Spring Break
New Play Celebrates Love
Tara Maroney
Issue date: 4/21/06 Section: Focus
The bleak and nearly empty stage at the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre will soon be alive with one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, "As You Like It." The comedy about love and mistaken identity will be presented by the Connecticut Repertory Theater (CRT) starting this Friday.
The show is about a group of individuals who find themselves in the Forest of Arden and realize that the forest is entirely different from the world that they are used to.
"People are stifled in this court that doesn't celebrate love," Lauretta Pope, a 1st-year MFA acting student said. "[In the forest] they can do things that they couldn't do before."
Pope, who is playing the character of Celia, is making her first appearance on the Jorgensen stage in "As You Like It." The main theme is that love comes in many forms and is there for all of us if we are willing to accept it, Pope said. This is what the show exemplifies.
"Everyone has been changed by self discovery," she said.
While some people may be turned off by the idea of Shakespeare, Dale A.J. Rose, the director and new associate artistic director of CRT has spent a lot of time making the words and the script clear to the actors who will hopefully convey the message to the audience.
"If there's clarity for actors there's clarity for the audience," Teddy Yudain, a 6th-semester acting major said. "We're having a lot of fun up here."
Yudain said that the whole cast has become very involved in understanding the piece and telling the story well.
"You have to really analyze and look into all the little nuances that Shakespeare put in there," Yudain said.
This is Yudain's first Shakespeare play with CRT, and the second in his acting career. He encouraged people to attend even if they were unsure about understanding a Shakespearean play. It is just poetry, he said.
"It's just like slam poetry for the 1600s," he said.
The show's director feels that audience members may have a new appreciation for the show after seeing it.
The show is about a group of individuals who find themselves in the Forest of Arden and realize that the forest is entirely different from the world that they are used to.
"People are stifled in this court that doesn't celebrate love," Lauretta Pope, a 1st-year MFA acting student said. "[In the forest] they can do things that they couldn't do before."
Pope, who is playing the character of Celia, is making her first appearance on the Jorgensen stage in "As You Like It." The main theme is that love comes in many forms and is there for all of us if we are willing to accept it, Pope said. This is what the show exemplifies.
"Everyone has been changed by self discovery," she said.
While some people may be turned off by the idea of Shakespeare, Dale A.J. Rose, the director and new associate artistic director of CRT has spent a lot of time making the words and the script clear to the actors who will hopefully convey the message to the audience.
"If there's clarity for actors there's clarity for the audience," Teddy Yudain, a 6th-semester acting major said. "We're having a lot of fun up here."
Yudain said that the whole cast has become very involved in understanding the piece and telling the story well.
"You have to really analyze and look into all the little nuances that Shakespeare put in there," Yudain said.
This is Yudain's first Shakespeare play with CRT, and the second in his acting career. He encouraged people to attend even if they were unsure about understanding a Shakespearean play. It is just poetry, he said.
"It's just like slam poetry for the 1600s," he said.
The show's director feels that audience members may have a new appreciation for the show after seeing it.
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