The Oldest Profession

The Oldest Profession opens at Hyde Park Theatre on December 4, running through December 13. It's a play by Paula Vogel, directed and produced by Austin's own Marian Kansas.

The story follows five aging practitioners of the oldest profession. The timing is part of the point: Ronald Reagan is entering the White House, and these women are facing a diminishing clientele, increased competition, and aching joints. They spend the play struggling to find and learn new tricks to stay in The Life. It's a look at a specific kind of survival, and the way the world shifts around you while you're just trying to keep working.

Marian Kansas is handling both directing and producing here. She's a director, playwright, and producer based in Austin, and she co-founded The Heartland Theatre Collective, which ran from 2016 to 2020. Since 2021, she's been a core company member of Bottle Alley Theatre Company. This production is her own, and it's built around a very specific casting choice: the company sought female-identifying performers over age 50 for every role. Auditions and callbacks were held in late September and early October at the Dougherty Arts Center, and each performer is receiving a $400 stipend.

Between the Reagan-era backdrop and the focus on women over 50, it's a production that leans into the realities of aging and the politics of the time. You can catch it at Hyde Park Theatre from December 4 through December 13.