved, briefly lifted out of their lives, and leave the theatre with a passionate desire to know more about Margaret Fuller."
Director Meg Gibson, of Salt Lake City, believes the play raises important questions.
"It's about one person, one woman, one soul: How do we connect with each other?" Gibson said, in a statement. "How do we have intimacy? How do we do it and have it be joyous? How do we not cut off parts of ourselves in order to be with somebody? Why do we have to accept less?"
Fuller did find love, a few years before her death, at age 40. While traveling in Italy, she met a man. They had a child and married, in that order, which also caused a scandal. Traveling back to the United States, their ship wrecked, and the couple and their child died.
"She died very young, before her time," Jones said. "She didn't get to see her legacy fulfilled, and her treasure, her final manuscript, was lost at sea when she died."
Jones' hopes
Jones is probably best known to WSU theater fans as Mary Lennox in the school's 2005 production of "The Secret Garden." More recent credits include playing Marie in Pioneer Memorial's "Is He Dead" and two Mary G. Steiner Egyptian Theatre credits, as Marion in "The Music Man" and as Philia in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum."
Jones said she relishes the chance to be part of this important premiere.
"I think people will leave with a sense of what it's like to live in the 19th century, and the status quo people had to deal with, and that was such a hard era, lives were so challenging," Jones said. "I think people will think, 'Wow, what just hit me?' "
She hopes audiences will be able to "keep up," and not be confused by fantasy scenes that add a dream-like "Alice in Wonderland" element.
"And I hope they will leave thinking, 'Wow, that Margaret Fuller, she was a force.' "
PREVIEW
l WHAT: 'Charm'
l WHEN: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, through May 9
l WHERE: Salt Lake Acting Company, 168 W. 500 North, Salt Lake City
l TICKETS: $18-$33, with discounts for students and those 30 and younger. (801) 363-SLAC or www.saltlakeactingcompany.org.
l RELATED EVENTS: A post-play panel discussion will follow this Sunday's matinee performance. Also, a reading of Kathleen Cahill's "The Persian Quarter" is at 7 p.m. April 26. Both events, at the theater, are free.
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