Over the last few months a gem has been forming and very few people at Loyola knew of its existence. Loyola partnered with our neighbor university Notre Dame of Maryland to put on a production of Shakespeare’s play As You Like It. This show recounts the experience of Rosalind, the daughter of the banished duke, and her Cousin Celia, Daughter of the new duke, travel to the forest of Arden in search of Rosalind’s father. These two travel in disguise and meet some new friends along the way. The search for the banished duke is put on hold when Rosalind falls in love with Orlando, and tries to woo him while being disguised as a man. This show is fun and dynamic!
There were a good number of Loyola students acting in the production and a few students worked on the production team, making this experience truly collaborative between the two universities. This show took on a different approach to Shakespeare, with a trunk style production–involving minimal to no set and focusing rather on double cast characters that have small costume and prop changes to signify different characters. Trunk style productions are fun and interactive, which is something that this group does well.
There were countless audience interactions and fun ways to allow for the audience to be immersed in the two worlds that the show created. The framing was the show was that a group of traveling actors took their production of As You Like it on the road to different locations. The audience saw characters on the stage getting ready for the performance and prepping for top of the show. It left nothing to the imagination and it makes theatre vulnerable and exposed.
I personally had the opportunity to work on this show as the assistant director and I have nothing but gratitude to the people over at Notre Dame for welcoming us in and making this production special for all those involved. The creative process for a show like this was so creative and immersive, and the actors were able to pivot with all the punches.
This show was intended to be performed outside, to mimic a Shakespeare in the park, but because of the weather, a number of the shows had to be moved indoors for their rain location. Despite these changes the show was just as good. I commend everyone for their hard work and dedication, and hope that we can continue to work with Notre Dame in the future. If you did not have the opportunity to see this production you missed out on a once and a lifetime experience to see a show that allows you to take the message… as you like it.