By Nick Pantages
@nick_pantages22
After weeks of nonstop hard work and rehearsals, the Springfield College school play will take place on four separate occasions this week.
“The Taming” is a political satire with an all female cast, and focuses on using political extremes for laughs. Springfield College Professor of Theater Arts Martin Shell said, “It’s a political comedy, but you don’t have to have a political attitude to enjoy it.”
It involves the quest of a beauty pageant model who is going to embark on a journey to rewrite the Constitution, with the help of an ultra conservative senator’s aide, and a super liberal blogger.
“It’s a satire, it’s really wacky. It’s silly,” Shell said.
The constant rehearsing of the play has been a lot of hard work for the actresses, but also the backstage people.
“We’ve been rehearsing for six or seven weeks. It’s been a good process, very fun,” Shell said.
The actresses have had to put their memory skills to the test when learning lines. There are nine roles in the play, but only three actresses to cover the roles. This means extra work and memorization of lines, something that has been a process.
The preparation by the actors will be seen through their performances, but the backstage people have been vital to the process of the play. They have to put together sound effects, construct a set and make the costumes, which are many tasks that require effort and creative thinking.
“Everybody’s rehearsing all these different moving parts that the audience doesn’t necessarily see, but it is part of the fun of the show,” Shell said.
Performances will take place this Friday at 7:30, Saturday at 2:00 and 7:30, and Sunday at 2:00, all at Fuller Arts Center.
Overall, the play should be a good opportunity for students to bond together over something that everyone can find funny.
Shell said, “Our hope is that we have some good audiences and that they’re ready to have fun.”
Photo Courtesy Springfield College