Student productions begin

November 18, 2014 — by Melissa Magner and Saya Sivaram

The drama department held auditions on Nov. 6 for two new student-directed productions: “Honestly, Now!” and “Cyrano de Bergerac.” 

The drama department held auditions on Nov. 6 for two new student-directed productions: “Honestly, Now!” directed by senior Nastasya Kutuyev and “Cyrano de Bergerac” directed by senior Andrew York.

“Honestly, Now!” will take place on Jan. 16, 17 and 18, while “Cyrano” will take place on Feb. 6, 7 and 8.

“Honestly, Now!” is written by Jack Sharkey and is a relatively unknown play.  But after finding the show online, Kutuyev liked its combination of romance, mystery and farce.

“Originally, I knew I wanted to do a comedy show with a relatively small cast,” Kutuyev said. “When I found ‘Honestly, Now!’ [I knew it] was the perfect show.  It’s pretty ridiculous and a bit over-the-top, but it’s so witty and charming that the audience is enticed and goes along with everything.”  

Set in the mid to late 1960s, “Honestly, Now!” takes place in the French Riviera (the Mediterranean coastline in southeast France) where Carlita Umbro, played by sophomore Lea Moustakas, throws a masquerade party at a fancy hotel.  Soon, she runs into complications: Not all of the guests are quite what they seem, as a pair of jewel thieves and detectives are among the group. Many of the participants were drawn in by the allure of a small eight-person cast.

“Being in a small cast means that you get to know your castmates really well and you become a really tightly knit group,” said senior Jay Sehmbey, who plays Comte De Guiche in “Cyrano.”

Furthermore, many students feel compelled to participate in order to support their castmates.

“The cool thing about being in a student production is that you get to be a part of a person’s first time directing, and that’s really special and exciting,” said sophomore J.T. Hulme, who plays Raoul in “Honestly, Now!”

Kutuyev is excited to rehearse and focus on making the play as strong as she can.

“Character-wise, I want to focus on the physical humor, wit and genuineness of every character,” Kutuyev said. “Even though the show is an over-the-top comedy, the characters are still empathetic and the audience needs to believe everything that is happening.”

One month later, York will put on the production of Edmond Rostand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac,” a story of a valiant and witty man, played by sophomore Raymond McCarthy, and his love for a woman who he believes will never love him back because he is cursed with a hideous big nose. In an attempt to woo her, he enlists the help of another, more attractive man. The play is both humorous and tragic, filled with banter and unrequited love.

For York, the complexity of “Cyrano” coupled with the elaborate sets and multi-faceted characters made it one of his top choices for shows.

“I chose ‘Cyrano’ because I fell in love with the [play] when I first read it my freshman year,” York said. “To me, the character Cyrano was everything I could ever dream of being.  He was witty, brave, lovable, romantic and somehow human.  He was my first and only hero.”

There are more than 30 roles available in York’s cast list, but he hopes to have students double up on roles so that he can keep the cast small.

“There are many characters in ‘Cyrano,’ and the way I am going to go about that is through tetra-casting, meaning that I am going to have ensemble members play multiple roles,” York said. “Because there are five acts that all take place in different locations, I’m going to create three states that alter in a clockwise direction every act.”

The play is widely known, and Moustakas predicts that this will make the production more challenging.

“With so many people having read ‘Cyrano’ in freshman year, they will most likely have a very high expectation for the production,” Moustakas said. “It will be interesting to see how [York] spins this.”

Senior Melissa Rogan, who is stage managing both shows, thinks they’re both good picks.

“They’re both on the comedic side with some romantic twists, and I think the directors are going to do a great job of executing these productions,” Rogan said.

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