Charlotte Sussman '29 as Mary Shelley in rehearsal for Quite Contrary. Photo by Mark Michael '28
(PRINCETON, NJ) -- The Lewis Center for the Arts' Program in Theater and Music Theater at Princeton University presents Quite Contrary, a gothic fantasy re-imagining of the life of Mary Shelley and the ghosts that haunted the creation of her legendary novel, Frankenstein. The new play is written by senior Marlie Kass and is directed by sophomore Nora Glass. Performances are October 9-10 at 8:00pm and October 11, 2026 at 2:00pm in the Wallace Theater at the Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton campus.
Free and open to the public, tickets can be reserved through University Ticketing. The Wallace Theater is fully accessible with an assistive listening system. The October 10 performance will be open captioned, and the October 11 performance will feature American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation. Guests in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at [email protected] at least one week prior to the event date.
Kass proposed the project as her senior independent work toward a minor in the Program in Theater and Music Theater. She began developing the piece in her first semester at Princeton, inspired after being assigned in a theater course to present a poem written by Shelley. Struck by Shelley's distinct voice and dramatic history, she began delving into how a familiar literary legend could be reinterpreted for the stage through a new lens. Kass dedicated her first year at Princeton to researching Shelley's life and in the spring of 2025, presented a reading of an early draft of the play at the Lewis Center. In presenting Quite Contrary for her senior independent work, she was especially interested in bridging her work in new play development to audience engagement, expanding the production's potential reach through the inclusion of an ASL interpreted performance.
Kass is an English major from Boston. At Princeton, she has engaged in roles ranging from directing to ASL interpretation across theaters on campus. Through her work as a student community coordinator for the Program in Theater and Music Theater and artistic and community engagement fellow at McCarter Theatre, she focuses on connecting the greater student body to Princeton's numerous theatrical opportunities. After her senior year, Kass hopes to continue her scholarly and creative work through graduate study in theater and performance studies.
Glass joined the project as director in spring 2025. She is interested in theater that is immersive and self-referential — stories about stories. She hopes audiences will come to the performance ready to think differently about the life, work, and impact of Mary Shelley. She notes that she is eager to develop her directorial skills through this exciting new work.
Glass, who is from Decatur, Georgia, is planning to major in English and is pursuing minors in theater, linguistics, and humanistic studies. She is involved in theater across Princeton's campus through student groups such as Theater Intime and the Princeton University Players. This is the first full-length production she has directed. She also serves as the archivist for the Princeton University Glee Club and as a student mentor for the Western Humanities Sequence through the Department of Humanistic Studies.
The student cast of Quite Contrary includes graduate student Inci Anali and undergraduates Olivia Romano, Charlotte Sussman, and Tanya Zhou.
Student members of the production team, in addition to Glass, include Ethan Gotthold as set designer, Jenna Mullin as lighting designer, Jax Brown as projection designer, Twyla Colburn as dramaturg, John Heitz as stage manager, and Madelyn Smoyer and Marisa Hirschfield as assistant stage managers. Cass Kim, a graduate alum currently in Princeton's Teacher Prep Program, is sound designer. Professional members of the production team are E. Keating Helfrich Debelak as costume designer, Jacqueline Holloway as intimacy director, and faculty member Aaron Landsman as co-producer. Faculty member Stacy Wolf is project mentor.
Visit the Lewis Center website to learn more about this event, the Lewis Center for the Arts, and the more than 100 public performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts, lectures, and special events presented by the Lewis Center each year, most of them free.
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