The student directed play, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, will open tomorrow in Burg Theater in Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center.
Twenty-six cast members will perform the Shakespearian play with a couple of their own added twists.
The play takes the audience on journeys that test Prince Pericles. The director Elizabeth McCreight, acting senior, decided to add in the emphasis of Roman gods for the story line to make more sense. Rather than having one narrator, McCreight split the role of the narrator across six different gods, helping the appearance of goddess Diana make more sense to the audience.
Pericles isn’t a well-known Shakespeare play due to misconceptions if he actually wrote the whole play. Researchers have said George Wilkins wrote the first two acts, and Shakespeare finished the play.
“You can feel in the third act when Shakespeare starts writing,” McCreight said. “It gets better.”
This play was chosen out of the many plays students submitted last year to Stage II. It ties in the future plays that will be done this year and is the only Shakespeare play this season.
“I like this play because it takes you on a journey, like an epic poem” McCreight said. “It’s a story about overcoming your odds and agencies and finding hope.”
Directing the show was not easy, McCreight said.
“It’s a huge challenge and encouraging and fun to see actors take an unknown play and run with it,” McCreight said. “It’s fulfilling as a director.”
Paige Konger, acting sophomore, will play “Marina,” the daughter of Pericles. Konger said learning the role took a lot of repetition.
“Learning the lines seemed daunting, but once I had an understanding of the heart and meaning of the text, much of the memorization came along shortly after,” Konger said.
The show is at 8 p.m. Thursday Oct. 16, Friday Oct. 16 and Saturday Oct. 17 and at 2 p.m. Sunday Oct. 18 in Burg Theater in Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center.
Patrons can buy tickets for $5 at the door.
“I encourage everyone to go the actors have put in a lot of hard work,” McCreight said. “There’s a really cool fight scene. It’s awesome.”
Editor’s note: Amy Fuhrman, editor-in-chief, and Nina Howard, layout editor, are cast members of the production.
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