Gods look for a good person in
University’s ‘The Good Woman of Setzuan’

Sacramento State professor and director Richard Bay will bring his life-long passion for theater puppetry to Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Woman of Setzuan, Oct. 16-19 and 22-26 in the University Theatre.

Actors will share the stage with life-size puppets created by Bay and his students.

The play focuses on Shen Te, a prostitute who is selected by three gods as the one good person on earth. Despite her efforts to lead a decent life, Shen Te is still set upon by her friends and neighbors, and must resort to masquerading as a male alter ego named Shui Ta to survive.

The gods and Shen Te’s alter ego will be depicted by puppets. While Shui Ta is usually expressed by having the lead actress don a mask, Bay opted for a grotesque, life-size puppet that she will operate, enabling the audience to still see the true emotions of Shen Te while the rest of the actors react to her alter ego.

Bay’s previous works at Sacramento State have incorporated puppetry, which has a rich tradition in the history of theater. “Some people say it was the first theater,” Bay says, noting that remnants of large, jointed figures have been found in the pyramids and among Mayan and Aztec ruins.

He also brings that tradition out into the community. Some of his students are performing Peter and the Wolf for children at venues around the city.

Bay became interested in puppetry as a child. When he needed a job while attending college, Bay started doing puppetry for a children’s recreation program. It was then he decided he could take his craft even farther and began creating puppet programs for adults, eventually doing his master’s thesis on people and puppets.

He did a children’s puppet video about river conservation for the state Fish and Game Department and has more puppet videos lined up in conjunction with people from the B Street Theatre.

Puppets aren’t the only innovations Bay is bringing to Good Woman. The play has always had songs, but Sacramento State alumnus Christopher Cook has re-written them and created a whole score for the production that will be performed on stage by a rock band.

Bay has cast 32 performers in the production. Jennifer Ly plays Shen Te and Dexter Galang is the male lead, Wang.

The play was written between 1938 and 1943, but still has great relevance, Bay says, dealing with graft, corruption and ill morals. “How can anyone really be truly good? That’s kind of what the play is examining.”

Performances are at 8 p.m., Oct. 16-18, 24 and 25; at 2 p.m., Oct. 19 and 26; and at 6:30 p.m., Oct. 22 and 23. Tickets are $5 for children 11 and younger and $8 general admission for the 6:30 p.m. shows. All other performances are $8 for children, $10 for students, seniors and Sacramento State employees, and $12 general admission. Tickets are available at Sacramento State’s Ticket Office, 278-4323 or www.tickets.com.