The Plays
Twelfth Night: June 11-14, 18-21, & 25-28
Twelfth Night, one of Shakespeare's more well-known comedies, is a story of love and identity - mistaken love and mistaken identity. Viola takes on a boy's persona to work for the Duke of Illyria and begins to fall in love with her employer. But when she is sent to woo the elusive Olivia in the Duke's name, the lady falls in love with this charming servant boy. Viola's twin brother, whom she assumed was drowned, turns up to complicate the plot. Meanwhile, the rowdy clowns in Olivia's household devise a comic revenge on the puritanical steward Malvolio.
The play contains some of Shakespeare's most well loved speeches and songs and lends itself well to the natural setting of the Arb. Kate Mendeloff directs UM students and a host of community members to make this mobile production a success. Wear your walking shoes!
Over the past eight summers Mendeloff has directed “Much Ado About Nothing” (with a real horse galloping across the Prairie), “As You Like It” (which featured local Morris dancers), another revival of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Love’s Labors Lost”, “The Tempest”(with a shipwreck in the Huron River) and “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (featuring a live dog).
The Cast & Crew of Twelfth Night:
Viola: Elise Randall, Brittany Battell
Olivia: Devin Lytle, Ellie Mc-Ivor Baker, Carol Gray
Maria: Kaela Jo Parnicky, Allison Grekin
Duke Orsino: Chris Harrison, Seann Smith
Feste/Clown: Greg Kovas, Andrew Mueller
Sir Toby: Gavi Savit
Sir Andrew: Torrey Wigfield, Richard Campbell
Malvolio: Rob Sulewski, Graham Atkin
Fabiana: Kaarina Quinnell, Dayna Smith
Sebastian: Ben Stange, Andrew Whipple
Antonio: Jose Luis Fernandez-Garcia, Pavel Borisov
Captain: Rich Tolman, Martin Walsh, Richard Campbell
Curio: Michael Harrison, Pavel Borisov
Valentine: Patrick Murphy
Priest: Richard Campbell, Rich Tolman
Officers: Patrick Murphy, Michael Harrison
Ladies in Waiting: Andrea Stokfisz
Cello: Margaret Weiss
Violin: Mike Garrahan
Viola: Judy Dooley
Percussion: Andrea Stokfis
Director: Kate Mendeloff
Production Manager/Associate Director: Carol Gray
Assistant producer: Bria Gray
Costume Designer: Amy Julia Cheyfitz
Assistant Costume Designer: Roberta Vandermey
Arb Production Coordinator: Nora Curtis
The Story of Shakespeare in the Arb
Mendeloff describes the story and staging of the program in this clip from the Michigan Daily:
“Shakespeare in the Arb” came into existence in the summer of 2001, when Residential College Drama faculty member Kate Mendeloff was asked to direct an outdoor production as part of a three year Ford Motor Company grant for Arts in the Arb. She chose Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for its structure -- the characters are transformed by the power of the natural world. The production was such a popular success that Mendeloff remounted it the following summer, and “Shakespeare in the Arb” became an Ann Arbor institution!