By Emily Sullivan
Associate Editor
After SBU Theater’s fall production of “The Walls,” audiences walked away from the show wondering what the program would do next and how they were going to top the stellar production next semester.
We finally have an answer.
This weekend and next weekend, the SBU Theater program will be putting on the play “42 Shakes: A Work in Progress” at the Garret Theater. The show tackles a tough question. It answers “what is the meaning of life?” through various scenes from William Shakespeare’s well-known plays, including “Romeo and Juliet,” “Antony and Cleopatra” and “Hamlet.” The play also features writing from others, such as John Keats, Martin Luther King Jr. and Bonaventure senior journalism and mass communications major Makeda Loney.
The cast and crew, directed by Becky Misenheimer, put the text of the play together themselves, and the final product will be staged this weekend.
Not only is the actual script a creative collaborative effort among its participants, but the play will also serve as senior theater and journalism and mass communication double major Frederick Alvarez’s theater capstone. Alvarez has chosen to work behind the scenes and use the lighting design as his capstone. He hopes to create a design that works well with the overall concept of the show.
“Usually, the point of lighting is to create an atmosphere and setting for whatever is going on onstage,” Alvarez said. “But there are many small ways to contribute to the overall message of the show without distracting the audience from the actors, and that is what I am trying to do. I have found small ways in my design to tell a story within a story and set the pace of the show without completely drawing focus.”
Alvarez said there have been plenty of challenges and rewards in designing the lights.
“Working with what we have is very challenging,” Alvarez said. “I think we do a great job of ‘making things work,’ but as with anywhere and anything you do, we have this ‘perfect world’ mentality where we want to create certain things visually but can’t because of the certain limits.”
As for the rewards, Alvarez said hearing compliments from people and knowing that he created the design is rewarding.
“I also think hearing the words ‘the lights are pretty’ is the most satisfying term I’ve heard during this show,” Alvarez said. “You definitely want ‘pretty,’ because you have to remember that all of the aspects of theater come as one to create something amazing and not the other way around.”
“42 Shakes: A Work in Progress” will not only be showcasing the acting talents of SBU students. Audiences will also get the pleasure of seeing Ed. Simone, the director of the theater department, acting on stage instead of directing the show. Loney said working with Simone has been a very intense and rewarding experience.
“I’ve always been directed by him, but to actually have him on stage and see him in action is quite a joy,” Loney said. “Having a professional on stage with us changes the vibe and definitely makes us step up our game.”
“42 Shakes: A Work in Progress” will run March 21, 22 at 7:30 p.m. and again next week from March 27 until the 29 at the Garret Theater.
sullivec10@bonaventure.edu
