Tom Fedor/The Gazette Adriyah Young as Lou Bessie Preston and Kiara Tinch as Elizabeth Borny in the UMD?School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies' production of “The Old Settler.”?

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Tom Fedor/The Gazette Kiara Tinch as Elizabeth Borny (left)?and Erica Philpot as Quilly McGrath in “The Old Settler.”?
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Tom Fedor/The Gazette Tinch as Elizabeth with Christopher Lane as Husband Witherspoon in John Henry Redwood’s comedy, “The Old Settler.”? The production opens Friday at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

Tom Fedor/The Gazette Adriyah Young as Lou Bessie Preston and Kiara Tinch as Elizabeth Borny in the UMD?School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies' production of “The Old Settler.”?

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While, today, society might call her a cougar, in 1943, a woman dating a man almost half her age was unacceptable.

When love comes knocking at her door, however, 55-year old Elizabeth has some hard choices to make in John Henry Redwood's comedy “The Old Settler.” The play opens Friday at University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

Portrayed by Kiara Tinch, Elizabeth is a black domestic worker living in Harlem in 1943 with her younger sister, Quilly. The simple, church-going pair's world is shaken up when they decide to take in a handsome 29-year old boarder named Husband.

“For the first time in a while a whole new world has opened up to Elizabeth,” says Tinch, 21, of Catonsville.

Having resigned herself to living out the rest of her life as an old settler — an unmarried women with no prospects — Elizabeth wrangles with her own feelings against a barrage of opinions from her younger sister and society.

“She hasn't opened herself up to feeling like this in a long time, and she is aware of the fact that there is an age difference,” Tinch says. “She is very much a church-going woman and doesn't want to cause a stir.”

Husband, portrayed by Christopher Lane, is a recent transplant from South Carolina who has come to the big city of New York to join his girlfriend Lou Bessie.

“Husband is really energetic, he's really out there, he's really a free spirit,” says Lane, 18, of Baltimore. “I bring in my own kind of adventure and life into the place.”

Having stayed behind in South Carolina to care for his sick mother, Husband realizes that the city has changed Lou Bessie so much he barely knows her, says Lane. Instead, he realizes how much he has in common with Elizabeth, and begins to fall for her.

“He sees a little part of his mother in her,” Lane says. “I think [their love] is genuine.”

Presented by students at the University of Maryland School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies, the play is directed by Walter Dallas, the schools' senior artist in residence, who has found that the young actors have been able to play beyond their years to tell the poignant story that about the many forms of love and friendship at any age.

“The play happens to be about older characters but it's about relationships, which all of us have,” Dallas says.

A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Dallas is the former artistic director of Philadelphia's Freedom Theatre, and was a writer on the documentary “Standing in the Shadows of Motown,” which won several major awards including Best Non-Fiction Film from the New York Film Critics Circle.

Dallas advocated for the school's selection of the Harlem-set play. In 1943, the Manhattan neighborhood brought in a surge of black residents as they left the south during the Great Migration. Set in the middle of WWII, the neighborhood was still rich with the art and music of the “Harlem Renaissance,” when the music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and others filled the streets in the 1930s.

While the cast and crew have worked to keep time and place accurate, Dallas feels the issues explored will withstand the test of time.

“It resonates today as much as it did in 1943,” Dallas says.

Filled with humor and the message that “love conquers all,” Dallas says “Old Settler” offers a positive portrayal of black culture for both the actors and the audience coming to see the show.

“It's a very very moving piece and I've seen people of all ethnicities and all ages get pulled into this play and really love it,” Dallas says.

As love triangles unfold and relationships are built, lost and rediscovered, Tinch feels that the characters in the play offer audiences a “slice of life” from a time that was still learning to be accepting.

“I definitely would call it a taboo story of the 1940s,” she says.

ccalamaio@gazette.net

When: 8 p.m. Feb. 10-11, 17-18; 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15 and 16; 2 p.m. Feb. 12 and 18.

Where: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park

Tickets: $27 general admission; $22 UMD faculty, staff, alumni, seniors; $9 students and youth

For information: (301) 405- 2787 or www.claricesmithcenter.umd.edu.