As You Like It

Notes from the Director

Our production of As You Like It takes us to the world of 1960s London. While honoring the integrity of Shakespeare's words and his themes, we step back to that rebellious time of social turmoil, while shedding light on our own tumultuous world‹for who journeys the centuries as fluidly as Shakespeare?

The director's notes for Woman's Will's production of Othello last year stated: "The events in Othello crystallize around war. We in America are, too, at war, with enemies known and unknown." In the summer of 2004, unfortunately, the same dangers hold true, perhaps even more so. Removal of a dictator has increased the threat of random violence, political order is tenuous, and the gulf between ideologies widens. It is a sad time. How much greater then is our need for laughter?

One of Shakespeare's sunniest plays, As You Like It seems to have been written around 1599, perhaps a little after Much Ado about Nothing. Its source is Thomas Lodge's 1590's romance Rosalynde or Euphues' Golden Legacy. With its 2,670 lines, As You Like It lies between Shakespeare's longest play, Hamlet, which weighs in at hefty 4,000 lines and his shortest, Comedy of Errors, which tips in at a frivolous 1,700. In tone as well, As You Like It balances somewhere between these plays. For while its joyous pastoral scenes have made it famous, there are dark forces at work in the court.

Other than imperialist tendencies, it is hard to find any justification for Frederick's and Oliver's hatred of their brothers, Duke Senior and Orlando, respectively. Frederick has usurped the dukedom of his elder brother, Duke Senior, who has in turn fled to the forest of Arden. Oliver has withheld Orlando's inheritance, education, and gentlemanly means. Oliver justifies his actions by this:

"..for my soul (yet I know not why) hates noting more than he. Yet he is gentle..and indeed so much in the heart of the world, and especially my own people..that I am altogether misprized."

Duke Frederick says of Orlando's father, Sir Rowland de Boys,

"The world esteemed thy father honorable,
But I did find him still mine enemy."

And Frederick attempts to convince his daughter Celia that she will shine more brightly in the eyes of the people when her honorable and charismatic cousin Rosalind is banished.

These grudges, with their repercussions throughout the court and its populace, are personal: jealousy, hatred, hunger for power. Are our world leaders any less susceptible to personal grudges and fears affecting their actions? Whatever the motivation, the effects ripple around the globe.

So Duke Senior, a few dedicated Lords, Rosalind, Celia, Orlando and Touchstone all flee to the forest of Arden in search of safety and freedom, but in the end find forgiveness and love, because human nature can also be a force for good. This forest of Arden is probably supposed to be the Ardennes forest in French Flanders, but Shakespeare was perhaps thinking of the Forest of Arden in his native Warwickshire. This forest is a place of endless inspiration, purity of ideas, and the transformative beauty of death. Yet here the characters also experience the harsh realities of nature. Some of the most lyrical lines in all of Shakespeare (lines that could be a battle cry for environmentalists) come from this play:

"And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything."

Our two brave women, Rosalind and Celia, must first for their safety and disguise themselves, one of them as a boy. A comic device since the time of the Romans, the boy players of Elizabethan England would have appreciated getting back into their masculine attire. Our all-female production has added layers of irony. Here we have a girl playing a boy who is pretending to love a girl whom he believes to be a boy, but who is actually a girl.

It is this plot device of disguise that supports one of the major themes of this play: the power of the theatre, itself. Rosalind plays at being a boy to teach her love the best way to woo her. She ironically, in the words of Celia, has "simply misused our sex" in her love-prate. In the end, the boy player of Elizabethan England would have spoken directly to the audience, dismantling boundaries between fantasy and reality. In our daily lives we all play roles, and this moral tale allows us to laugh at our ability (and indeed, need) to do so.

The cynical Jaques, with his adopted air of melancholy, articulates this metatheatricality most famously when he says:

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages."

So where does 1960s London fit into this world? The old ideologies of Frederick and the court are challenged by the flower children in the forest. Courtly conservatism is shed, both in ideals and apparel, as our leading characters get "back to nature." Here eastern spirituality is hip, shepherds long to be in a band, and a hang over from the '50s, the beat poet Jaques, verbally spars with the mod fighters of this new revolution. Peace wins out over war. Love and sex reign supreme. And all is made well by the union of a whopping four couples.

This summer (for what we at Woman's Will hope is a summer of love) we give you this play, as we like it and, we hope, as you love it!

