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(L-R): Jeanna de Wall as “Diana,” Erin Davie as “Camilla Parker Bowles” and Roe Hartrampf as “Prince Charles” see page 19. Photo by Little Fang.
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March 13, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 21
“The Judas Kiss” Photos by Jenny Graham. By Jack Lyons Theatre and Film Critic Member American Theatre Critics Association Irish playwright and author Oscar Wilde has had a cult following for years. Wilde’s canon is a bit of a short read compared to England’s other literary giants. But the plays he wrote became classics
of Victorian polite society; and the play genre known as comedy of manners and drawing room styled plays. A brilliant intellect, and a master of wit infused with a poet’s appreciation for words, Wilde relished elegant dialogue, and sophisticated situations both on and off the stage. He was a true sybarite. Which unfortunately, led to his fall from grace.
By Desert Star Staff The words “veteran,” “hero” and “patriot” usually evoke images of men. Many people are not aware that some 3 million women are currently serving or have served in the U.S. Armed Forces beginning with the American Revolution. Their stories are largely unknown. “Women have served alongside men to gain and preserve liberty, from the American Revolution to today’s Global War on Terror,” says retired Army Major General Dee Ann McWilliams, president of the Women In Service For America Memorial Foundation. The Foundation aims
to bridge the gap in the public’s understanding of women’s military service and encourages everyone to help in the following ways: Learn Their History: Women’s History Month, celebrated in March, is a great time to learn about trailblazing military women. Here are five you should know about: • In 1782, Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a man to become the first woman known to enlist as a soldier in the Continental Army. The only woman to earn a full military pension for service during the American Revolution, she served as an infantryman Continues on Page 4
His meteoric rise to popularity and acceptance by London’s theatre-going society immediately propelled him into the upper ranks of England’s playwrights mainly on the strength of “An Ideal Husband”, “A Woman of No Importance”, “Lady Windermere’s Fan”, and “The Importance of Being Earnest”. His daring novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, only solidified his writing credentials
as a novelist, playwright, essayist and celebrity of his day. The English playwright David Hare (“Constellations” (2015) and a fan of Wilde’s work felt that Wilde deserved a play, as a way of setting the record straight on Wilde’s largerthan- life philosophy in what Tennessee Williams called “that of which we dare not speak”. Wilde was a Bi-sexual gay man who loved to flout the English
law of ‘”gross indecency”. But if one did, one did so at one’s peril. If arrested, both men would face jail time and the ruin of their reputations. Wilde’s trial resulted in his going to prison for two years of hard labor. And true to predictions his career was over. The law of ‘gross indecency’ that ensnared Oscar Wilde was only removed from Continues on Page 11
Honoring the Achievements of Women in the Military
Courtesy of Donna Parry