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I'm originally from Williamsburg, Virginia,
and I wanted to come to Hofstra because I sat in on
one of the movement classes here and it completely blew my mind. And I knew I
wanted to be close to the city, so it would be an easy transition
after I graduated. In The Comedy of Errors, my character
is a twin with the brother that lives in the town, and originally
our family was separated,
so I'm one of the twins,
and there's another twin who is my slave twin, kind of.
And we come into town, I've been searching for my brother for a while.
And we come in and we're identical twins, and so
the play is a farce, so it's all about mistaken identity
and all the townspeople think that I'm the brother who lives in the town, so
everything kind of stems off
of that. I think this play's really great because
kind of at the heart of it, it is about family. It's about this one set of
brothers trying to come into this town in search for their other brothers,
and then you know, the whole family kinda comes together in the end, so I think
that's something people can relate to.
And you know we put in a lot like slapstick, and you know, coming in and out
of doors and
all this kind of clowning in the show, and I think people are just gonna have a
really good time.
This I play has been even more, I feel like,
incorporating the production elements because well one, we have to set up
how our costumes are with the twins, so we have to wear the same things.
So we worked a lot on that, getting like the same outfit and having a
justification for why I would be wearing the same thing as
my twin who I've never met, and the same for the other set of twins too.
And we set it in like kinda 1960s-Italy, so we're kind of like Mad
Men style,
which has been really fun. And the set too is really fun because it's
all the set is in flat, so they're
just two dimensional buildings, and they're in perspective, so that
kinda helped play with like the farce of the play.
So it's like a lot of coming in and out of the flats and the doors and
everything, and
we like a moving element to the set which has been really fun to play with.
You know, Shakespeare gives you everything in the language so
that's the most important thing, is for people to understand the play, 'cause
people can, you know, enjoy the set and the costumes and everything, and
but you know, the words are what tell the story and
you know, everything is so beautiful in the language, so
as long as you go back to the language and you have an understanding of what's
going on, then
you can tell the whole story and just be able to tell it clearly. The faculty
is all great and that was one of tthe first things, kinda getting use to is like
having a first name basis with
the teachers because not only are
they are teachers in classes, but you know, they will become our directors
you know eventually in the shows. So having a first name basis kinda puts you
right there, you know if you have
to say, "Mr. Professor" you know, kinda distances you a little bit,
but since we're all working so closely together it really kinda brings you into
more like
a collaborative atmosphere. You know all the teachers are so great, you know
they know their stuff,
and Peter was my Shakespeare teacher, you know, our Shakespeare class teacher last
semester,
so it's been great to kinda, to have him from a class and then to work with him
on a show.
And he has worked on Shakespeare Festivals, so he knows this stuff, so
you know, he's always like bringing up different elements about like the
different Shakespeare,
just like, "Oh, that makes so much sense." The Shakespeare Festival's great. I think
this is our 65th year so
it's kinda a big milestone. I always feel so lucky to work on the Shakespeare
Festival, 'cause you get to work with the language and everything, but it also comes
with
you know responsibility, because people know the plays
so you kinda have to, you know, live up to the expectations of what a Shakespeare play
is.
But it is a great honor and always so much fun. For
post-graduation, I would like
I think I could go in a lot of different avenues, I do improv as well, so
that's something that I really, really enjoy. So I maybe could go into improv,
but I'm also very interested in film and television, so I would love to go down that
avenue as well,
but I would also be so happy to do stage work.
Just I think as long as I'm working, then I'll be happy.
I think people should come see the show because
one, it's the shortest Shakespeare play, so you don't have to sit through a really
long play and get
you know if it's not your thing, so you can just come in, no intermission, it's going to be
really quick, and I think the biggest thing is like you're just going to be
able to sit back
and just laugh and enjoy everything that's going on. You know, you get to look at
all the different elements and
all the physical comedy and I think it's just going to be
just a flat-out good time.