Show performed on first two weekends in May
Published in the April 27 – May 10, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
“Twelfth Night” at Gavilan Community College
Audiences will be sure to laugh heartily at the “gender-bender” play “Twelfth Night” which comes to the Gavilan Community College Theater stage next month. This version of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy classic was adapted by Randall Stuart, founder and director of the cultural arts organization Cerimon House in Portland, who spent two weeks in workshops with the actors.
The story centers on the misadventures of twin sister and brother Viola and Sebastian separated in a shipwreck at the start of the play. Social and emotional complications arise when Viola, who is disguised as a boy, falls in love with Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with the Countess Olivia.
“We try to alternate between musicals with classical plays, such as Shakespeare, for our spring productions at Gavilan,” said “Twelfth Night” director John Lawton-Haehl. “As these two genres of theater are main sources of employment for acting and technical students, I want them to have experience in both styles during their education in the Gavilan Theater Arts Program. “Twelfth Night,” or “What You Will,” has been on my list of plays to produce for many years. I love the joke of Shakespeare inserting his nickname into the subtitle.”
Technical support, design in sound, lights and set of “Twelfth Night” is by Izzy Quistain, Gavilan’s new technical director. She was aided by Bill Klipstine, with the help of his stage production students. Liz Falvey, Dance and Movement for Actors class instructor, choreographed the dance scene and assisted in staging the opening.
“Twelfth Night” was written by Shakespeare late in the reign of Elizabeth I, Lawton-Haehl said. Its first recorded performance was for festivities on the holiday season on the twelfth day of Christmas.
“The cast ranges from returning students in their 50s and 60s to students in their early 20s,” he said. “It’s a wonderful cross section of the community college student population at Gavilan. Most guys do not feel comfortable in tights, so I moved the look of the costumes a few years later from the Elizabethan era — Cavalier boots and breeches for the men — while still keeping the romantic look of the early 1600s for the ladies.”
DETAILS
What: “Twelfth Night” performances
When: May 6, 7, 13 and 14 at 8 p.m. A Mother’s Day weekend matinee at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 7. Moms admitted free.
Where: The Gavilan College Theater at 5055 Santa Teresa Blvd., Gilroy.
Tickets: Buy $12 tickets in advance at the Gavilan College Bookstore, BookSmart in Morgan Hill, Murphy’s Mercantile or brownpapertickets.com. Tickets at the door $15; students & seniors $8.
