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Photo: Marie Kohler - mariekohler.com

Marie Kohler

Marie Kohler

Plays by Milwaukee's Marie Kohler have been performed locally by Renaissance Theaterworks as well as off-Broadway and at Scotland's Edinburgh Festival Fringe. At least two of those plays might be staged more often after their publication this summer by Dramatic Publishing. A prominent provider of material for theater companies nationwide, Dramatic Publishing is offering Kohler's Boswell and Midnight and Moll Flanders digitally with hardcover copies to follow.

Both plays draw inspiration from classic British literature. Kohler earned a master's degree in English literature from UWM. "Certain books really speak to me, especially when written in the first person," she says. In Boswell, Kohler introduced a contemporary character, a Latina academic trying to climb the ladder of success, into her study of James Boswell, the famed sidekick and biographer of 18th century English writer Samuel Johnson. With Midnight and Moll Flanders, Kohler rewrites Daniel Defoe's 18th century novel while remaining true to its spirit. Her adaptation serves to emphasize Defoe's critique of his unjust social world.

"He was fascinating -- a journalist, a tract writer interested in social causes, a spy," she says of Defoe. "He was interested in the underdog, the underlife of British society." In his biography of the fictional heroine Moll Flanders, a thief and a prostitute, Defoe never moralized but presented her as a realistic person resolved to get ahead in a society determined to hold her down.

"He interviewed women Moll Flanders was based on," Kohler continues. "I'd categorize Defoe as a progressive. He believed every person had dignity, men and women, more than society would allow at the time."

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Changed by their Encounter

Kohler elevated a minor character in Defoe's novel into a second protagonist, a minister whose perverse Protestantism "believed that your course was set, predestined. If you're born in the lower or criminal class, you'd stay in that class," she explains. In Kohler's version, "the conversation between them frames the whole play." Both are changed by their encounter.

"I consider Moll Flanders to be political," Kohler adds." It asks whey society places so many impediments in the way of having a successful life. I stay within Defoe's timeframe, but I believe the story speaks to contemporary audiences."

Kohler actively promotes her plays through her own company, MHK Productions, calling it "a new phase of my career -- the entrepreneurial phase." She will be inducted as a fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Arts, Science and Letters on September 16. In February 2025, Kohler will direct Lucy Kirkwood's The Children for Next Act Theater.