Domnica Rădulescu’s Play “The Town with Very Nice People” Set for World Premiere in New York City The professor has also published two literary works in recent months.

By Brian Laubscher
October 10, 2023

Domnica Rădulescu, Edwin A. Morris Professor of Comparative Literatures at Washington and Lee University, will have her award-winning play “The Town with Very Nice People” experience its world premiere at the studio theater of the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York City on Oct. 19-20 at 7 p.m. Additionally, two books featuring Rădulescu’s work have been released in recent months, including “Madame Monde/Madam World” and “Immigrant Voices in the Pandemic.”

Rădulescu’s play, which finished runner-up for the 2013 Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, takes an iconoclastic look at militant feminism, immigration in America and romantic relationships against the backdrop of quasi-closed academic communities, and is described as “a hilarious, unforgiving exposé of middle-class hypocrisy.” The workshop production is directed by award-winning director Ana Mărgineanu and features Tjaša Ferme in the leading role. Persons interested in attending the premiere event should RSVP on the Romanian Cultural Institute website.

“This is an unusual play with the subtitle of ‘An Immigrant Strident Operetta,’ that treats in ironic ways the themes present in many of my works of fiction and literary criticism, namely the immigrant experience with its rollercoaster of emotions and experiences in the context of small-town America,” said Rădulescu. “The play has an unusual structure in that it has several endings, and while not a musical, it incorporates several musical numbers. I am excited that Ana Mărgineanu will direct, as she is known as ‘the queen of immersive theater,’ while having an award-winning New York-based actress like Tjaša Ferme is the frosting on this cake.”

An immersive workshop production of the play will travel to Lexington and will be presented as part of the National Symposium of Theater in Academe in March 2024.

“Madame Monde/Madam World” was authored by Rădulescu as a collection of one-act and short plays. The works featured in the publication explore nature, earth and environmental destruction, magic and madness, from a feminist lens. The 195-page book was released in January by NoPassport Press.

“This collection emerged over the last decade in the interstices between cultures, languages, geographies, and histories,” said Rădulescu. “Some emerge from personal stories of living in hyphenated spaces, others emerge from catastrophic histories of violence and erasure, and are written from the positionality of an ally to survivors and victims of such histories.”

“Immigrant Voices in the Pandemic” was published by Solis Press (U.K.) in September as the second book in a series of anthologies co-edited by Rădulescu and award-winning poet Roxana Cazan. The first, “Voices on the Move,” debuted in September 2020. “Immigrant Voices in the Pandemic” is a collection of multi-genre literary and artistic works showcasing how the COVID-19 period has impacted the artistic expression of refugees, immigrants, and migrants and includes stories of grief and loss, as well as stories of hope.

“This new anthology demanded to be created during the tragic times of the COVID-19 pandemic almost as a first responders’ action honoring the experiences of immigrants, refugees and migrants and the creation of art as a strategy of survival and healing,” said Rădulescu. “While it is not the only anthology about the pandemic, it is unique in the diversity of its voices and the multitude of the genres represented, from poetry to drama to creative fiction and non-fiction and even visual arts.”

A member of W&L’s faculty since 1992, Rădulescu is the author, editor or co-editor of 14 scholarly books and three critically acclaimed novels, as well as book chapters, articles and plays. She was the co-founding chair of W&L’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program and is the founding organizer and director of the National Symposium of Theater in Academe. She is the recipient of the SCHEV 2011 Outstanding Faculty Award. Rădulescu holds a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University of Chicago and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago.

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