- Leslie McCauley

Bios

• Leslie McCauley (Director/Dance Choreographer)
  • Ms. McCauley is happy to be working with Woman's Will for the first time. Her directing credits include Word for Word, Summer Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Santa Rosa, and Santa Rosa Junior College, where she recently directed the American college premiere of The Beard of Avon. She also worked for many years as an actor in the Bay Area. She is a theatre arts faculty member at Santa Rosa Junior College. This fall she will be teaching in London.
• Debórah Ben-Eliezer (Adam/Hymen/etc.)
  • Mrs. Ben-Eliezer holds a B.A. Cum Laude from SFSU. She has worked with several local companies, including Golden Thread, The Puppet Players, Abydos, San Leandro Shakespeare Co., Marin Shakespeare Co. and Antenna Theater. As the Co-Artistic Director of Eclipse Dance Theater, Mrs. Ben-Eliezer directed and performed in several original productions, including Slave to Salsa, Passion: a Winter Solstice Celebration, and Witchcraze. Recent choreography credits include Valparaiso with Fools Fury, and Fall Down Get Up with TJT. Voice-over credits include over 25 products for Leapfrog Toys, and the new upcoming Sims video game, The Urbz.
• Kendra Chell (Charles/Phoebe/Forest Lord)
  • Ms. Chell returns to Woman's Will following her performance as Hellena in last summer's production of The Rover. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State University and has also studied with the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, American Conservatory Theatre and The San Francisco Mime Troupe. Past credits include Picasso at the Lapin Agile, A Lie of the Mind, The Physicists, Pirates of Penzance and By Jupiter. She is a recipient of a "Dean Goodman Choice Award for a Principal Performance."
• Jennifer Debevec (Celia)
  • Ms. Debevec teaches voice and theatre throughout the Bay Area. Recently, she directed The Wiz. She also performed in Woman's Will's 24-Hour Playfest and will soonafter be playing Jack in their production of Lord of the Flies. She rounds out the activities by singing at weddings and funerals.
• Jennifer Erdmann (Touchstone/Amiens)
  • Ms. Erdmann is delighted to be working with Woman's Will after appearing in last year's 24-Hour PlayFest. Credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream (Helena) with Marin Shakespeare Company and The Tempest (Miranda/Trinculo) and Romeo and Juliet (Benvolio/Lady Capulet) with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival tours. Ms. Erdmann has also performed with such Bay Area companies as American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Willows Theatre Company, Calaveras Rep, City Lights Theatre Company, and Pear Avenue Theatre. She holds a BA from Cornell University.
• Sandra Jardin (Duke Senior)
  • Ms. Jardin makes her debut with Woman's Will but is no stranger to breeches, having played Don John in Much Ado as well as Twelfth Night's Viola and As You Like It's Rosalind. She has appeared at theatres around the Bay Area, most recently at Calaveras Rep and Palo Alto Players, and will receive her BA in Theatre from Cal State Hayward next Spring.
• Tina René Luisen (Duke Frederick/Jaques De Boys)
  • Ms. Luisen is making her debut with Woman's Will in this production but has also enjoyed acting for over 15 years in her hometown of Stockton, CA as well as here in the Bay Area. Some of her favorite roles include Clea in Black Comedy, Mrs. Chin in the world premiere production of Maiden Voyages in collaboration with East/West Players of Los Angeles, and all her roles with the Gibson House Murder Mystery group. Ms. Luisen is also on the board of directors of the ACT NOW! theatre company, which performs at the Dean Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek.
• Sareeka Malhotra (Audrey/Holy Man, etc.)
  • Ms. Malhotra made her Bay Area acting debut in Feb 2001 as a lead actress in a Hindi play, and has been involved in several productions and staged readings with local groups such as Naatak, A'shore, and Asian American Theater Company. Her recent work includes Mahesh Dattani's Bravely Fought The Queen with A'shore, Asian American Theater's The Cure, Naatak's Tathaa Kuru, and Jeffrey Bihr's Baby Taj.
• Rami Margron (Orlando)
  • Ms. Margron is spending her third summer in the park with Woman's Will. She will never forget playing the Rover last year! Other recent shows include Pericles (Woman's Will), Under Milk Wood (Shotgun Players), You Can't Take It with You and Children of Eden (The Willows Theater) and Aladdin (S.F. Shakespeare Festival). Ms Margron also performs improv comedy with The Original Action Pack and dances of the African Diaspora with Reconnect.
• Erin Merritt (Rosalind/Fight Choreographer)
