{"id":106133,"date":"2015-12-03T10:03:03","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T15:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu?p=106133&preview_id=106133"},"modified":"2015-12-11T09:27:41","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T14:27:41","slug":"crts-twelfth-night-makes-classic-play-contemporary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2015\/12\/crts-twelfth-night-makes-classic-play-contemporary\/","title":{"rendered":"CRT’s ‘Twelfth Night’ Makes a Classic Play Contemporary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Victor<\/a>
Victor Maog,\u00a0director of\u00a0CRT’s production of ‘Twelfth Night,’ which opens Dec. 3 at the Nafe Katter Theatre.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Victor Maog<\/a>, who is directing the Connecticut Repertory Theatre\u2019s<\/a> production of Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cTwelfth Night,\u201d laughs when asked about the expectations people may have after American Theatre<\/a><\/em> magazine cited him as one of the \u201c20 Theatre Professionals to Watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy to be in [the magazine],\u201d says Maog, the artistic director of Second Generation Productions in New York City, which cultivates Asian American theater,\u00a0“but I will back it up with my 20 years of experience. It\u2019s nice to have the spotlight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maog has established a reputation as an award-winning director who bridges the world of theater with diverse communities, audiences, and industries. He has led productions in major institutions in New York City and Los Angeles, as well as non-traditional projects in Chicago’s south side and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. His directing work includes plays such as \u201cThe Tempest,\u201d \u201cBlood Wedding,\u201d \u201cThe Visit,\u201d and \u201cOne Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest,\u201d and musical theater including \u201cSpring Awakening,\u201d \u201cRagtime,\u201d \u201cSweeney Todd,\u201d and \u201cThe Secret Garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not working any differently [at CRT] than I would in any other place,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is the same sort of rigor, same sort of expectation behind it.”<\/p>\n

The main challenge, Maog says, is “How do we make the classic also contemporary? How do we make a play we\u2019ve seen one way also inclusive and accessible? Let\u2019s make the Shakespeare of today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/a>
Andrew Ramcharan Guilarte, center, as Malvolio in CRT’s production of ‘Twelfth Night.’ (Gerry Goodstein for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTwelfth Night\u201d is one of Shakespeare\u2019s popular comedies, telling the story of mistaken identity set against the backdrop of the holiday season. Leading the cast are Equity actors Richard Ruiz \u201988 MFA, who returns to Storrs for the role of Sir Toby after recently recording the American cast album of Disney\u2019s \u201cHunchback of Notre Dame,\u201d and Andrew Ramcharan Guilarte, who is cast as Malvolio, following co-starring roles in the CBS dramas \u201cElementary\u201d and \u201cMadam Secretary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maog says the CRT production is influenced by his early childhood recollections of Christmas while growing up in the Philippines \u2013 the pageantry, sense of surprise, and anticipation of the season. He says the venue of the Katter Theatre, with its open stage and intimate seating, fits the production well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a gift that there is such a strong actor-audience interaction,\u201d he says. \u201cIn all my plays, the stars of the plays are the human beings trying to find love, overcome sadness, and try to find joy. It\u2019s a perfect setting for the holidays, when you\u2019re wanting to be closer and find more of that family feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Arlene<\/a>
Arlene Bozich, foreground, MFA candidate in acting, and Kevin Hilversum ’16 (SFA), in the Connecticut Repertory Theatre\u2019s production of ‘Twelfth Night’ by William Shakespeare. (Gerry Goodstein for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to the holiday music that is traditionally part of \u201cTwelfth Night,\u201d there also will be original music contributed by Kevin Hilversum \u201916 SFA, who is Feste the jester, and Abigail Golec \u201918 SFA, the production\u2019s sound designer.<\/p>\n

The director says one of the challenges of a modern Shakespeare is the long history behind works that have been performed since the 15th century.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other productions you just try to do the play. For me, it\u2019s revealing the criteria of what\u2019s important about the play and the mechanics behind the play,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s survived 400 years for a reason. All we have to do is decode it and then do enough to wake up the sleeping dragon within the play. … The students, the professionals, the entire creative team know it\u2019s a full court press.”<\/p>\n

Maog says the diversity of the cast in CRT productions is one of the reasons he was interested in coming to Storrs. It provides special opportunities for actors and directors, he notes,\u00a0much like his work with Second Generation Productions.<\/p>\n

In the case of Shakespeare, the roles have been allotted only to certain groups for centuries. \u201cIt\u2019s not that I can\u2019t direct Shakespeare, but oftentimes people don\u2019t give those opportunities to folks like myself,\u201d he says. \u201c[CRT’s approach]\u00a0is itself a very radical, visionary action for the University. How often do you see a Malvolio who is from Trinidad [Guilarte]?\u00a0… I think it is the way to do theater in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cast includes acting MFA candidates Darren Brown, Arlene Bozich, Curtis Longfellow, and Jeff DeSisto, and undergraduate actors Juliana Bearse, Madison Coppola, Chester Martin, Brian Sullivan, Kevin Hilversum, Joon Ho Oh; as well as theatre studies majors Olivia Benson and Max Helfand, and puppetry MFA candidate Mark Blashford.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwelfth Night\u201d will be performed from Dec. 3 to Dec. 13. Evening performances start at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Select matinee performances start at 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information go to the CRT website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director Victor Maog seeks to ‘wake up the sleeping dragon’ in Shakespeare’s work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":106247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1711,1914,2225,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1918],"class_list":["post-106133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-sfa","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 01:19:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106133"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106250,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106133\/revisions\/106250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/106247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106133"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=106133"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=106133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}