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Clockwise:  Jessi Calixto, Eric Curnutte, Leslie Swancutt and Britt Heisel in On the Verge

Clockwise: Britt Heisel, Leslie Swancutt and Britt Heisel.

Hasn't it been said (by someone, somewhere) if you don't know where you're going, you're likely to end up somewhere else?  

In the "joyfully feminist" play, On the Verge or the Geography of Yearning, three bold Victorian ladies set off on an adventure. They (sort of) know where they are going, yet they find themselves journeying through time and space ... in the most unexpected of ways.  In fact, they're all over the map--from Terra Incognita to darkest Africa to highest Himalaya.

Playwright Eric Overmyer, acclaimed for his literary wit and mad sense of logic, has packed this comedy with play after play (no pun intended) on pungent ideas and juicy words, political satire and whimsical notions. 

MFA candidate Charlie Pepiton, the director, says while humor is the glue of On the Verge, the play is quite the brilliant political treatise.

"It explores the nature of empires and empire-building, the spread of the English language and its impact on the world," says Pepiton.  "It's powerful!"

Quoting from the play, "English is the vehicle and the engine is empire."

So it's political, historical ... then throw in pop culture and slang, and you have an idea of Overmyer's free-wheeling and funny pastiche about the quirkiness of humans and how they inhabit their world(s).

Each of the three heroines is loosely based on a real female Victorian traveler, with dialogue lifted liberally from their journals. 

Staging the play as theatre-in-the-round in the Kiva Theatre, says Pepiton, is "freeing and challenging."

"Having a 360 degree view to work with provides all sorts of options for interacting with and implicating the audience," says Pepiton.  "We plan to come at them from behind, front and sidewise.  It's going to be fun."

On the Verge or The Geography of Yearning has a two-week run at the Kiva Theatre.  The play runs February 12-15 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, February 16 at 2 pm, then again March 6-8 at 7:30 pm.  Tickets are available from the UI Ticket Office at 885-7212 or TicketsWest outlets.

There will also be a "Page to Stage" discussion about "On the Verge" is Friday, February 14 at 2:30 pm at the Hartung.  A five-member panel, made up of faculty from UI and WSU, will discuss the play.