By Asha Matthews
Contributing Writer
Need something fresh to look forward to this spring? Get ready for this semester’s devised theater project, “42 Shakes: A Work in Progress.”
Rebecca Misenheimer, associate professor and theater designer/technical director, along with Ed. Simone, director of the theater program, said they want this production to be a collaborative effort. This method is unusual since there is no set plot to work off of. Instead, everything is planned on the spot at each rehearsal.
“This project did not actually start at auditions,” Misenheimer said. “There was a Facebook group made, and all of the people who were interested were added. From there we just started bouncing off ideas.”
Even though there is no specific script that the group will be memorizing, the whole show is geared toward an abstract theme.
“This production is a growing form in which different people are putting together ideas directed toward the meaning of life,” Simone said.
The goal of the show, according to both Misenheimer and Simone, is to cast a versatile group of characters to first portray a sense of hopelessness but ultimately to emanate hope and even joy.
“There was a strong turnout at auditions,” said Misenheimer. “Surprisingly, there was an even balance between men and women. There is actually a broader spectrum of ages, body types and even universal experiences at this point.”
The amount of talent and variation observed at auditions will allow the cast to share the struggles of life according to Simone.
“If we can take the universal lines of Shakespeare and juxtapose them with the words of figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi and even Steven Hawking and find within them meaning and resonance, the audience can understand and relate those feelings of hopelessness to finally find a celebration of life,” Simone said.
Senior journalism and mass communication and theater major Frederick Alvarez will be the one to change the mood and the atmosphere throughout the whole production as the lighting designer. Alvarez is also an actor in the production, so he needs to find a way to balance being the lighting designer as well as one of the many talented men onstage.
“This is one of the biggest student-run things on campus. Students are the ones shouting out ideas and trying to narrow things down to an organized set of plans by the end,” Alvarez said. “As of right now, there is a lot of good talent and a lot of different energies that need to come together to covey the abstract meaning of life.”
Victoria Lanzillo, a junior journalism and mass communication and theater major, is excited to create something with a message.
“It will help us grow as actors and it will mean something more than just a production,” Lanzillo said. “It will be something to be proud of.”
Lanzillo channeled her inner Bona Wolf by regarding her theater cast as another family — her pride.
“You are expected to be around people that you do not even know,” Lanzillo said. “But there seems to be this connection of being a Bona’s family that makes the theater group stronger than simply just a crew. We hope to produce this vision of personal journey using this connection.”
Lea Battaglia, a junior English and theater major, expects something a little more artistic when it comes to the production.
“I want there to be a lot more movement. I do not expect dancing, but I want us to present a production that we may not necessarily be comfortable with,” Battaglia said. “The idea we are working off of is change, and that kind of thing brings us closer together. So the question is how can we artistically show this to the audience?”
This devised theater prompt simply demands for an arena of students’ ideas and collaboration. Each unique actor’s or actress’ personality will shine as their individual ideas come together. The show will start off dark and then move towards the light—a production that we may be able to relate to and cannot miss seeing.
