当幕布升起时 Glicker-Milstein剧院 星期四(十月十九日), the cast and crew will transport its audience to the shores of Illyria for the first scenes of 威廉·莎士比亚的 第十二夜. 但早在开幕之夜之前, a community of Barnard students and professionals poured hundreds of hours of physical, 知识, 将创造性的能量投入到生产中.
第十二夜 is a story about love triangles, gender disguises, and conflicting desires. 爱丽丝里根, associate professor of professional practice at Barnard and the play’s director, said the choice to stage Shakespeare’s last comedy speaks to a post-pandemic need for “moments of lightness and grace.”
“The long tail of the pandemic is longer than any of us had anticipated. It still feels like we’re trying to wake up,” said Reagan. “This play offers the chance to wake up and look at who you’re falling in love with. 这是一部危在旦夕的喜剧.”
Bringing to the production their own unique sensibilities and willingness to explore that knife’s edge are three 剧院 artists: Thaleia Dasberg ’24, 悉尼Gerlach 24日, 伊甸园Segbefia 23日, 数字人文中心博士后研究员.
Thaleia Dasberg ' 24 -演员，《十大电竞游戏综合排名》
Thaleia Dasberg, 在萨拉索塔长大的人, 佛罗里达, 对她的手艺充满热情并且很早就开始了. Her parents enrolled her in an after-school drama program at the age of 5. After she delivered her first and only line in her first play and drew laughter from the audience, Dasberg知道她属于舞台. “那是世界上最美好的感觉，”她说. “我走下舞台，对自己说，‘我要成为一名演员. 这就是我想做的.’”
An 英语 and 剧院 双学位，兼职模特, Dasberg has had rehearsals five nights a week and several hours each Saturday for the production, 一个多月了. 除了那些严格的排练时间, both she and Gerlach are chronicling the show as it develops as part of their individual senior theses.
“This type of thesis work for the 剧院 major requires you to pull the show together in six weeks and then to also write a paper. 这非常快。.
For Dasberg, playing Viola opposite Gerlach’s Olivia is poignant. The two were roommates during their first year at Barnard.
“It’s so wonderful that we get to work on this thesis together,达斯伯格说. “We really had this arc of entering Barnard together and being interested in acting, 现在我们可以一起写论文了.”
In 第十二夜, Viola and Olivia become involved in a love triangle complicated by mistaken and disguised identities. Dasberg, who spent last spring in Berlin studying experimental 剧院, said she found her training helpful for this classical theatrical role.
在柏林，她学习英语 迈克尔·契诃夫 表演技巧, which is based on creating a character by expressing their wants and intentions through physical gesture. “[Shakespearean language] can be hard to follow for contemporary audiences, so I’m taking a lot of that physical work I’d learned and applying it to classical text, 这真的很令人兴奋,达斯伯格说.
Shakespeare’s language can be difficult for modern audiences to decipher if they are unfamiliar with the play, 而是把她的角色塑造得栩栩如生, Dasberg说, 她可以超越和补充语言.
幕后的演员们
悉尼Gerlach ' 24 -男主角，《十大电竞游戏综合排名》
当悉尼格拉赫——一个双人剧场和 教育 少校，发现她得到了奥利维亚的角色 第十二夜 and that it would be her performance thesis, she was thrilled. Gerlach, who grew up in San Diego, spent last spring semester in London at the 英美戏剧学院, which is an intensive training ground for performers, with a focus on Shakespearean acting.
“Every day I go to rehearsal, it makes my heart sing,” said Gerlach. Her character, Olivia, is a wealthy countess in Illyria whose father and brother have recently died. 这个角色陷入了深深的悲痛之中. 在第一幕中, 奥利维亚爱上了凯撒里奥, who — unbeknownst to Olivia — is Viola disguised as a man.
“There are so many beautiful, different shades and dimensions to this character,” said Gerlach. “这就是我喜欢莎士比亚的原因. 这出戏里的每个角色都很重要. 语言比生活更重要.”
Learning the lines — mostly iambic pentameter verse — took deliberate and concerted effort. The cast worked with a special voice and text coach, and Gerlach embraced the challenge.
“Iambic pentameter is based on a heartbeat; it’s meant to be the purest natural rhythm that humans know,格拉赫解释道.
伊甸园Segbefia ' 23 -声音设计师
For 伊甸园Segbefia, raised in Durham, North Carolina, a calling to make 剧院 came early. 他们的妈妈是音乐剧的超级粉丝 Rent.
“I was 3 years old, and she wanted to show me the movie. It was then that I knew I wanted to live in New York and do something with musicals,塞格贝菲亚说, 谁用they/them代词. “我开始着迷了。. 我们做了 合唱的台词 高中时，我在操作(声音)板.”
At Barnard, Segbefia had much on their mind as a scholar. 他们的专业是 妇女、性别和性研究，浓度在 feminist/intersectional science and technology studies. (今年1月，他们 发表 a scholarly journal article about Afro-Diasporic spiritual concepts as a framework to disrupt the hierarchies imposed by Christian colonialism.)
But Segbefia had also chosen a 剧院 course in sound design as an elective — and something powerful clicked.
“我立刻锁上了门. 这是我的事情，”塞格贝菲亚说. “Every semester, minus one, I sound designed for a production.”
第十二夜 is Segbefia’s first professional theatrical assignment. “因为我是非二元的，我认为自己是酷儿, I love that this is my first introduction to Shakespeare,他们说. “性别游戏是存在的——我认为这真的很令人兴奋, 我想在我的声音设计中表现出来.”
作为他们工作的一部分 第十二夜, Segbefia has composed a few songs, which has led them to want to take voice lessons. “I really like composing and want to learn more and more and get more into it. 我绝对是一个崭露头角的作曲家，”塞格贝菲亚说.
Segbefia is also working on an off-Broadway show this month, 伙伴关系与Mint剧院公司合作.