CRT

Acting Alum Debuts as Director of Musical Comedy

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Rick O'Toole

There comes a time when many actors think about moving from the spotlight onstage to behind the scenes to direct.

For stage veteran Richard Ruiz ’98 MFA, that time came when he returned to Storrs to play a familiar role as Sancho Panza in the Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s 2012 Nutmeg Summer Series production of “Man of La Mancha” directed by his longtime mentor, Vincent Cardinal, chair of the dramatic arts department.

“Vince had not directed it before. He would consult me often and ask if this would be a good way to direct a scene,” says Ruiz, who had performed the role of Panza five times previously. “I ended up kind of semi-directing some of those scenes from the wings. I enjoyed that collaborative process. It sparked thoughts about being a director. I pitched it to him that someday I’d like to direct.”

Ruiz makes his directorial debut with this week’s CRT production of “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” the Tony Award-winning musical comedy based on the film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” the wacky British comedy troupe’s send-up of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table and their quest to find the mystical object in Arthurian legend that would provide eternal youth, abundant food, and happiness. “Spamalot” stars Richard Kline as King Arthur and Mariand Torres as the Lady of the Lake in performances from April 21 to May 1 in the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre.

Ruiz, who last appeared onstage at CRT in 2014 with Kline in Neil Simon’s popular “The Sunshine Boys,” says he imagined that his first directing experience would be a small play with two or four actors, not a full-scale musical.

To read the entire article, visit UConn Today!

The CRT production of “Spamalot” will be performed April 21 through May 1 at the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre in the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. For more information, go to the CRT website.

‘Sense and Sensibility’ Tells Tale of Life and Love

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Rick O'Toole

The Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s production of “Sense and Sensibility” is full of movement, with short scenes and shifting locations that make it feel cinematic, according to director Kristin Wold.

The constantly changing nature of the Joseph Hanreddy and J.R. Sullivan stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel is a natural fit for Wold, assistant professor-in-residence for performance, who teaches acting and stage movement in UConn’s Department of Dramatic Arts.

“The way that it’s written is very cinematic. The scenes tend to be pretty short. We’re changing location constantly,” she says. “How to tell a story in that way on stage has been part of the fun and challenge of working on it. We wanted to make sure to get the depth of the characters when we’re moving so quickly. It’s a pretty epic story. I think that happens all the time when you adapt. How do you tell a novel in a two-hour event and do it justice? I think we get the depth of who they are.”

Based on Austen’s popular novel, a staple of English literature classes that is centered on romance, emotion, and reason in a family, the CRT production opened Feb. 25 and will be performed at the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre through March 6.

Guest artist Cynthia Darlow (Mrs. Jennings) and Jenn Sapozhnikov, '17 (SFA) (Mrs. Palmer) in the CRT production of 'Sense and Sensibility,' now playing at the Harriet Jorgensen Theatre. (Gerry Goodstein for UConn) — Guest artist Cynthia Darlow (Mrs. Jennings) and Jenn Sapozhnikov, ’17 (SFA) (Mrs. Palmer) in the CRT production of ‘Sense and Sensibility,’ now playing at the Harriet Jorgensen Theatre. (Gerry Goodstein for UConn)

The central roles of the Dashwood sisters are played by second-year MFA acting candidate Arlene Bozich as Elinor and senior acting student Susannah Resnikoff ’16 (SFA) as Marianne. The cast features special guest artists Cynthia Darlow as Mrs. Jennings and Don Noble as Sir John Middleton/Henry Dashwood. Darlow is a founding member of American Repertory Theatre with Broadway roles in “Billy Elliot,” “Accent on Youth,” “Rabbit Hole,” and “Prelude to a Kiss,” among others. Noble is a Broadway veteran whose credits include “Once” and “The End of the Rainbow” and the National Tour of “Mamma Mia!”.

Wold says one of the challenges of this stage version of “Sense and Sensibility” is the large number of characters in the story as written by Hanreddy and Sullivan, who were also the writing team behind CRT’s well received production of “Pride & Prejudice.” The playwrights developed a script for professional theaters that allows dual roles for 13 actors, but in order to provide additional acting experiences for students, in the CRT production there are 21 actors.

The director notes that one of the challenges for some of the student actors is that they are portraying much older characters in the story, requiring them to expand their nonverbal acting skills.

To read the entire article, visit UConn Today!

“Sense and Sensibility” will be performed at the Harriet Jorgensen Theatre in the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, 2132 Hillside Road, Storrs, on Feb. 26, Feb. 27, March 4, and March 5 at 8 p.m.; and on March 2 and 3 at 7:30 p.m.; with matinees on March 5 and March 6 at 2 p.m. For more information, go to the Connecticut Repertory Theatre website.

CRT’s ‘Twelfth Night’ Makes a Classic Play Contemporary

Posted on December 8, 2015October 21, 2019 by Ali Johnson

Victor Maog, who is directing the Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” laughs when asked about the expectations people may have after American Theatre magazine cited him as one of the “20 Theatre Professionals to Watch.”

“I’m happy to be in [the magazine],” says Maog, the artistic director of Second Generation Productions in New York City, which cultivates Asian American theater, “but I will back it up with my 20 years of experience. It’s nice to have the spotlight.”

Maog has established a reputation as an award-winning director who bridges the world of theater with diverse communities, audiences, and industries. He has led productions in major institutions in New York City and Los Angeles, as well as non-traditional projects in Chicago’s south side and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. His directing work includes plays such as “The Tempest,” “Blood Wedding,” “The Visit,” and “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest,” and musical theater including “Spring Awakening,” “Ragtime,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “The Secret Garden.”

“I’m not working any differently [at CRT] than I would in any other place,” he says. “There is the same sort of rigor, same sort of expectation behind it.”

The main challenge, Maog says, is “How do we make the classic also contemporary? How do we make a play we’ve seen one way also inclusive and accessible? Let’s make the Shakespeare of today.”

To read the entire article, visit UConn Today!

“Twelfth Night” will be performed from Dec. 3 to Dec. 13. Evening performances start at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Select matinee performances start at 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information go to the CRT website.