American Players Theatre reflects the humiliation of immigrants in 'The Maids'

Posted July 7, 2017

Maids Fischer Blog

By Mike Fischer, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

July 5, 2017

Playwright Jean Genet was born to a prostitute and spent portions of his early years working as one.  He spent his final years as a passionate advocate for Algerian immigrants and Palestinian refugees. 

During the interim, Genet wrote “The Maids,” a 1947 play that looks back with both anger and compassion at the humiliation of his youth. 

Director Gigi Buffington’s searing and riveting American Players Theatre production of his play – in which the actors playing the titular characters are, like Buffington, Latinx – honors the Genet who championed the dispossessed, while showing us a mirror reflecting the way we live now. It opened July 1 in APT’s indoor Touchstone Theatre in Spring Green.

Set in a sleek and sophisticated contemporary American bedroom suggesting upscale urban living in a place like New York’s upper west side, this 95-minute play begins with a game of dress-up, involving sisters who are also maids imagining life as their boss.  

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