The NHS drama department produces a piece of student-directed theatre each fall. Past productions have included comedies, such as Noises Off and Lend Me a Tenor, and dramas, such as Harvey and The Great Gatsby.
This year, fall drama advisors Janice Gabriel and Brian Tenney decided to integrate a somewhat well-known English playwright into the program. William Shakespeare makes his return to Newtown High School as Julius Caesar will be performed in mid-November.
“We really decided to introduce a rotation of plays for the Fall Drama. Shakespeare is one of those components. Comedy and drama are the other components. This is our first time through that rotation. We did a drama last year, and the year before that, actually several years before that, we did comedies which is part of the reason the rotation came about in the first place. We like it because it prevents the Fall Drama from getting stale and repetitive. Since [the rotation] is a three play cycle, it guarantees that any student at the high school will have at least one opportunity to do every type of play, whether it’s as an actor, in the crew or someone in the production staff—director, producer, etc.,” NHS English teacher Brian Tenney said.
William Shakespeare’s texts can be a bit more challenging to understand due to his use of Elizabethan English (first commonly known use of modern English), however directors Trevor Legeret, Jack Palermo, and Brandon Pavlicek have decided to accept this possible challenge with their production of Julius Caesar.
“Personally, I like Shakespeare. I like reading Shakespeare, but I know a lot of people don’t like Shakespeare. They don’t like listening to Shakespeare, watching Shakespeare or reading Shakespeare. I know that is the majority of the thought process. For me, Caesar was a way to stray from a traditional Shakespeare play. It’s not one that you see as often as Macbeth or King Lear or Romeo and Juliet, so if I could introduce a new Shakespeare to somebody, then it be able to change their opinion on the author himself,” Director and NHS senior Legeret said.
Julius Caesar, a story of “ambition and conflict,” will be slightly modified for the Newtown High School production.
“The whole thing is that it takes place in the 1930s: fascist Europe pre-World War II. Our vision was that we want to show everything much more run down. When you think of ancient Rome, you don’t think of an empire collapsing on itself. I know that happened, but you think of all of the big columns and such. By putting the play into a time period that we consider a bit more sad and messy, it ends up being a lot more interesting. It’s a dark show,” Director and NHS senior Pavlicek said.
Having a different take on Caesar will also create a new experience for the audience.
“When I think about Caesar in a much more recent time period than Ancient Roman times, I would want to go see that play before I would want to go see Caesar set in Roman times. It appeals to me much more from a pure interest standpoint. It will also help with getting people to go to Shakespeare, which has most likely been trouble in the past,” Director and NHS senior Palermo said.
The directors of Caesar believe that Shakespeare, particularly this play, is quite relevant to today and its current events.
“Part of the reason why we chose this show is because a lot of it has to do with political unrest. Given that the show will be in November right after the Presidential Election, we felt it connected to the craziness and divisiveness of the Election,” Pavlicek said.
Julius Caesar will go up on November 17, 18, 19 at 7:00 pm and the 20th at 2:00 pm. The location is yet to be determined. Featured cast members include Brooks Petershack (Caesar), Jacob Schultz (Brutus), Charles Soto (Cassius), Barrett DeYoung (Casca), Nicolas Stowell (Mark Antony), Aidan Moulder (Trebonius), Olyvia Shaw (Octavius), Calista Giroux (Portia), and McKenzie Iazzetta (Calpurnia).
Image Courtesy of attpac.org