  • With Woman's Will, Artistic Director Erin Merritt has directed six productions (and will direct this Fall's Lord of the Flies), choreographed fights for four, and acted in three, most recently The Importance of Being Earnest. Ms. Merritt has also worked in the Bay Area and beyond with such companies as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Shotgun Players, Center REPertory Company, Pacific Repertory Theatre, Willows Theatre Company, Unconditional Theatre, and Washington's Taproot Theatre Company and Interplayers Ensemble. Favorite past roles include The Woman in Scotland Road, Li'l Bit in How I Learned to Drive, and the title role in Sylvia. Ms. Merritt is also a member of Theatre Bay Area and its Theatre Services Committee.
• Michele Beauvoir Shoshani (Jaques)
  • This is Ms. Shoshani's first performance with Woman's Will, given the superlative honor to play her favorite melancholy character. Ms. Shoshani has worked along the East Coast, in the U.K. and locally, most recently as Barbara Jackson in The Masquers' Pack of Lies. Her favorite roles are: Prosperine in Candida, Duchess of Gloucester in Richard II, Mrs. Boyle in The Mousetrap, Barbara in Pack of Lies, and Lilliane in Exit The Body, for which she received a Best Actress Award by the Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theatres (EMAC). Ms. Shoshani trained at the Drama Studio London and ACT Evening Extension, and is a member of the Eastenders Repertory Company.
• Monica Cortés Viharo (Oliver)
  • Ms. Viharo is a Bay Area native who has had the good fortune of working with the SF Shakespere Festival, Shotgun Players, Subterranean Shakespeare, and Center Repertory Theater, just to name a few, but in her heart has always longed to perform with Woman's Will. She is grateful to finally work with her favorite company and thanks Erin Merritt, Leslie McCauley, Will Viharo, Elvis Presley and the cast of As You Like It for making this wonderful experience possible.
• Valerie Weak (Le Beau/Silvius/Forest Lord)
  • Ms. Weak has recently played Helena in Midsummer Night's Dream for Shakespeare at Stinson, and Claire in Proof for Pacific Alliance Stage Company. She has worked for Word for Word, Shotgun Players, the Marin and San Francisco Shakespeare Festivals, and also appeared as Thurio and Lucetta in Two Gentlemen of Verona, Woman's Will's inaugural production. Ms. Weak is a member of Theatre Bay Area, and serves on their Individual Services Committee.
• Sherri Martin (Stage Manager)
  • Sherri is delighted to be working on As You Like It, her first production with Woman's Will. Recently, she has also been seen working backstage at the Lorraine Hansberry Theater, Ray of Light and the Magic Theater, to name a few. She thanks Erin and Leslie for this wonderful opportunity. This show is dedicated to Ema, Abba and Dan.
• Jon Tracy (Sets/Props Magician)
  • For the last fifteen years, Mr. Tracy has worked as a director, producer, actor, and designer through out the greater Bay Area, working with such companies as A.C.T., Z Space, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Napa Valley Repertory Theatre, Woman's Will, Solano Repertory Company, Oberlin Dance Collective, Solano College Theatre, Napa Valley Shakespeare Festival, New Conservatory Theatre, Solano College Theatre, and the Traveling Lantern Theatre Company. He is the recipient of the Kennedy Center Meritorious Achievement Award, eight North Bay "Arty" Awards, and a Sacramento Elly Award. He is the cofounder of Darkroom Productions, the North Bay's company dedicated to independent and original artists.
• Amy Nielson (Costume Wizard)
  • Ms. Nielson is pleased to be working with Woman's Will for the second time, after designing last summer's production of The Rover. Most recently she has designed wigs for Center REPertory's Cowgirls and will be teaching a master class for their Young REP summer program. Ms. Nielson has also worked with Shotgun Players, choreographers June Watanabe and Alma Esperanza Cunningham, and Mills College Dance Department.
• Stephen Lew (Composer)
  • Mr. Lew is a graduate student at UC Berkeley studying spider evolution. He has been composing music for theater, dance, and film since 1987. As a member of influential rock bands such as Ebola Soup, he has performed for tens of thousands, usually around 4-6 at a time. He has had his bass strings changed by Flea, and James Brown has seen him in his underwear. His 9-month-old daughter, Sema, was recently recognized as the Cutest Baby Ever by her father.
• Bernadette Quattrone (Assistant Director)
  • A proud company member of Woman's Will, Ms.Quattrone appeared in last summer's production of The Rover as the revengeful courtesan Angelica Bianca. As an actor, teacher and director she has worked with Bay area companies Word for Word, Golden Thread Productions, Willows Theatre Company, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Impact Theatre, Emerald Rain Productions, Broken Buddha Productions and the Theatre of All Possibilities. She will play the role of Roger in Woman's Will's fall production of Lord of the Flies.

Multimedia

Photos

Photos: Jay Yamada

Press

• Oakland Tribune Review
• SF Gate Review