UIC Theatre Presents - Love's Labour's Lost

2020–2021 THEATRE SEASON

A need for reckoning, a need for change...

Truth can be scary. It can leave us in a world of confusion and mix up our core beliefs.

It can wake us from the comfort of what we believe is real, test our discipline, move us, calibrate our direction, and bring relief.

Join us this theatre season to experience new perspectives with stories of historic movements, courage, fear, and loss that reveal a need for change in the reality we live today.

The 2020–2021 Mainstage Theatre season is dedicated to the memory of William “Bill” Raffeld, Associate Professor Emeritus, and UIC alumni class of 1955, in honor of his 57 years of teaching and dedication to UIC performing arts, who passed away in May of 2020.

Contributions may be made to the William F. Raffeld Award at UIC Chicago, https://theatreandmusic.uic.edu/donate Locate UIC William F. Raffeld Award, SAUIC, and follow instructions; or, checks payable of the University of Illinois Foundation, and mailed to: 1305 W. Green Street MC-386 Urbana, IL 61801

Love’s Labour’s Lost PRODUCTION STAFF Director

Richard Corley^

Assistant Stage Director

Priscilla Zanni Bertrán

Assistant Film Director

David Hernandez

Music Composer

Amos Gillespie

Stage Manager/ Film Coordinator

Wendy Madrigal

Assistant Stage Manager

Cecilia Aguirre

Dramaturg

Lauren Littlejohn

Production Manager

Erin Freeman

Technical Director

Hannah Holmes-Robbins

PRODUCTION STAFF (CONT.) Editing/Post-Production

Peter Neville

Costume Designer

Myron Elliott*

Scenic Designer

Elliott Michael

Scenic Design Mentor

Collette Pollard*

Text and Vocal Specialist

Jason Martin

Movement Director

Rachelle Tsachor

Clowning Coach

Karen Hoyer

Assistant Movement Director

George Petermeier

^Denotes SDC Union Member

*Denotes U.S.A. Member

CAST PRINCESS OF FRANCE

Bella Granato

ROSALINE

Samantha Lopez

MARIA

Jailine Hernandez

KATHARINE

Trinity Harris

BOYET

Damian Galan

KING OF NAVARRE

Richard Cantu

BEROWNE

Avery Fountain

LONGAVILLE

George Petermeier

DUMAINE

Adam Lawdan

DON ARMADO

Christian Houston Ortega

MOTH

Yourtana Sulaiman

HOLOFERNES

Kevin Ross

NATHANIEL

Omar Fernandez

COSTARD

Freya Trefonides

JAQUENETTA

Casey Quinn

DULL/ US COSTARD

Frank Mete

CAST (CONT.) HUNTSMAN/ US KING OF NAVARRE

Tyler Sherrod

MARCADE/ US PRINCESS OF FRANCE

Aranza Alvarado

US ROSALINE

Rose Mozier

US MARIA

Kaylah Crosby

US KATHARINE/ US JACQUENETTA

Teri Lopez

US BOYET

Colin Callhan

US BEROWNE

Ethan Check

US LONGAVILLE/ US DUMAINE

Eric Norman

US DON ARMANDO

Sydney Litka

US MOTH

Samantha Lammert

US HOLOFERNES/ US MARCADE

Stephen Decker

US NATHANIEL

Jeff Donnan

US DULL/ US HUNTSMAN

Deontay White

PLEASE JOIN US FOR AN ONLINE POST-SHOW TALK Sunday, November 22, 2PM Join us for a free post-show panel discussion hosted by UIC Theatre faculty member Richard Corley with writers, artists and special guest Jeffrey Gore, faculty member of the UIC English Department.

Topics: Romance, Wit, and Loss Register for the panel here: http://uicstm.co/UICLLLPostshow

SUPPORT THEATRE AND MUSIC AT UIC We rely heavily on our alumni, friends, and community to provide support for our students and programs. Please consider making a secure donation on our website, and help us bring wonderful theatre and music to our community. https://theatreandmusic.uic.edu/donate-now

DIRECTOR’S NOTE Why stage a classic comedy about love now, in the America of Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter?

I thought a lot about this question over the past eight months. I asked a number of respected colleagues and students if this play was relevant in our current moment, or in fact, should be performed at all. All of them were in favor of doing the play: some felt it wasn’t a question of relevance as much as fun: “Shouldn’t we take time out for laughter?”

Others spoke of the need to make sure the play reflected UIC School of Theatre and Music’s diversity. I was happy with all of this: I need to laugh as much as anyone right now, and I believe, deep in my bones, that Shakespeare belongs to everyone.

The question of why, however, remained unanswered. Then, as I read the play again and again, it became clear to me that this play must be done now, and that it speaks forcefully to our present moment.

Love’s Labour’s Lost is a play about the nature of love: what love means; how it changes based on time and circumstances; and how language both limits and liberates it. In a sense, the entire play deals with—to use the title of a great short story—“What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.”

