Auditions for Shakespeariment’s spring play Twelfth Night were held on February 13th. The play may sound familiar because it’s the basis of She’s the Man, an early 2000s movie starring pre-drugged Amanda Bynes.
In the play, Viola and Sebastian’s ship is caught in a storm and the two are separated. Viola, disguised as a boy, works for Duke Orsino, who has been in love with Countess Olivia for some time. Olivia is in mourning for her late father and brother and refuses to court Orsino, so he sends Viola as a go-between. Unfortunately, Olivia falls in love with Viola’s disguise while Viola falls in love with Orsino. In a subplot, Olivia’s uptight butler is taught a lesson by her maid, two suitors, and her fool.
Just like musical and fall play auditions, students had to try out for roles– except this time, they had to perform a memorized monologue from the perspective of a character in the play. Participants had a choice between a monologue by Viola, the crossdressing heroine (Amanda Bynes’s character in the movie), or Antonio, a sea captain who is Viola’s twin brother’s friend. During the auditions, Shakespeariment’s advisors, Mrs. Piatek and Ms. Pankow, (who were assisted by celebrity judge Nathaniel Hawthorne) asked students auditioning to perform their monologue in a different way; for example, Nick Powell (who will play Antonio) was asked to perform as if he had the IQ of the intelligent dog from Up, and Lorna Krabill (who will play Malvolio) had to perform as Harry Potter villain Dolores Umbridge. Lorna, said Shakespeariment is “…awesome. It’s a lot of fun,” and that “Twelfth Night’s a good play.”
During the auditions, Aneequah Muzzaamil stated that “there’s a lot of people here and it’s intimidating because half of them have done Shakespeariment before so it kinda feels like they have the edge,” while on the other hand, Annamaria Sauer projected an air of cool confidence before her audition, saying “I got dis, bro” twice before it was her turn to perform. The fact that these sophomores were trying out for this play was not surprising; the cast list bursts with talent from all four grades.
If you’re interested in watching the drama unfold, make sure to mark your calendars for May 9th and 10th at 7 PM when the show will be performed at your own Williamsville East auditorium.
