Local, volunteer community theater company Theatre@First is producing a world premiere of Monica Cross’ “The Aria of Julie d’Aubigny,” directed by Peter Duerst. The show runs from June 5-20 at Unity Somerville.
The play is based on the historic figure of Julie d’Aubigny, a French opera singer, and the colorful, tumultuous, and vivacious way that she tackled life. This queer story combines cross dressing, sword fighting, romance, music and more, along Julie’s journey that she creates for herself.
We spoke with actor Emma Picht, who plays Julie, and chatted about art and summer fun.
What is “The Aria of Julie d’Aubigny” about?
The title does a great job of pitching the play to audiences. I just have to recite the title, and people are like, “Oh, I really want to see that.”
It’s based on the true life of Mademoiselle de Maupin, otherwise known as Julie d’Aubigny, who was a young woman who was raised by her father, a drunk. But he did train male courtiers. And so, he trained her in sword fighting and behaviors of court, all of these things that would be extremely useful. And then she ran off with a fencing master for several years, then ran off with another person, for several years. Then burned a convent to the ground along the way.
So, we pick up after that first part of her life. We pick up with the first great love of her life, who is her greatest friend. We have letters from this man, the Comte d’Albert, to Julie. They held a correspondence up until her death. They were very, very close. We start with that relationship. That sort of sets up the contrast to the second act. It is an exploration of her relationships and her time at the opera, and this fame of hers growing out of control over time, her starting to reckon with feeling out of control in her own life.
Who is Julie d’Aubigny, in your words?
She’s quite a character. She’s quite spiteful! But in a very “don’t mess with me, and I won’t mess with you” [way]. A lot of the most sensational things about her were really motivated by someone injuring her pride and then her deciding to take action on it. She had this extreme sense of justice and protection for other women. There was a man in the opera with her who was known to harass women, and she would show up with a sword and wait outside the other ladies’ dressing rooms to escort them home, so they wouldn’t have to be alone with him. There’s this strong sense of justice for other women and protecting other women, and then there’s this strong sense of personal justice, of “how dare you insult my pride or my capability.” “How dare you question how good of a fighter I am or how capable I can be.” It’s this amazing combination of, against all of what we think of as historical society being very buttoned-up. She was just very brazen. And very unapologetic about who she was. She dared the world to challenge her on that front.
What’s a role in theater that you’d love to play?
Backstage at the show, we’ve been talking a lot about this. We’re all looking at the next year of seasons and next round of shows. In terms of what’s coming up, there are going to be quite a few productions of “Romeo and Juliet” in Cambridge and Somerville. A dream role, eventually, would be Lady Capulet. Love her. She’s so complex and gets some great moments in the show, but also gets to chill 90 percent of the time. And Benvolio — there’s a lot of humor in the part. Normally, I’m a very clown-ish actor. I’m a really physical actor; I love going for clown-ish parts, and I am quite funny. Getting to do those clown parts is always a delight. Really, what I do is, I end up starting to play a game, where I see who of my fellow actors I can break. Because if they’ve seen the show 20 times, at this point, and I say it differently this night, and it makes you laugh, that’s going to be really funny to the audience.
What’s your favorite coffee shop in Somerville or Cambridge?
My favorite coffee shop I found with a friend of mine when we were postering for last summer’s production at Theatre@First, which was “The Tempest.” We went into this coffee shop, with all of our posters, and it was very hot out. And I suddenly saw that they had a full roastery set up in the building. I went — “Oh, I need to get a coffee right now.” Cause I’m from Ohio, and amazingly, Ohio has an awesome economy of small coffee shops and roasters that are phenomenal. As much as I can love and appreciate a good Dunks, I miss it. I walked in, and it was the best coffee I’ve had since moving to Boston. So my answer for you is Yego Coffee.
What’s something fun you think everyone should do this summer?
Go see Shakespeare in the park. It’s one of my favorite things. I love doing Shakespeare in the park; I love getting to do free performances of Shakespeare in the park. It’s how I met all of my friends. It’s how I met the director of this show. I love getting to see Commonwealth’s Shakespeare on the Common. But what I would recommend to people is, keep an eye out for the smaller companies who do Shakespeare in the park. Dream Role Players is staging “Julius Caesar” this summer. Otherwise, honestly, go walking along the esplanade and think about picking up some roller skating. I’m currently banned from roller skating, because I’m not allowed to get injured. But the second the show wraps, I’m going to be hitting the esplanade with my roller skates.
“The Aria of Julie d’Aubigny” opens at 8:00 p.m. Friday at Unity Somerville, 6 William Street, Somerville, and runs through June 20.
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