By Rachel Ambelang
Staff Writer
After two successful plays this semester, Baylor Theatre has three more productions for students and faculty to look forward to in the spring.
Every year the students of the theater department put out five productions, two in the fall and three in the spring. This fall the department showcased the plays “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and “The Ruby Sunrise.”
In the spring the department will present “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” “Quartet with Grand Piano” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” are present in almost every medium from comics to film. The story has inspired artists in all genres by causing its readers to wonder about the true nature of man.
Josiah Wallace will be directing “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
“As the play is an adaptation of a well known story, it must fulfill audience expectations while giving them just enough of the unexpected to be entertain and encourage them to think of the story in new ways,” Wallace said about Baylor Theatre’s spin on the classic tale.
The Theatre department chose Jeffrey Hatcher’s theatrical adaptation for their performance, which focuses more intently on Stevenson’s analysis of the dark side of human nature. “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” begins the spring season on Jan 31.
Opening on Feb 28 is the more unique production “Quartet with Grand Piano,” which is actually an anthology of short plays that is literally accompanied by the music of a grand piano. The shorts of the night are “Little Airplanes of the Heart”, “The Trapeze Artist”, written by Baylor Alumni Mary Laws,“Johannes, Pytor, & Marge” and “Aftermath”, which was written by Thomas Ward, a Baylor Theatre professor.
The production is a diverse combination of plays that vary both from each other and Baylor’s past productions.
On the Baylor Theatre website, the play is described as, “new and contemporary short plays, brilliantly combined for an eclectic brand of story-telling.”
The piano pieces will play a major role in the performances, creating an experience unlike anything else the theatre department has planned for this year.
The last play to cross the Baylor’s stage this spring is “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” One of Shakespeare’s more humorous classics, the majority of the story takes place in a woodland inhabited a band of Athenian actors busy rehearsing a play that they hope to perform for the duke of Athens at his wedding.
Also in the woods is a group of fairies who are preparing for their own wedding. In addition to this, there four young Athenians tangled in their own lover’s web. The story sees comedic events occur as the different groups cross paths throughout the play.
San Antonio junior Vinnie Yanga talked about how excited he was to see this play specifically.
“I’ll definitely be going to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ I’ve always been a big fan of Shakespeare’s plays, and I think our theatre program will do a really good job with it,” Yanga said.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is one of Shakespeare’s most beloved productions, and will mark the end to the 2012 spring season on April 23.