The Archive Theater Company stages a production of The Yellow Wallpaper, a psychological horror play based on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1892 short story, exploring themes of control and women's creative power.
The Archive Theater Company brings The Yellow Wallpaper to the Trinity Street Playhouse starting September 4, with performances running through September 20, Thursday through Sunday. It's a stage adaptation by Jeff Davis of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1892 short story, a piece of psychological horror that grew out of Gilman's own postpartum experience. Her husband had put her on a 'rest cure' that forbade all creative and intellectual activity, and the story came out of that confinement. The play takes that history and works through themes of control, dependence, bodily autonomy, and the suppression of women's creative power.
On stage, it's an intimate production carried by two roles: John Stetson and John's Wife. Mon Darter and Sadie Okerstrom take those parts, with Faith Sanders directing. Because the story is so focused on the interior life of the narrator, having just two actors keeps the focus right where it needs to be.
This is the 14th production for The Archive Theater Company, which has been bringing classic stories to the stage since 2019. They draw on literature and theatre from the 16th through the 20th centuries to build detailed, historically grounded productions for Austin audiences. The Yellow Wallpaper fits right into that wheel—a 19th-century story brought to life in a way that lets the period details and the psychological tension breathe.
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You'll find the show at the Trinity Street Playhouse, 901 Trinity Street, Austin, TX 78701, in the Black Box Theatre on the fourth floor of the First Baptist Church. Performances run September 4 through September 20, Thursday through Sunday.
