Auditions for this April's play Tartuffe were scheduled for late January. Half the Theatre Department had just returned from the recent Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) and were preparing their monologues. A lot went into the process of Tartuffe's production by this point and sitting down with Director Corinne Johnson about this process proved to be eye-opening.
When asked about the reasoning for choosing Tartuffe as this year's final play, Johnson replied:
"A lot of that goes into the lap of Daniel Rairdin-Hale. Dan pointed out that it is a fascinating time period and that we hadn't done the show in 20 years. It's also one of my favorite shows, and Dan knew I wanted to do it before I retired. It has great moments for all characters, and it was dark, which makes it different than Rumors [which Johnson directed in Fall 2018]. It was important for me to have a period comedy under my students' belts."
Johnson confirmed the vote for this play was a unanimous "yes."
"It was kind of assigned to me," Johnson said. "But we never do a play unless everyone is on board."
Auditions ended up being a challenge. They were supposed to be held January 29-30 but were postponed due to multiple inclement weather warnings and campus closings. Auditions finally were held February 6 and 7.
"It drove me nuts!" Johnson said. "It was infuriating to delay so often, but there wasn't much we could do about it. I do feel like it diminished the excitement of the impending auditions a bit due to the dates being changed so often."
Though delayed, auditions finally came and went. When asked about auditions and if they were successful, Johnson responded:
"It's always thrilling when someone makes the decision-making easy. I am thrilled to have Kendall McKasson as an Assistant Director, and she weighed in nicely and wisely. I do wish we had more men, though."
It's always a wonder what goes on behind closed doors when it comes to making the final casting decisions. Johnson found the deliberation for the cast to be rather easy for this play.
"It seemed very clear for most characters," Johnson said. "There was deliberation in a couple of places, but my assistant director [McKasson] and I were really on the same page and excited together."
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Now that the play is cast and rehearsals are in full swing, Johnson is diving in with her exploration of the play.
"I am eager to dig into the script to find the ethos and humor and to also discuss the contemporary relevance of this piece," Johnson said.
The dates are set, rehearsals are a couple weeks in and the St. Ambrose Theatre Department is ready to get another play in motion.
"I think this show is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the depth of our departmental acting pool," Johnson said.
Mark your calendar for April 12 and 13 at 7:30 p.m. and April 14 at 3:00 p.m. Tartuffe will be performed on the main stage of Allaert Auditorium in the Galvin Fine Arts Center.
Cast:
Madame Pernelle – Halie Osborn
Orgon – TJ Green
Elmire – Sarah Goodall
Tartuffe – Tyler Hughes
Damis – Luke Peterson
Marianne – Ellie Larson
Cleante – Abbie Carpenter
Valere – Christian Colmenares
Dorine – Mel Maylum
M. Loyal – Kiara Thomas
Officer – Mike Schulz
Flipote – K. Hampton
Laurent – Sam Lange
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