As the spring season approaches, theater prepares for their next play for UIL, Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet. The play focuses on a professor who wanders her way into two of Shakespeare’s plays as she tries to change the endings from tragedy to comedy.
Senior Brynn Thompson recently auditioned for the play and got unexpectedly cast as Juliet.
“I love the role. I did not think of myself as Juliet going into casting. But [Director] Ferman really did,” Thompson said. “I didn’t see [myself] as Juliet before auditions, but then at auditions, I had so much fun with the role. I had read the script before, but something clicked. And I was like, whoa, this is so fun because she’s big and flamboyant and she’s young, and it’s a very, very cool role to play.”
The casting process consisted of preparing and reading Shakespearean monologues. Each auditioner performed three times in different roles with different groups of possible actors.
“It was really cool because it’s been a minute since we’ve done anything Shakespeare,” Thompson said. “He really wanted to see if we could get a handle on the language and really see if students understood what they were saying, so that was kind of cool because each of us got to go separately and prepare 16 lines of anything Shakespeare.”
After reading her monologue, Thompson got the opportunity to do her cold read to show her competence for the role.
“I really appreciated that experience because it was just fun. You got to go up there, do your own monologue and kind of do your own thing and show that you’re doing it, and then we got to do our cold reads,” Thompson said. “So it was a really cool audition.”
The play consists of a twist, taking two of Shakespeare’s well-known tragedies, Othello and Romeo and Juliet, and transforming them into cheerful comedies with happy endings.
“I think it’s really, really funny,” Thompson said. “I think that we have a really good show. My favorite part is the script. It just has some of everything. So I think that’s why it’s gonna be such a good one act. It has a really cool flow with the whole show and it’s so funny because it plays on all of the traditional Shakespeare themes.”
Junior Zoe Narvarte takes on the role of Desdemona, another protagonist in the play. The cast focuses on team building skills and getting comfortable to ensure the best performance.
“I think this play is really fun, mainly because it’s a one-act, because one-act is a really short process, but we get to do a lot of fun activities,” Narvarte said. “We focus a lot on bonding, which I think is really fun for the show, but it’s really important for all the cast to be comfortable with each other.”
One-act performances require participants to prepare immensely to perform with little to no errors to prevent the deduction of points.
“When performing with one-act, they’re really specific about lines. And so that’s the only thing I’d be nervous about because you have to perfect the lines,” Narvarte said. “I think it’s kind of stressful, because we have a month and then we’re competing.”
When it comes to managing the UIL play behind the scenes, sophomore Emily Keating focuses on directing the technical aspects of the stage. She oversees the cast productivity when they practice their monologues along with working on the stage set within the UIL restrictions
“My job takes a lot of mental power, so I spend time resting and when we’re there, it’s stressful because I have to call the cues for the show, but I care more about the actors,” Keating said. “I make sure that the actors and all the other technicians are okay, so it’s a lot of putting other people before myself. I enjoy doing that and it’s not super stressful for me which is why I love stage managing.”
When it comes to selecting plays, Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet, was at the top of Theater Director Jeremy Ferman’s list. The construction of the play offers a variety of original Shakespearean lines and a hint of comedic twists.
“It has been on my shelf for a long time, but I think I have the right cast for it now,” Mr. Ferman said. “I love Shakespeare and I love comedy and this play is so smart in the way it is constructed.”
An act for UIL contains several rules that the production team must follow, such as cutting down the play from two full hours to 40 minutes.
“I have already spent a couple of months working on it,” Mr. Ferman said. “Since it is a one-act play I had to start by cutting it down to 40 minutes. I think the full length would be a full two-hour production, so it takes time and care to maintain the playwright’s intent and work.”
The cast focuses on the play as their number one priority.
“We have a pretty strict calendar that we adhere to and it keeps us busy,” Mr. Ferman said. “I think the most important thing about the play is that we have fun doing the absolute best show we can do on the day of the performance. If we work hard and set ourselves up for success then that is the most we can possibly do.”
For Thompson, the production gives her a valuable experience. She hopes to advance with her team when performing.
“It’s my third one-act. I really want to do well. So that’s kind of what’s giving me anxiety. I don’t know, it’s my last show, my last one act, I really want to advance. I really want to do well,” Thompson said. “But, you know, art’s hard. It’s all up to the judges and it’s subjective because they could not like our show, or they can love it, and our thing is up to them. So my fingers are really crossed and I’m gonna play everything I can to the show.”
