Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama The Skin of Our Teeth recounts the story of mankind’s gradual upward spiral. The play fast-tracks the audience ride from the Ice Age through the Great Flood and finally the devastation of war.
“Although Wilder published his play in 1942, no one has duplicated the theatricality, originality and innovation since,” Mimi Holloway, artistic director for Theatre Southwest, says.
The first act promises to delight and amaze, as costume designers went all out creating the dinosaur and the mammoth. Rising to the challenge, the props department also devoted much creativity and craftsmanship to the papier-mâché props. “The design elements proved most satisfying,” she says, adding that the second act features the engineering marvel of a raft built on books. “Hundreds of books are used in this play.”
The title of the play (from Job 19:20: “My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth”) also had great meaning for director Kathy Drum. “This production is dedicated to her parents, who both passed away in the last few months,” explains Holloway. Throughout Drum’s life, their advice to her was always, “We all survive by the skin of our teeth, so keep moving.”
Drum hopes to convey to modern audiences what Wilder conveyed to the audiences of his time, that mankind can grow and evolve through empathy, tolerance and vision, while technological advances can be counterproductive.
8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sunday, March 1. Through March 14. 8944-A Clarkcrest. For information, call 713-661-9505 or visit theatresouthwest.org.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sun., March 1, 3 p.m. Starts: Feb. 20. Continues through March 14, 2015
This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2015.
