Overview
In pre-Revolutionary Paris Madeleine, a young girl fresh from her convent school, is promised in marriage to an older nobleman to pay off her father’s debts. She flees to the literary salon of her late mother’s friends, aristocratic women who conceal radical politics within reinvented folk tales. When her promised husband shows up too, the women must use their wits to save Madeleine. But in the end, the maid Françoise is revealed as the real hero of a story they didn’t realize they were in.
Casting & Production
Casting
FRANÇOISE — a maid in her late teens/20s
MADELEINE DE SAUVETERRE — a girl in her late teens
HENRIETTE, THE COMTESSE DE MARÉ — a woman in her 30s or older
GABRIELLE, THE MARQUISE D’AULNEY — a woman in her 30s or older
CLAUDE, THE DUC DE LA BEAUCHENE — a man in his 30s or older
Setting
An aristocrat’s reception room in pre-Revolutionary Paris, one afternoon
Reviews
“THE SALONNIÈRES smartly delivers wit with a feminist twist…In an age where women’s experiences are being questioned and their looks judged, a play about sisterhood and intelligence is more than a pleasure to watch.”
—The Theater Mirror
Media
