Carleton’s Student Theater Group Presents Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”
The Carleton College Experimental Theater Board (ETB), a theater company managed entirely by students, will present a production of William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” nightly at 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 28, Friday, May 29, and Saturday, May 30. The performances, which are free and open to the public, will take place at Carleton’s Mudd Amphitheater, located just outside of Mudd Hall on the Carleton campus.
“As You Like It” is a pastoral comedy written around 1600. The play is set in a duchy in France, and it follows its heroine, Rosalind, as she flees persecution in her uncle’s court to find safety, and eventually love, in the Forest of Arden. The famous and oft-quoted phrase, “All the world’s a stage,” originated from a speech in this play, as did the phrase “too much of a good thing.” “As You Like It” has been adapted several times for radio, film and musical theater.
Carleton’s ETB production is directed by Chris Dole, a senior from Boulder, Colo. He has been an active member of the theater community at Carleton since his freshmen year, and he wanted to do something special for his final term. “Since I love Shakespeare, and because the first show I did here was ‘Twelfth Night,’ there was something appropriate about doing another Shakespeare comedy for my final show,” he says. He adds, “’As You Like It’ is a remarkable show, one with tremendous wit and insight, and with some of Shakespeare's finest writing.” Dole explains that he chose an outdoor venue for the performances because several scenes in “As You Like It” take place in the Forest of Arden. “It is a challenge for the actors to project [their voices] over the ambient noise, but I have faith in all of them to do it,” he says. The cast includes Carleton seniors Bob Keating (Bozeman, Mont.) and Alexander Persaud (Dubuque, Iowa); juniors Liz Aeschlimann (Madison, Wis.) and Jared Christensen (Lake Oswego, Ore.); and first year students Lily Sacharow (New York), Justin Freeze (Phoenixville, Pa.), Andy Bouchard (Greensboro, N.C.), Jonathan Hahn (Saint Olaf, Iowa), Erika Mackin (Omaha, Neb.), Lipi Gupta (McLean, Va.), and John Walsh (Winslow, Maine). Mudd Hall is located just off First and Nevada Streets in Northfield. For further information and disability accommodations, contact dolec@carleton.edu.
