Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors takes an ironic turn on the stage in the Upper School’s fall play featuring seniors Kioni Marshall and Hannah Goodwin-Pierce. Both actors will be playing a set of male twins. While Shakespeare’s Globe cast men for its female roles, Drama teacher and Director Willie Teacher is using his six strong female actors to bring a Shakespeare classic to life at the Performing Arts Center on November 3rd at 7 PM.

Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s earlier plays and tells the story of two sets of twins, Antipholus of Syracuse, Dromio of Syracuse, Antipholus of Ephesus, and Dromio of Ephesus, all of whom were separated at birth. The play begins when the two sets encounter each other after years of separation, which leads to mistaken identities, confusion, and a whole lot of laughter.

Kioni takes on her major role as Antipholus in her final year on stage. While she is excited to play a lead role, she also acknowledges the responsibility and work that comes with it. “It’s going to be difficult. We can’t come in unprepared. We have to be on all the time,” Kioni said. “We have to choose a different accent or style of speaking for each character we play so the audience will be able to be a part of it with you.”

After last year’s graduation, the cast lost four male Hacktors, who had previously played the leading characters in many fall plays. In turn, freshmen Eki Uzamere and Thomas Bosco have joined the fall cast. While the new group has managed in assuming new roles on stage, Hannah feels a change in the cast dynamics.

“The dynamic has definitely changed a lot, but the family we’re building is still very strong,” Hannah commented. “We’re trying to instill a good relationship between the two freshmen and the seniors, which has been an interesting process so far.”

According to Hannah, people’s common interest in theatre is an important foundation to their relationship. “The process of going through the script and blocking has already brought us together and has definitely bonded the grades together since we started,” Hannah said. “We all spend a lot of time together and we all have the common interest of theatre that makes us come together which is really important.”

Like varsity sports teams, play rehearsals take place every day from 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM. The long hours allow the cast to practice lines and work on blocking in the lead up to the opening night. While many hours are spent practicing for the play, Mr. Teacher and the cast still allow for a few breaks for people to cool off and spend time with one another during rehearsals. Kioni sees these times as equally essential in team bonding.

“It’s basically the in-between time that we have. When we’re reading in the play and Teach needs to stop and take time to read quotes, we’ll tell jokes,” Kioni said. “It’s basically the jokes that help us bond.”

While fall productions traditionally feature classic plays, the winter productions are more contemporary and modern. Senior Beatrice McColl anticipates that the winter production will be a better fit for the characters in the cast. “The winter production will definitely be a lot easier with a more contemporary play, but men were more important back in the day,” Beatrice said.

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Credit: Lei Anne Rabeje