"Saint Plays" March into Redone Theatre
Students will perform a world premiere play by an internationally acclaimed playwright later this month in Westmont’s newly remodeled Porter Theatre. “The Saint Plays” consist of four Erik Ehn plays, including his latest, “Rogue.” Performances will be February 24 and 25 at 8 p.m., March 2 and March 3 at 8 p.m., and March 4 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 for students/seniors and $15 for general admission.
The theater arts department commissioned Ehn, dean of the school of theater at California Institute of the Arts, to develop the new play as part of his ongoing series, “The Saint Plays.” Last fall, students held a series of workshops with Ehn to collaborate on the creation.
“Rogue” is a visual, and poetic response to the life of St. Vincent De Paul. An Oklahoma cowgirl who speaks in blank verse tells the story. She is the 14th Ophelia, a blood relative to the Ophelia of Hamlet fame. According to the story, Ophelia didn’t drown and actually lived to give birth to Hamlet’s child.
The 14th Ophelia receives a mysterious package that tells of how St. Vincent and Hamlet were twins, separated at birth by Claudius. They lived separate lives before coming together by chance as adults on a pirate ship. They then hatch up a scheme to switch destinies. St. Vincent martyrs himself into Hamlet’s ending and dies from a poisoned sword. Hamlet becomes St. Vincent and eventually reunites with Ophelia, now serving as a votaress in a nunnery in France.
Interestingly, St. Vincent was alive at the same time as Shakespeare, and St. Vincent was really captured by pirates.
“It’s a wild story,” says Mitchell Thomas, assistant theater arts professor directing “The Saint Plays.” “I was very confused the first time I read it, but as I’ve continued to digest it, it’s brilliant and really interesting to see how these lives come together.
It’s a very visual piece, and certainly a fantastic journey for the audience.”
Thomas says Ehn’s Shakespearean play is an outgrowth of the workshops where many students said their most powerful theatrical experiences were with Shakespeare and “Bird’s Eye View,” a non-textual dance theater piece performed in the Lit Moon Theatre Festival.
“Rogue” is just one of the four plays that will be performed by the 11 Westmont students. The other plays by Ehn are “Wholly Joan’s” (St. Joan of Arc), “16670” (St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe), and “The Freak” (St. George). They will include four original songs for the plays written by student composer Greg Wadsworth, with text by Ehn.
It will be the first major theatrical performance in Porter Theatre since a $212,000 renovation last summer. The remodel includes new seating, flooring and paint, a rebuilt stage and a completely remodeled backstage area which includes a new green room.
For reservations or more information, call the theater department at (805) 5656040. Running time is 95 minutes with no intermission. Directions to campus are at www.westmont.edu.
The theater arts department will also present a free lecture in the ongoing Globe Series, which seeks to promote conversations around theater and culture. The special event, Monday, Feb. 27, will be at Porter Theatre and include Marianne Robins, associate professor of history, Charles Farhadian, assistant professor of religious studies, and Rose Elfman, dramaturg and assistant director for “The Saint Plays.” The three will see the plays on the first weekend and then discuss their own personal response to them through the eyes of their particular discipline.