RSSShakespeare's 'Verona' moved to the American South
ON Magazine
John Meyer plays Valentine in the Central Theatre Ensemble's production of "The Two Gentlemen of Verona."
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William Shakespeare's comedy "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" is one of his earliest plays, if not The Bard's first for the stage.
It's also regarded as one of his weakest, says Brenda Hubbard, head of performance for Central Washington University's theater department.
The play revolves around the friendship of Valentine and Proteus and their love for the same woman. It's sentimental, includes the treatment of women as chattel and has a disturbing ending.
"So the question is, from a modern point of view, how do I sell this to a modern audience?" says Hubbard, who is directing the Central Theatre Ensemble's production of the play, which opened Thursday and runs this weekend and next in CWU's Milo Smith Tower Theatre.
"I kept coming back to 'The Great Gatsby,'" explains Hubbard. "It was a time when young, privileged white men ruled the world. There seemed a real interesting parallel."
In her production, Hubbard has inserted some dark humor and hopes to ask a few interesting questions about privilege, wealth and masculine entitlement. She has also set the play in August 1929 in the American South, just months before the great stock market crash (you know, the first one).
"I couldn't be more excited about it," Hubbard says about the show. "I can't wait to see the audience reaction."
Featuring an Art Nouveau set by technical/design program head Christina Barrigan, and 1920s costumes by CWU graduate teaching assistant Laura Reinstatler -- not to mention a canine actor playing the part of a scene-stealing dog named Crab -- "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" is the first main stage production for CTE's 2008-09 season.
The ensemble's playbill this year also includes several smaller "studio" productions.
"We're trying to put more of our class work out there," says Leslee Caul, the department's director of marketing and development.
Also this year, the theater department launched three Bachelor of Fine Arts tracks for students: design/technology, performance and musical theater. This makes Central the only public university in the state to offer the BFA for theater and one of a select few in the country offering an emphasis in musical theater, notes department chairman Scott Robinson. (Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle offers BFAs, but is a private, nonprofit performing and visual arts college.)
"We're starting to pull in students from out of state," Caul says about the BFA programs.
Hubbard likens the BFA to a conservatory degree. It has the basic and breath elements of a Bachelor of Arts degree, along with intense conservatory training.
Each BFA is intended to prepare students for professional employment in theater and advanced study in graduate programs. Admission to the BFA tracks is by audition or interview.
"It's highly competitive and the instructors can demand more of the students," says Hubbard. "The idea is to keep our students working; the best way to learn something is to do it."
For the theatergoing audience, that means more productions to choose from and see. Several of those shows, such as "The Two Gentlemen of Verona," will be in the Milo Smith Tower Theatre, a black-box space that recently received a new paint job and new movable seating units that will be roomier and more comfortable.
And with the new BFA programs, says Hubbard, the quality of CTE's productions will only go up.
"I see us becoming the repertory theater in Central Washington," she says.
If you go
WHAT: "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" by William Shakespeare.
WHO: Presented by the Central Theatre Ensemble.
WHO SHOULD GO: Intended for mature audiences.
WHEN: 7 tonight and Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m. Thursday through Nov. 22, and 2 p.m. Nov. 23.
WHERE: Central Washington University's Milo Smith Tower Theatre, off East University Way in Ellensburg.
HOW MUCH: Tickets cost $10 for general admission, $8 for non-CWU students and seniors, and $5 for CWU students. Advance tickets are available online at www.cwu.edu/~theatre/tix/ or at the McConnell Auditorium box office, off East University Way. Box office hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call 963-1774. Tickets also available at the door.
HOW TO GET THERE: To see a map of Central Theatre Ensemble performance venues and where to buy tickets, visit on.yakimablogs.com.
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