TDF Stages

The playwright-performer talks about 'The Light and The Dark,' which explores the life and work of the most celebrated female painter of the 17th-century

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"A dead woman told me to write this play," says Kate Hamill about her new drama The Light and The Dark (the life and times of Artemisia Gentileschi), currently running Off Broadway at 59E59 Theaters. She's not kidding. According to the playwright, who also stars as Artemisia Gentileschi—a legendary Italian Baroque painter who survived a brutal sexual assault—a ghostly encounter at Florence's Uffizi Gallery sparked the idea for the show.

"A while back, I found out that a collaborator of mine had a disturbing history of #MeToo behavior," Hamill recalls, adding that she immediately severed ties. "To make up for that karmic debt, I started doing anti-harassment work, particularly within the unions. I heard stories from lots of survivors about stuff that happened in our business. I became involved in theatre because it felt like a safe place. I suppose that was painfully naïve."

Hamill was so disheartened, she considered changing careers. Then she and her husband and frequent costar, Jason O'Connell, traveled to Italy in 2022 for their belated honeymoon. "I walked into the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and saw Artemisia Gentileschi's painting, "Judith Beheading Holofernes," she says. Although it's a depiction of the biblical story of Judith slaying the general who was threatening her hometown, Hamill, who knew "the CliffsNotes" of Artemisia Gentileschi's story, also viewed it as "a self-portrait of her beheading her own rapist, Agostino Tassi," a fellow artist who frequently worked with her father, painter Orazio Gentileschi. "I swear to you, I felt the motes of dust that were once this woman reach down to me and say, 'Snap out of it! You have a voice. You have the privilege to use it, so go tell the truth.' I stood in front of that painting crying for about 20 minutes. Then I ordered 16 books on her, took a painting class in classical techniques and wrote this play."

Produced by Primary Stages and directed by Jade King Carroll, who helmed the play's world premiere earlier this year at Chautauqua Theater Company, The Light and The Dark may surprise, perhaps even shock, fans of Hamill's previous projects, which include spirited page-to-stage adaptations of Sense and Sensibility, Little Women, Pride and Prejudice and Dracula.

"A lot of my stuff in the city has been comedies," Hamill acknowledges, noting that The Light and The Dark is her first original play to run in New York. "It's been useful for me to sort of play on that. People are coming in ready to laugh and then they get this story of a survivor."

Not that there isn't plenty to enjoy. As presented in the play, much of Artemisia Gentileschi's life is amusing and inspiring. As a precocious child, she pesters her father to train her, refusing to accept that girls cannot become artists. Already an accomplished painter as a teenager, she wins a competition and receives her first commission—practically unheard of for a young woman of her era. And whenever her male peers try to dismiss or belittle her, she fights back and bests them. Her confidence and ease in a male-dominated society is part of why she doesn't see the attack coming. It's also why she's so infuriated during Tassi's trial, in which she's smeared by colleagues and neighbors and even tortured to prove that she's telling the truth about the rape.

Sadly, even though she lived 400 years ago, much of her tale still feels relevant in the 21st century. "What's been really fascinating and also horrifying is how much of her story translates to today," says Hamill, who based her script on multiple biographies as well as a harrowing transcript of the trial. "I know a lot about what happens to people who try to name abusers in small communities of artists." But she stresses that the assault, while life-changing, does not define Artemisia Gentileschi's legacy. "It was very important to make a play that was not just about a quote-unquote rape victim," Hamill explains. "She used her trauma in her art and transcended it. We're still talking about Artemisia Gentileschi because she was a great artist. The only reason we know her rapist's name is because he raped her, not because of his work. For the record, he was a super-crappy artist."

It's fitting that the dramatist is portraying Artemisia Gentileschi, the most successful female painter of the 17th century, considering Hamill is the most produced female playwright in the country this season. (For the record, she tied with Rajiv Joseph for the top spot.) Initially, Hamill considered letting someone else play the artist, but ultimately she decided she wanted to bare her soul and body (yes, there is nudity) as Artemisia Gentileschi.

"Not to make a joke about having skin in the game, but because she was an artist who did a lot of self-portraits," including a nude one that was ultimately censored, "it was important for me as a female artist to do something that makes me vulnerable."

This year marks Hamill's 10th anniversary as a playwright and it's a busy one. Right after The Light and the Dark closes, she begins rehearsals for her contemporary adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey at the American Repertory Theater in Massachusetts, in which she plays Circe. She's gratified that audiences continue to respond to her feminist reinterpretations of classics and of history.

"It's really humbling," she says. "I started writing plays a decade ago and I thought no one would ever look at them. I feel like it reflects this hunger for female-centered stories." That's especially urgent right now with women's rights under attack. "I am hopeful that the workers of the American theatre will push forward and tell interesting stories about the power dynamics that are occurring. Yes, there's still room for silliness. I love silliness! But I want to make sure that we are staying relevant as an art form by doing what artists are supposed to do, which is tell the truth."

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TDF MEMBERS: At press time, discount tickets were available for The Light and The Dark (the life and times of Artemisia Gentileschi). Go here to browse our latest discounts for dance, theatre and concerts.