Director's Note

Director’s Note

Theatre has faced harder challenges than Covid-19. Theatre was banned in the latter half of the Roman Empire and in Shakespeare’s time, it was shut down multiple times due to the plague. You’d have been hard-pressed to find theatre during the French wars of religion and oppressive regimes have long fought against theatre, deeming it a subversive element in society. It is not a surprise to say that theatre thrives more in times of prosperity and affluence than in conflict and distress. However, theatre has also showed its resilience and strength, popping up in times of the direst circumstances, reminding the world of its power to instruct and to entertain.

When our department had to cancel a production earlier this academic year due to covid restrictions, I looked around for a play that might work within those restrictions that also told a good story. I remembered a play I had read about Ophelia that had piqued my interest. Ophelia, as a character from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is a grossly underwritten character who succumbs to the treatment given to her in the play and takes her own life. As a character of interest, though, she is incredibly intriguing, and humanity has been drawn to her for centuries. There are songs about her and other dramatic works that riff on the imagery and idea of her. There are even studies of what she represents through the lens of sociology and gender studies. To me, she symbolizes resiliency or, at least, struggle against awful odds. Maybe she has something in common with theatre the past year.

Rachel Luann Strayer’s play tells a difficult story. But there is heart in it. And there is connection. It was our mission to highlight and sustain that idea of connection even during this tricky time in theatrical staging. We believe that even with our workarounds, we did service to the message of connection and intimacy that the show delicately forefronts. While this current era of making theatre takes us a bit out of the physical world of players and audiences, I find something endearingly theatrical and intimate with the sense of connection being made between the players on this “stage.”

If the purpose of theatre is to forge connection and have an immediate impact with audiences, I feel that we are continuing that most important work here.

-Grant Williams, PhD