The characters in the play work hard to connect with each other through words, but they often misunderstand or speak past each other. Sometimes language is ridiculous, overly pedantic; sometimes it is ornamental; often, no matter how glittering and witty, it fails to achieve its stated purpose.

The labor of love is the way the characters attempt to connect; and, as the title tells us, that labor fails.

Today, we often can’t physically connect with our families and friends and lovers; to do so is fraught with danger. We try to connect in other ways, most often electronically. The distance between personal contact—between the human touch and smell and presence of another—and on-line connection can be profoundly alienating. The labor of connection is failing us, and yet we continue to try, filling our days with Zoom and Skype and hoping for the day soon when the vaccine will change all this.

Love’s Labour’s Lost has a lot to say about this. It is a comedy that does not end as Shakespeare’s comedies often do, with marriage and festivity; in

Love’s Labour’s Lost, as Berowne says, “Jack hath not Jill.” The play’s ending asks us to consider what we need to do to deserve the love of another; it puts forward the notion that love is primarily not a noun but a verb: that love exists only in actions such as kindness, generosity and patience.

And it places love in the presence of death to make clear the task of the lover is one of service, loyalty, and faith, in order to give meaning to life itself.

This is very near the splash-of-cold-water clarity we’ve been given by the loss of life during this pandemic: we’ve been forced to recognize the preciousness of our relationships in the face of death.

Although the play does not deal directly with questions of social justice, I think it has something to say on that subject as well. Earlier this summer, I listened to a radio interview with Isabel Wilkerson, the author of the Great Migration history The Warmth of Other Suns. She was asked about the unresolved issue of injustice in America, and what she thought the solutions might be. We need reform of societal laws and practices, she stated, but just as importantly, we need to embrace “radical empathy,” the ability to inhabit another’s life, and feel what they feel, know their joy and their pain.

Love’s Labour’s Lost shows how a lack of empathy produces a world which is “not generous, not gentle, not humble” and how empathy can ease another’s pain and even heal. Generosity, gentleness, and humility: how deeply we need these qualities in our desire for justice and mercy.

The ultimate lesson of this poetically beautiful, touching, funny play is that loss can make us better lovers; and that an awareness of the tenuousness and fragility of our lives can increase our ability to love radically. That’s a message that seems particularly needed in these difficult times.

We hope you enjoy our production of Shakespeare’s wonderful Love’s Labour’s Lost.

RICHARD CORLEY

UPCOMING PRODUCTION

THE CRUCIBLE

By Arthur Miller Directed by Tasia A. Jones FEBRUARY 26–MARCH 7, 2021* Topics: Paranoia, Courage, and Grace For showtimes, tickets and the most current information, please visit: https://theatreandmusic.uic.edu/theatre-season *Dates subject to change.

UIC THEATRE BLM SOLIDARITY STATEMENT This summer we have been wrestling with how to proceed in the righting of institutional racism that has methodically put Black and Brown bodies in physical, financial, and emotional peril. Because Black Lives Matter. At this time our society is being asked to atone for many wrongs, the most egregious of which is the systemic racism that has remained unchecked in our cultural institutions for too long. Higher Education and The American Theatre are being called upon to acknowledge their perpetuation of these racist systems, and their responsibility to fix it.

We, the faculty and staff at UIC Department of Theatre, an historically white institution, begin by acknowledging the lack of inclusion of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Latinx and all People of Color) identities in our overall pedagogy and modes of production. Further, we acknowledge our shortcomings, both personally and professionally, of our previous efforts. We state our commitment to holding ourselves and each other to a higher standard - NOW. In our shared analysis of the systems, traditions, and culture of our department, we are identifying biased practices. As a unified group, we are reconceiving these practices to be inclusive, equitable, and transparent. We recognize that this work of identifying and eradicating the underlying colonialism and racism is imperative, and long overdue.

Most importantly, we are committed to follow this inciting spark through by setting specific, measurable, time-oriented goals. We understand that this deeply-rooted problem does not have an easy remedy—and that it will take longer than one semester, year, or generation.

Here we begin this departmental transformation with a commitment to the following set of actions:

UIC THEATRE DEPARTMENT ANTI-RACIST ACTION STEPS Read our Anti-Racist Action Steps here:

https://theatreandmusic.uic.edu/newsdetails/805/792

PANEL DISCUSSIONS Join us for free post-show panel discussions with the artists and special guests, curated by UIC faculty member Richard Corley.

Discussions will be live-streamed from our Facebook on the following dates: Reverb Sunday, October 4, 2020 Topics: Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, and Hope

The Crucible Sunday, February 28, 2021 Topics: Paranoia, Courage, and Grace

Love’s Labour’s Lost Sunday, November 22, 2020 Topics: Romance, Wit, and Loss

ms. estrada Sunday, April 18, 2021 Topics: War, Sex, and Power

University of Illinois at Chicago theatreandmusic.uic.edu 312.996.2939

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