Students Bring New Life to Shakespeare Classic

Starting Nov. 15 and running until the 17, The Theater department will be running a production of Shakespeare’s classic comedy As You Like It, as well as hosting events with both the cast and audience members.

On Nov. 13, there will be a behind-the-scenes lunch and discussion at 12:30 p.m. where director and Professor of Theatre and Women’s and Gender Studies Cheryl Faraone, alongside various cast members, will answer questions and preview the upcoming play.

Panelists Melissa Lourie of Middlebury Actor’s Workshop and Lindsay Pontius, director of education at the Town Hall Theater will join Faraone to answer questions after the 2:00 p.m. matinee. Lindsay and Lourie have professional backgrounds in directing, acting and producing Shakespeare.

As You Like It centers around a love story caught in an identity crisis. The female protagonist, Rosalind, retreats into the forest disguised as a boy. However, while hiding behind her new identity she falls in love with the male protagonist, Orlando and must deal with her conflicting emotions and mixture of identities.

Daniel Sauermilch ’13 plays Duke Senior, of the exiled court of the Forest of Arden and Rosiland’s father.

“Duke Senior can best be described as a social reformer or idealist. He has created a version of utopia in the Forest of Arden, taking advantage of his exile in order to shed light on the grievances he has with life in the ‘pompous court,’” explains Sauermilch, who has never acted in a Middlebury play before. “And although life in the wilderness is incredibly difficult, he will never be seen complaining.”

“I’m a theatre major on the playwriting track… I want to do justice to this text, just as we all do,” he continued. “As a playwriting focus, I always seek to respectfully interpret a text and hope to never inadvertently undermine its message and goal. But of course, my number one fear is forgetting every single one of my lines.”

Christina Fox ’13.5 plays Rosiland, Duke Senior’s daughter.

“She’s fascinating because she starts out incredibly disempowered in the first half in the court because her father has been banished and she’s only being kept around to keep Celia company,” said Fox. “Then, when they go into the forest and Rosalind adopts her male alter-ego, Ganymede, it really becomes a story of self-discovery, ironically, in the disguise of a boy.  The fact that she figures out who she is by adopting the personality of someone else, a man no less, is a really fascinating journey for me to navigate as an actress.”

While Rosiland is under the guise of her male alter-ego, Ganymede, she attempts to tutor Orlando, her love interest, played by Jake Connolly ’13 in the arts of talking and behaving around women.

“I am a kind-hearted, virtuous and dashingly goodlooking young man,” Connolly explained, “who is a complete dud around women. My brother makes an attempt at my life and forces me to flee into the Forest of Arden at which point I meet Rosalind, dressed as Ganymede, and am tutored in the studies of love and courtship.”

Fox takes on the challenge of playing a woman who is playing a man, a challenge for any player.

“There are so many things to keep track of, and layers of thought and emotion for Rosalind in these scenes. She’s pretending to be herself with the man who she loves, who thinks she’s just a boy pretending to be Rosalind … So, because she loves him, and she’s just being herself, there are these moments where she completely forgets that they’re just playing a game and pure Rosalind comes out, which results in these spastic attempts to back-track by Ganymede so as not to give it all away.

“Discovering these moments has been so exciting and surprising and [Connolly] is such a giving actor, he’s amazing to work with as Orlando,” she continued.

“I hope that the student body takes the chance to come see this production,” said Sarah Lusche ’13 who plays Ceclia, the daughter of the duke and the cousin and best friend of Rosalind.

“The theatre department hasn’t done a Shakespeare play since I have been on campus, so it is a really exciting opportunity. So much time and effort have gone in to this production, and people should take the chance to support their peers and appreciate student artists.”

“The cast is huge, with a great collection of students from different years and majors,” Lusche continued. “Every person brings such a unique energy and perspective, and I think it has been a real growing experience. I also served as the movement director, and the sheer number of bodies on stage was daunting at times. I’m sure the costume department and the production team felt this as well. The play interweaves multiple characters and plot lines and every little piece needs to be spot on.”

A large amount of passion has been put into this production and the actors involved with it have proved that this show will be one that should not be missed.