Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The Saint Michael's College Drama Club Presents The Actor's Nightmare

The Actor's Nightmare by Christopher Durang opens April 29th-- tomorrow!!--at the Essex High School black box theater, the first play fully produced by the Saint Michael's College Drama Club in years! Check out my photos here. Directed by Rory Fitzgerald as his senior exhibition project, Nightmare has been in rehearsal since January and with a tightly bonded cast of 5 has taken off. With lighting design by UVM's own Danielle Varcasia, sound by Matt Fitzgerald of SMC, and costume design by first-years Natalie Budnyk and Marla Caram, Nightmare has been a collaborative project that brought many students together, with much help from senior Josh Bardier and graduate student Emily Benway, as well as the advice of the SMC theater department faculty.

Starring Jayden Choquette as the bemused George Spelvin, Nightmare takes you in and out of reality with scenes from Noel Coward, Shakespeare, and Beckett, not to mention the famous Man for All Seasons to wrap up this hilarious play. Jayden goes from a regular joe who wanders into the playing space to a confused Elyot, from a stuttering Hamlet to a beaten Willie and a panicked Thomas More, pleading and reasoning with the audience and fellow actors all the while.

Also starring Liz Levenson as the buxom beauty Sarah Siddons, an actress bursting with personality who takes us on a glamorous, dramatic, and sometimes downright creepy road;




Molly Ziegler as the sharp-tongued (yet sweet!) Ellen Terry, looking fantastic as the slighted Sybil in the Coward segment as well as Winne (or is it Nell?) from Beckett, and playing a beautiful if somewhat bipolar, funky babe throughout;



Mike McKinney as New York actor Henry Irving, who plays a manly Horatio as well as a terrifying suprise role at the end;





and Catie Robertson as the world's perfect Meg the Stage Manager, complete with maid disguise, armed with script and feather duster, who George calls for many a time with a desperate "Line?"


Vans will be transporting students to and from Essex High both the 29th and 30th for 7pm curtain. Admission is free! The thing that I find truly amazing about this play- and am truly thankful for- is that the play itself is short and sweet and easy for me. There are few cues and the actors handle all the props themselves. It's incredible to me that the play itself is less work for me than working with the administration at Essex High. With miscommunications galore and the fact that their black box space is completely misused, it's been a heck of a time. It's a great feeling to relax when focusing before the play itself! Don't miss this fun show that blurs the lines of reality and dreams!

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