Kpfa - Bay Area Theater

KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “Bull in a China Shop” by by Bryna Turner, at Aurora Theatre Company through December 8, 2019 Aurora website Review transcript: When Mary Woolley became president of the all-woman Mount Holyoke College in 1900, she had a plan – to change the curriculum from one that focused on women as subservient to men, to one focused on actual education. She also took along, and hired, her partner Jeannette Marks, who became a professor at the school, and they lived openly together for a total of fifty five years. No closet for them. Putting the two ideas together — Woolley as feminist reformer and Woolley as openly gay lover — playwright Bryna Turner crafted “Bull in a China Shop, starring the extraordinary Stacey Ross, playing at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley through December 8th. Through a series of small scenes – vignettes ranging from full-on confrontations to monologues, we learn about Woolley’s opposition to suffrage and observe conflicts with her more radical lover, conflic