Audiences should expect unique experience at Arabian Nights

Alfredo Aparicio /Staff Writer

Arabian Nights tells the story of the young maiden, Scheherezade, who tries to prevent her death at the hands of King Shahryar by capturing his attention through the stories she tells. In doing so, she demonstrates the importance and power of storytelling.

The play, written by Mary Zimmerman and directed by Associate Professor Phillip Church will be the last production of the semester.

“When we think about everything we do [on a daily basis], we tell a story or are living a story and sometimes the story can be about the future through a dream or wish,” said Church.

“The importance of storytelling is [displayed in the way] Scheherezade tells a story and engages the king’s attention. [It] sends the message that we live by storytelling; it’s a diet that keeps you alive.”

“I don’t think [our] society really gives full value to stories. We don’t realize how we feed each other. We are so literal, like ‘How many calories are in my bottle of water?’ We also need to feed our minds through imagination,” continued Church. “I anticipate that the audience will take away a greater sense of what stories truly mean. Hopefully they leave thinking more about the value of the stories.”

The set design of Jesse Dreikosen, head of design and production at the Department of Theatre, relies heavily on the audience’s imagination.

“There are multiple locations throughout the piece and the scenery needs to simply define those spaces very quickly. The design of the set needed to be abstract, suggestive and symbolic to allow the actors in costume to tell the stories. The lighting really creates the atmosphere for the world we are in.”

Dreikosen’s design came to him quickly through a discussion with Church about doing something different with the space of the theater.

It involved research of the architecture of the different regions and cultures present in the play in order to make sure that these came out in the design of the space.

“I quickly decided that I needed to incorporate the entire theater architectural space, which meant putting the audience up on stage and thrusting the stage out into the house of the theater,” explained Dreikosen.

“This allowed the action of the play to be up, in and around the entire audience— sort of in your face. The audience should feel like members of the company.”

The abstract set design has allowed Tony Galaska, assistant professor of lighting design and stage management, to use light to establish the spaces of the play.

“Every production presents its own unique challenges in terms of the script. Lighting comes from what the playwright gives as instructions as well as the different people in the lighting team who present different design elements,” said Galaska.

“As there are less items on stage, the lighting becomes more prominent in defining time and space. It’s a storytelling piece and it’s really fun for lighting to define the spaces in a visual sense.”

For Galaska, the hardest part of lighting design is the time spent talking and developing an idea for placement during the technical weekend, a time that the team sees what the lights are going to do and not do for the first time.

“It’s very typical for lighting to put up the lights in the space before they see the action but the key to it is the collaboration that happens between the director and design team. I have seen rehearsal and know what’s going on and how they’re using [lighting],” said Galaska. “It all happens really fast and a lot of work goes into realizing the vision [you have]; that’s the most exciting part.”

The most challenging aspect of the play, thus far, has been the characterization of the characters, with most of the actors involved taking on at least two or three roles.

“For the actors, it’s highly challenging because they are very much brought up in training to dig into the psychological depth of their characters. Most contemporary American playwrights are presenting characters that are highly complex and here we got a play in which the majority of the characters are allegorical, metaphysical and present a type, virtue or vice,” said Church.

Tatiana Pandiani, junior, performance major, who will act as the slave girl, the young girl and the girl the garden, also notes the lack of psychological depth as one of the hurdles present in playing her characters.

“The challenge has been the need for allegorical characters that don’t fulfill the traditional sense of the character. It’ very different from what an actor would do to prepare for a realistic play. It has been difficult for me to transition into the reality of this play,” said Pandiani. “Moving into and out of different characters has also been challenging. What sets the motor of this play is being very present and ready at all times.”

Jason Caceres, junior, performance major, who will play the Jester, the Prince of Fools, the Kurd, Sympathy’s brother, Hard Head and First Genie, was happy to be cast in “Arabian Nights” because it offered the opportunity to place five or six characters in one production. “Every character I play has a distinct physicality and unique voice. It becomes difficult to keep the levels in my own voice without causing any strain. Our voice coach, Jennifer Smith, is very good with helping us to keep these voices alive while also preserving our own.”

“I hope that the audience enjoys each character for who they are. There are no evil characters, only people from different walks of life and in different situations that force them to act the way they do. This play is about survival and the things that we must do in order to keep our own stories alive,” said Caceres.