“Playing Pericles”

In UMBC’s version of “Pericles,” fields of corn are created with corn flakes, a watering can easily floods the town and toys come to life – all while the world is magnified in abstract images on screens in the Imaging Research Center (IRC). “Playing Pericles,” a joint collaboration by the IRC and Departments of English and Theatre, asks its audience: What does it mean to play – and – do you remember how?

Funded through a grant from the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship, the three groups have been working on the production since early September 2009. Quickly discovering the playful nature of the play, they decided to take a different approach to a Shakespeare classic.

“I used to watch my son and daughter play with toys, and they would just make up stories that would go on for hours,” said Alan Kreizenbeck, associate professor of theatre. “It seems like ‘Pericles’ was kind of like that. There are parts where you can see that Shakespeare is inventing stuff, so I thought wouldn’t it be cool to take toys, and make this like kids playing with toys.”

While Kreizenbeck thought of acting possibilities with toys, Assistant Professor of English Michelle Osherow turned her students into dramaturges during the fall semester, working tirelessly on understanding the play. They prepared study guides for actors, helped edit the script accordingly and edited videos on the idea of play that will be featured before the show begins.

“You had to be really open-minded to sign up for this project,” said Osherow. “My students wanted to help make Shakespeare more accessible and friendly, and through exploration and imagination, they were able to achieve that.”
Eric Smallwood, IRC technical director, worked on images for the screens with the help of students. The pictures chosen mirror the action taking place in the play, sometimes magnifying the toy in an actor’s hand or displaying a real cornfield or flood. Hoping to better convey moments, the screens enhance the understanding of this text.

“All students involved in this have really gone the distance and embraced the toys and playful nature we’re taking on,” said Osherow. “This is not an easy Shakespeare play, and they have all had such a collaborative spirit.”

Osherow, Kreizenbeck and Smallwood feel that the collaborative project has made them each more creative and playful personally. They are hoping to work together on more projects in the future.

“I’d love to think about further collaborations and fresh ways to present Shakespeare to people who are afraid of his texts,” said Osherow.

Even after the play is performed, “Playing Pericles” will live on. The performance will be videotaped and distributed to educational classrooms, serving as a tool for deeper understanding about social change using Shakespeare’s texts.

Be sure to attend a performance of “Playing Pericles” at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 7, and Saturday, May 8, or on Sunday, May 9, at 4 p.m. All performances will be in the Information Technology and Engineering Building, Room 108 (the IRC). Admission is free with one canned item to benefit Food on the 15th, a community service project that delivers groceries to economically challenged seniors in Howard County. Reservations are strongly encouraged as the IRC will only seat 40-50 people. Call the Theatre Box Office for more information at ext. 5-2476.

(5/3/10)