St. Francis University Center for Fine Arts to stage Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'

Kelly Urban, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·2 min read

Nov. 10—LORETTO, Pa. — A comedy with plots of romance, mistaken identities and practical jokes will be presented on an area stage.

St. Francis University Center for Fine Arts will present William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday in the JFK Auditorium on the university campus in Loretto.

"I feel that it's important for our students at St. Francis as well as the audience that we're serving in our region to have exposure to Shakespeare," said Lance Mekeel, director of the production. "It's important that we use it to understand ourselves as humans. When I approach a play like this for today, I try to figure out how I can apply it to our context to make it relevant for us. The play has a whole lot to be mined in terms of how the plot developments and the relationships in the play sort of reflect on our society."

Separated from her twin brother Sebastian in a shipwreck, Viola disguises herself as a boy, calls herself Cesario, and becomes a servant to the Duke Orsino.

He sends her to woo the Countess Olivia on his behalf, but the Countess falls in love with Cesario.

Meanwhile Olivia's uncle, Sir Toby Belch, gets drunk with his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek and they play a trick on Malvolio, Olivia's steward.

Eventually Sebastian turns up and causes even more confusion, chaos and comedy.

Mekeel said he set the play at the Feast of the Epiphany — the 12th Night of Christmas — at the Lord Chamberlain's house in 1602.

"For four acts, we have this topsy-turvy world and the power dynamics are all out of whack with people passing as someone they're not, but in Act V, the play restores a sense of 'normalcy,' " he said. "I'm setting it in the context of maintaining the hierarchy of power and the patriarchy that exists in Elizabethan England."

The production features a cast of 16 veteran and novice student actors along with a crew of eight.

"They have really enjoyed working on the script, and everybody has their own little bits that we've tried to work in," Mekeel said. "Even those folks who are not in the comedic roles have had a lot of fun working on their character and working on the relationships that we're exploring here."

General admission tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students.

Performances on Saturday and Sunday will feature dinner theater, and tickets are $35.