On November 16, 17, and 18, the Morris Knolls Theatre rose the curtain to this year’s fall drama, William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.  Directed by Advisor Ms. Mazur and Student Director Tatiana Newman, the cast and crew worked really hard to make the production a success.

Twelfth Night is a Shakespearean comedy which centers around a love triangle created between the three protagonists: Duke Orsino (Sean Doyle), Olivia (Elizabeth Vex), and Viola (Rebecca Reed).  The play is set in Illyria, where Viola and her brother Sebastian are shipwrecked.  Viola, not knowing where to go next, decides that, for her own protection, she will dress up like a man and get a job as one of Orsino’s servants.  Meanwhile, Sebastian believes that his sister is dead and decides to also go to the Duke Orsino’s court.  Viola, disguised with the name Cesario, gets a job with Duke Orsino and finds herself tied in the middle of a relationship between him and the Countess Olivia.  Asked to convince her that she should marry Orsino, Viola meets Olivia.  As the play progresses, Viola finds out that Olivia doesn’t like Orsino but instead fell in love with her (thinking she is Cesario)!  Simultaneously, Viola falls in love with Duke Orsino.  This creates a triangle which develops throughout the play, and comes together at the end, with everyone coming together and finding out the truth about each person’s identity.  The full name of this play is Twelfth Night, or What You Will.  The first half is believed to be a reference to the twelve days of Christmas, a festive and celebratory time (although the play is not set during this season), and the second half, translating to “whatever you like,” is Shakespeare’s way of saying “love is unpredictable.”

As with all previous fall plays, Twelfth Night implemented a “Black Box Theater,” with the audience seated on the stage.  Ms. Mazur inherited this format from Mr. Lavin, a retired teacher and the previous fall play director.  She chose to keep this setup because it creates a different kind of theater experience, with the audience getting much more intimate with the characters and scene.  This format does present a greater challenge for the Lighting and Sound Crew and Stagecraft Club, who have to come up with creative solutions as to how to bring the scene to life and make the experience more immersive for the audience while having them on-stage.  Nonetheless, this format proved successful once again this year.

Each summer, Ms. Mazur reads several plays and chooses one that will be interesting and challenging for the cast and crew. Once the script is approved by Mr. Haug and the administration, she begins work with the Stagecraft advisors, Mr. and Mrs. Van Horn, on how to turn her ideas into a design.  This year, Ms. Goginsky has also been a big help in conceptualizing a design idea.  After set work has begun and auditions for the cast have been completed, Ms. Mazur and the Assistant Director, Tatiana Newman this year, begin to work with the cast to turn the pages of the script into a show.  Ms. Mazur has been wanting to do Twelfth Night for several years, but has always felt a little intimidated by it.  The cast did face an extra challenge with Shakespeare’s comedy because of the Old English it was written in.  As Ms. Mazur explained to the Quill, “Once you’ve done Shakespeare, you can do anything!”  Nonetheless, the cast were able to overcome the challenge and create an excellent performance which only a Morris Knolls production could provide.

The cast and crew worked really hard to make this year’s fall play a success, and their time and effort clearly paid off.  The Quill would like to congratulate them for another successful performance this year, and wish everyone involved best of luck with the upcoming spring musical, Into the Woods.