William Peace University Theatre presented a modern version of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar to the campus Feb. 21-24. They had many returning audience members coming back to rewatch the play for a second and, sometimes, a third time.
When coming to see this play much of the audience were surprised when first discovering that two roles, Brutus played by Tiffany Lewis and Cassius played by Lilly Mills, were initially male roles and were changed to females in the school adaption of the play. This captivated many of the people in the audience with how they portrayed the roles that they were in.
“I thought the play was really interesting,” said Andrew Anderson, a senior at WPU. “I like them, how [they] changed the setting of the play in order to capture and make the play more relatable to the audience. I like how Peace uses two women for the roles of Brutus and Cassius. It exemplified that women can dominate any gender role. Their roles were amazing. The play was good and it seemed like everyone performing in the play was locked into the characters and it showed.”
Performing Shakespeare was something of a new experience for some of the cast members. There were many students who are first years and this being their first play with such a huge role and change of pace.
“It was definitely something I wasn’t used to,” said JB Yankosky, a Peace freshman who played Cogsworth in the fall production of Beauty and the Beast. “I’ve never participated in a Shakespeare show before, so it took a while to understand what I was saying. It was a fun experience to play two completely different characters because I had a lot of freedom to make bold choices for both of them. It was definitely different from Cogsworth since this wasn’t a musical but I enjoyed the process in both shows.”
This was a huge role for many of the freshman and upperclassmen. Many of the characters that they portrayed were exciting for them to learn and get to know more about. With many of the roles that Peace students portray on stage they develop a deeper connection with their characters. While also developing this connection within themselves, there are times when they are taken out of their comfort zone with roles that they have never played before.
“I really enjoyed my role because Shakespeare was something that I was very intimidated to do,” said Anthony Cooper, a senior at William Peace University. “After this show, I discovered that it took me out of my comfort zone but it also left me with a hunger for more work of Shakespeare. What I’m really going to miss is the fun backstage with the cast and work alongside some of my talented peers. With this being my last show I am sad but joyful of the work that I have done at Peace over the last four years and thankful to all of my professors that have helped developed skills for my acting career.”
The many plays and musicals on the Peace campus are an experience that is inspiring for many to see, whether they are in the audience or in the production themselves.
So if you ever have any free time and our campus is doing a production be sure to check it out.