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Aoise Stratford's play "The Unfortunates" will be performed May 11-12 at the Morgan Opera House in Aurora, N.Y.

"The Unfortunates," a play by graduate student Aoise Stratford, is the winner of the Gloria Ann Barnell Peter Playwright Competition.

The "intimate ghost story" will be performed May 11-12 at the Morgan Opera House in Aurora, N.Y. It has also received a world premiere at Centenary Stage as the winner of the Susan Glaspell Award.

Stratford's work has been produced in Canada, Austria, Italy, Australia, Belgium, England and throughout the United States. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and of the International Center for Women Playwrights and is the recipient of numerous awards. She was also the winner of the first Gloria Ann Barnell Peter competition in 2006.

The one-woman play follows Mary Jane Kelly, who is behind in her rent, has a broken window, has lost her key and whose boyfriend has just moved out. And it's 1888, the time of Jack the Ripper -- not a good time to be poor and "unfortunate" on the streets of London.

Erica Steinhagen, a New York City-based actress, portrays Mary Jane and a dozen or so additional characters in the play.

Stratford wrote the play because she was intrigued by the lives of the women who lived and worked on the streets of Victorian England.

"So much that is written about these women is really about 'Jack' -- a person who, paradoxically, we still don't really know anything about," Stratford said. "But, I thought, we know who these women are. Or, better put, we might yet know who they were. What might it mean, not to die this way, but to live this way? What might truly matter? How can we put a life back together from mere trinkets, and what might we learn in the process of trying?"

The production is directed by Bruce Levitt, professor in the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance. "The Unfortunates" was a reading assignment for his classes, and students also had the opportunity to discuss the play with Stratford.

The playwriting competition was established by friends and family of Gloria Ann Barnell Peter, a playwright, actress and lover of history.

The Morgan Opera House is on the second floor of the Aurora Free Library, 370 Main St., Aurora. Tickets are $10 general admission, $8 seniors and $5 students. For information, call 315-364-5437.

Nonye Acholonu '15 is an intern in the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance.