On Oct. 5 in the dimly lit Cabaret Theater, students performed a rendition of the famous story “A Very Long Engagement.”
The story, which was originally a book and movie, was compiled and directed by Daniel Heaton, a communications and theater professor at the university.
The play includes several different musical performances as well, which were added for this composition of the story.
The production takes place in World War I and is primarily a love story about a woman who is searching to find out whether her husband, a soldier, was killed during the war.
When the story begins, the audience is given an introduction to the characters and setting, including the main characters, Mathilde and Manech. The two characters are engaged to be married, but Manech must go off to serve his country as a French soldier in WWI.
Next, we are told that Manech was killed in battle; this is a fate that Mathilde has trouble believing, so she makes it her mission to find her lost husband.
The journey consists of traveling to Paris, hiring a private detective, talking to the wives of other soldiers and talking to people who knew Manech from the battlefield.
After many ups and downs, Mathilde finally tracks her husband down, but something is wrong: Manech has lost his memories.
The sad ending leaves the audience in a moment of suspense as Mathilde cries watching her husband paint a canvas, not able to appreciate any of the lengths she went to in order to find him.
Not only does this story relay the message of love knowing no bounds, but it also creates a very powerful anti-war tone throughout the production.
With this conclusion, it was clear that the performance was not easy to pull off. The student actors involved had to balance this play and other classes for this production.
Bella Barone, an actor in the play, described some of the challenges of being an actor and a student: “It’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of work. Usually we have rehearsals from 7-10 p.m., so it’s very long, but it’s really rewarding when we get to actually do the play.”
With all this hard work, it was clear that the actors relied on each other to get through their performance. In fact, according to Barone, their fellow actors in this play have become some of their best friends.
“A lot of the time, we always help each other with lines and stuff just as we’re doing it,” said Barone. “We make jokes a lot during it and just have fun with it.”
With this built-up community, it helps actors be able to curb their fear for the performance, but even with a lot of acting experience and a community around you, fear before a big performance can creep in.
However, according to veteran actor Auralie Yoder, there is a trick that actors can use. Actors have to become the character to the point where they feel everything that the character would feel.
Yoder said, “If you’re in character enough, you’re not scared because your character’s not scared … ”
This method-acting-like approach allows Yoder and others to deliver their lines confidently.
More of the Cabaret Theatre performances will take place throughout the year. The next performance, “Rhinoceros,” will be performed between the days of Nov. 20-23.
