“Camino Real,” the second major production of the year to make use of Harper Joy Theatre’s Alexander Stage, opens on Thursday, Dec. 6 for a four-day run.
Tennessee Williams’ surreal and literary play may not seem like the most obvious choice for a Whitman production, but the depth of its script was one of the reasons why it was chosen.
“It held a lot of mystery [for] me,” said Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater Jimmy Maize, who is directing the play. “I was excited to do something challenging that would keep on revealing itself to me and the actors.”
Yet this prospect of challenge was not the only aspect that drew Maize to this work.
“I chose this particular play because I was interested in the themes and the form,” said Maize. “It has such a wild, associative, dreamlike form, and I’m always looking for new forms and structure in building theatre, and [Williams] was thinking about it in a really multidisciplinary way in terms of the writing and lights and how sound and music can be used to tell the story. I’m always into using many different elements in telling a story.”
Sophomore Sabra Jaffe, a member of the 19-person ensemble cast, shared Maize’s enthusiasm for the production.
“I am really excited because it’s different from any other show I’ve done before,” she said. “It’s been a really great learning experience and I feel that because there are a lot of challenges in the play, we’ve had to grow together as a cast and learn together what the play is about.”
Sophomore Tory Davidson, another cast member, shared a similar sense of excitement.
“The most amazing thing about the show is the enthusiasm our director has created,” she said. “He is really meticulous but he has an incredible vision, and has allowed us to explore it while coming up with new details ourselves. I think the final product will be a culmination of ideas that we’ve explored together in a huge way because, after all, it is a huge show.”
“We also have a kick-ass cast,” said Maize. “We have a lot of veteran acting students and a lot of first-years, and I think it is a great mix of old and new. Also, everyone has become so unified. It’s a big cast, but we’ve become like an ensemble, and are very unified in making this entire machine work.”
The dream-like show, which features characters ranging from Don Quixote to Lord Byron, also features senior Jeremy Kotler and sophomores Eli Zavatsky and Sarah Ann Wollett in leading roles along with the rest of the ensemble cast. Tickets are on sale at the box office from 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.-4 p.m.
