In the Next Room or the vibrator play

at Chapman University

“What men do not observe because their intellect prevents them from seeing would fill so many books.”

Dr. Givings, In the Next Room by Sarah Ruhl

“Sarah Ruhl’s In The Next Room or the vibrator play is a provocative, hilarious, and poignant comedy of manners exploring the woeful ignorance of women’s sexuality. This is the story of an adventurous and curious woman, Catherine, who is struggling to find satisfying connection and intimacy in a world which has artificially established boundaries limiting women as full human beings. Although giddy and wickedly humorous, the play reveals darker undertones of the physical and emotional repression of women, the silence surrounding many women’s issues, and the subjugation of people of color by a privileged class.

“Women’s sexuality has been misunderstood as a pathology since the 5th century B.C.E. and coined “hysteria”; any woman who was not satisfied by penetration of the erect penis of her husband and/or having symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, irritability, nervousness, fainting, or erotic fantasy was diagnosed as suffering from “hysteria.” Since only 10-20% of women experience orgasm with penetration, this relegated >80% of all women as suffering from a disease. Women’s bodies and needs have unfortunately been defined by the limited understanding of the patriarchy of the time. Hysteria was described by physicians as a pandemic in the 19th century and the second most common disease after fever. Victorian New England in the 1880s provided clear boundaries and rules for etiquette, behavior, conversation, and the spaces/spheres one was allowed into due to one’s gender, race, and level of privilege.”

– Jocelyn Brown, director