Each year, audiences gather in Seto Hall, highly anticipating the chosen production– the Fall Play. Under the new theater director, Ms. Ogilvie, the cast of Iolani Dramatic Players spent weeks offstage forming connections and experimenting with different styles of expression, in preparation for the opening night. Behind the curtains, the cast noted the unity that each of them felt as they worked the scenes before opening night. On Thursday, November 2, the room was filled with howling laughter and fun as a full house audience sat down to dimming lights that signaled the opening act of The Servant of Two Masters.
Written by Carlo Goldoni in 1746, The Servant of Two Masters tells the story of a 17th century servant, and the chaos that ensues when he finds himself simultaneously working for two different masters. Filled with love, disguise and humorous confusion, the play had the audience howling with laughter throughout the entire night. The play follows a commedia dell’arte structure, which is characterized by a base plot and enhanced by the improvisations of the cast throughout the play. Intertwining ‘Iolani’s own quartet and the enthusiastic cast led by student director, Lindsey Barcia ’24, the artists came together to bring the hilarious nature of The Servant of Two Masters to life.
Bringing her previous experience with commedia dell’arte in to influence the workings of the play, Ms. Ogilvie noted one of her favorite parts of directing this piece was bringing together the different artists from the community. “The play is collaborative in blending together the different artists,” she says. “We brought in our amazing quartet, Dr. Pearson, the Latin teacher, wrote some of the classical jokes– it just came together beautifully onstage.”
With sold out tickets and a full house audience in the last show on Saturday night, Iolani Dramatic Players (IDP) made the fall play very successful with 6 to 8 weeks of preparation both on stage and backstage. The IDP fall play backstage crew members excelled in handling lights, sound, hair, makeup and publicity. The student director of IDP Lindsey Barcia ‘24 described that “The crew was really awesome, and everyone was just working very hard to make everything better and fix everything.” There are many challenging parts in preparing and presenting the play. For example, according to the main actors in the fall play, the hardest and most time-consuming part in preparation is memorizing a ton of complicated lines. However, everybody in IDP and the fall play crew enjoyed the fall play experience where everybody laughed and had fun together. Lindsey Barcia ’24 also mentioned, “it’s a really fun experience, and you are just basically hanging out with your friends and doing something about the play.”
From the audience, Ania Lavrenchuk ’24 offers her opinions on the play. “The idea of a play within a play is so extraordinary,” she says. “I felt like part of the cast, even though I wasn’t actually an actor onstage. I laughed a lot.” From audience feedback, it seems that the play was successful in creating a comedic environment, evoking laughter from audience members with its scenes. The actors and actresses on stage acted with an element of chemistry, allowing viewers to feel transported into the world of commedia dell’arte.
Behind the scenes in preparation, Ms. Ogilvie expressed her pride in seeing the cast grow in confidence with their artistic expression. “It’s so fulfilling to see them find new things in the moment that are hilarious because they are confident– confident to go out on a limb and trust their instincts,” she commented. Ms. Ogilvie also noted the special nature of the specific play, emphasizing the popular saying, “Structure can set you free.” According to her, her favorite part was “seeing students value their instincts which are so unique, and owning that and putting it into the space without apology and sharing it with such generosity is such a gift.”
In terms of upcoming productions, Ms. Ogilvie says that the future of fall plays is still undetermined in terms of upcoming productions. She comments, “Taking the students’ opinions into account is very important as a director.” She does note, however, that both she and the cast have had an abundance of fun exploring the comedic field. “This is a very special place,” she says. “There is so much support spilling out from the PAD office, and so much love in our community. The amount of hardwork and effort coming out of our performing arts department is overwhelmingly inspiring.”
