Visual and Performing Arts
2013 Theater Update
Student’s Concept Updates As You Like It to “Occupy Wall Street” Theme
Desert Academy will stage As You Like It, one of William Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies, as the first production in the Atrium Theater at the school’s new campus. The performances take place at 7 pm on Thursday, February 21; Friday, February 22; and Saturday, February 23.
As You Like It is much ado about the unfair class system during Elizabethan times. The play is another of Shakespeare’s outrageous romps poking fun at the aristocracy and reveling in the angst of young love before all ends well.
When Randy Bennett, Performing Arts and Film chair and director of the play, gave an assignment to his theater class to develop a concept for this year’s mainstage production, it’s no wonder that he chose Abby Tiarks’s pitch of “Occupy Wall Street” as the winner. “In Abby’s interpretation, Duke Frederick and Duke Senior become feuding corporate CEOs,” said Bennett. “Their court is the penthouse of a Wall Street skyscraper and Arden Forest becomes Arden Park, an urban oasis uptown from the Financial District. The Elizabethan music is replaced by tunes from Simon and Garfunkel.”
The cast includes Corrina Leatherwood, Lily Tiarks, Rise Miller, Xoco Sanchez, Zoe Chmielarczyk, Savion Charbonnet, Abby Tiarks, Fernando Borrero-Colon, Claire Hinkley, Ceryn Schoel, Jordan Medina, Anisa Martinez and Liam Kuziel. Alea Campbell is the production stage manager. The set design is by Kirk LeBlanc, who has been the properties paint charge at the Santa Fe Opera for the past seven seasons. Assisting him on lights is Kortney McQuade, who also works in the Opera’s production department.
General admission tickets for As You Like It are $10 for adults and $5 for students and children. Seating is limited; for advance reservations, call 992-8284, ext. 26. Remaining tickets, if any, will be sold at the door beginning at 6 pm each evening. The Atrium Theater is in the main building on Desert Academy’s new campus, located at 7300 Old Santa Fe Trail.
For a comprehensive look at our arts programs, please click on the following link:
Print This Page
