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DANIEL ACKERMANN -- The Flat Hat
Students rehearse for the latest PBK Mainstage production, "Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet).
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Shakespeare to get down and dirty in PBK Hall
By Shannon Banks
Flat Hat Staff Writer
A twisted fusion of William Shakespeare's plays will soon be presented as a Mainstage production at Phi Beta Kappa Hall.
"Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)" follows the adventures of Constance (senior Karen Novack), a modern-day professor at Queens University who gets transported to the land of Shakespeare. While there, she meets Desdemona from "Othello" and Juliet from "Romeo and Juliet." She soon finds herself very much involved in these two stories and changes quite a bit about them.
Directed by theater instructor David Doersch, the play features seniors Novack, Aaron Orensky, Briana Yacavone, K.C. Stage and junior Andrew Statum.
"It's very much a fantasy, with characters coming to life," Novack said. "It's an interesting mix of very intelligent comedy and bawdy Shakespearean comedy."
There are a total of five cast members. Novack's only role is Constance, but the rest of the cast portrays multiple characters. There are a total of 14 roles in the play, with at least 12 costume changes per actor. Rehearsals started on October 26 and have taken place every day since then except for Saturdays.
"Memorization was a challenge," Novack, who has previously starred in the Mainstage productions "Sylvia" and "The Misanthrope," said. "With so many lines to memorize, it can be hard to work on the character."
Stage, previously seen in "The Bacchai," played three roles: a student named Julie, a soldier and Juliet. For her, one of the play's highlights has been the frequent stage combat, although being "fight captain" has its challenges.
"Sometimes it's hard to tell the other actors what needs to be done, plus there's the added challenge of being three characters," Stage said. "It's been a lot of fun, though."
Originally scheduled to be directed by theatre professor Elizabeth Wiley, the play fell into Doersch's hands due to Wiley's leave of absence.
"I fell in love with the play because it's a wildly witty, bawdy, raunchy romp through Shakespeare," Doersch said.
Doersch is a freelance director. Although he has not directed a recent performance at the College, he has directed in various places around Virginia, including the Virginia Shakespeare Festival.
He describes "Goodnight Desdemona" as a feminist play, since it examines traditional feminine roles and how women see themselves by "looking back into Shakespeare." Doersch also attributes the play's uniqueness to its element of fantasy.
"It's kind of an 'Alice in Wonderland' play," he said. "It takes you inside [Constance's] subconscious; it has a surreal world-changing quality to it."
Stage and Novack agree, noting the difference between "Goodnight Desdemona" and other plays they have studied or performed in.
"We're not really going for realism, which is what we study a lot in class," Stage said. "That makes it fun to do, but also a challenge."
Despite any difficulties presented to the cast, Doersch credits them greatly for the job they have done so far.
"It's a dynamite cast; I've been stunned with their talent, abilities and maturity," he said. "They've stepped up to bat and have been very professional."
Both Doersch and the cast praise the playwright, Ann-Marie MacDonald, for her script.
"She has really recaptured the raunchier spirit of Shakespeare in her text, which not many people know about," Doersch said. "It's a lot of fun."
The play will be performed Nov. 29 to Dec. 2. All performances are at 8 p.m. except for the Dec. 2 show, which is at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $6 and go on sale at the box office on Nov. 19. The box office will be closed over Thanksgiving Break.
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