Fuse is incredibly excited to announce the inaugural work in a series showcasing new plays in development. The Awakening will receive a staged reading March 29.

This adaptation by Fuse founder Lara Morton is based on the landmark 1899 novel, an early example of feminist literature that has been taught in classrooms around the world. Set in the 1890s, the story follows a repressed 27-year-old Presbyterian woman from Kentucky, Edna Pontellier, who has married into a culture very different from where she was raised. Exposure to the lifestyle of prominent Creoles on summer vacation, where candor of expression, and flirtations were considered normal and “harmless," Edna's life as she knew it begins to unravel. She falls in love with Robert, the son of a proprietor on Grand Isle, but when he realizes the feelings are mutual, he abruptly leaves for Mexico. Her subsequent despair and longing set her on a course of personal awakening as an artist and as a sexual being, at a time when a woman’s sterling reputation was a critical commodity for her husband’s standing in business and social realms.