While the University of Idaho”s Theatre Department often performs adaptations of Shakespeare”s work, their upcoming performance is a play both about and made with love.
At its heart, “As You Like It” is about loving, and loving well, said Vinecia Coleman, who adapted and directed the play.
Nina Rydalch | Rawr
Cast members rehearse a scene from their upcoming performance of Shakespere”s “As You Like It.”
“If you don”t learn to love excellently it could lead to you losing love altogether. Rosalind is the perfect example of that, she”s the protagonist, she plays a lot of games until she realizes that,” Coleman said. “Life is very real, and at any point anything could happen. A lion could come and kill the love of her life, or in our case, you could lose someone.”
In the play, Coleman said the protagonist learns the true value of allowing yourself to love someone.
“You could lose that love at any point, you genuinely can, so it behooves us to love as well as we can right now,” Coleman said. “Because you don”t know how long that love will be there, I would say that”s the essence of the play.”
The performance will be held at 7:30 p.m. April 21-23, 28-30, and at 2 p.m. April 24 and May 1 in the Hartung Theater. Admission is free for UI students, $15 for general public, $10 for UI faculty, staff and seniors 55 and up and $5 for children 12 and younger. Tickets can be purchased at BookPeople of Moscow or at the door an hour before curtain.
Coleman, a second year M.F.A. student in dramatic writing, said that in her adaptation she tried to focus more on the seriousness of the characters” situations.
In Coleman”s adaptation, characters are combined, she said. One character, the character of the Moon, is a combination of two characters and an entirely new creation.
Lo Miles, who graduated from UI last fall and who will play the character of Rosalind, said the Moon acts as a guide for the travelers and takes people where they need to be.
Coleman said she has also adapted the play to be more applicable to today”s world and reflect the time and place.
“Shakespeare still can speak to us, so using his words and a few of my own, I wanted to speak to people today, hopefully, about love, and how important it is, and how if we don”t take care of it we could lose it,” Coleman said.
The cast seems to have been affected by the love of the characters they are portraying. Coleman said the cast is giving, loving and gracious. She said this is also the largest cast and the largest crew she has worked with.
“They all bring something very unique to the table, which makes it such a rewarding experience, not only as a director but as an artist in general, it makes me – they make me excited to make things,” Coleman said.
She also said everyone is willing to work hard and stay late.
Emily Melgard, the stage manager and a senior at UI, said this is the second production where she has been stage manager. She said this is a story worth telling – a story that applies to everyone. She said there is a love, not only within the play and within the cast, but between the two.
“Everyone in this cast and crew fell in love with this story and wanted to tell it,” Melgard said.
Nina Rydalch can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NinaRobin7