By Abigail Bates ('26)
Houghton University’s Lyric Theatre will perform “An Evening of Opera and Shakespeare” in the CFA Recital Hall both this Friday and Saturday.
Beginning at 7:30 p.m., the show will include excerpts from plays, operas and even a few musicals. Emily Quick (‘25) explained that although Prof. Amanda Cox is Lyric Theatre’s director, several scenes have been led by guest directors. Quick has collaborated on scenes with Rachael McVeigh (Class of ‘23), and professors Dr. Kimberly Prins Moeller (Associate Professor of Voice) and Prof. Luke Odgen (Graduate Music Coordinator and Part-time Music Faculty).
Quick explained that while people tend to equate Shakespeare and opera to the words “boring” and “dull,” the directors and cast members have tried to make the performance fun for all audience members.
“In reimagining some of the iconic scenes in this show, we’ve incorporated our own twists; in addition to the expected drama,” she said, “we have fun science experiments, bubbles, and no shortage of comedic moments.”
Warren Torraca (‘26) explained that cast members have multiple roles. He will be playing scenes as Lysander from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Beadle Bamford from “Sweeney Todd”, Benedict from “Much Ado About Nothing” and Malvolio from “Twelfth Night”. Despite how fast they had to prepare for a show in the first month of the semester, Torraca is excited to be able to act in a variety of different roles.
“Each scene,” he said, “is a new moment in a story; Professor Cox also allowed us to not be bound by the classical interpretation of each scene.”
Melanie Grace, a senior graduating in ‘27, said her favorite roles—out of many she’s performing—are Beatrice from “Much Ado About Nothing”, Hansel in “Hansel and Gretel”, the third witch in “Macbeth” and what she considers “the silliest role I’ve ever had the pleasure of doing”: the “little boy old man fairy spirit” from “The Magic Flute”.
“For me, fleshing out every character was probably the most difficult but always some of the most fun,” she said.
Grace has enjoyed acting alongside her fellow cast members in many long rehearsals, and watching how “everyone tries different things with their characters.” She disclosed that they have all been working hard to make their many characters seem like normal people that someone “might talk to today, [with] just a little bit of a different way of speaking.”
“Each character has such depth and motivation behind their actions that, in most cases, has been building over the course of the show.” Evelyn Simanowski (‘25) said that because they are only performing short scenes, “[their] job as performers has been to bring [out] as much of that developed character … Bringing the characters out of their original context and still making them real people with believable stories has been a challenge, but one that has only made me grow as an actress.”
Simanowski is performing Rosalinde from “Die Fledermaus”, Beatrice from “Much Ado About Nothing” and Sibella from “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder”. She is excited to share all the different scenes the cast has been preparing with their audiences.
“One of my favorite things about live theatre,” Simanowski said, “is that it’s a collaborative art form that requires the collaboration of the audience with the performers, not just between performers.”
Simanowski added that “the scenes that we’re presenting are so deeply human that they really bring the art down to earth and are relatable to everyone. They remind us what it’s like to laugh, and cry, and really just feel deeply.”
Tickets to the show are $5, and are available online at “Tickets: An Evening of Opera and Shakespeare” or at the door. An ASL interpretation will be available at the Friday performance. Contact Amanda Cox (amanda.cox@houghton.edu) with any questions. ★