She will pull her hair back under a hat in the hope of concealing the dark strands. A masculine uniform will serve as her costume as the lovely Viola attempts to mingle with the other dukes of the castle. She'll even draw facial hair on her chin, masking her femininity. Junior Gretchen Roth will disguise herself as a man, and it's all for the love of Shakespeare.
Gretchen and her sister, Madalyn, a Hillsdale graduate, are co-directing a performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or What You Will . Student directors and the student cast will dramatize it to its full comedic effect in Slayton Arboretum come springtime.
While the arboretum thaws out, the next few months will be spent with afternoon and evening practices for the 12 or so students cast in the play.
The Roth sisters are determined that this year the Twelfth Night production will be a success. Three years ago, Gretchen and Madalyn attempted to produce it after the glowing success of their production of Hamlet the year before.
“[ Hamlet ] was really well attended,” Gretchen said. “We had really high standards and it was a great bonding experience.”
The professors in attendance for the production four years ago also came away very pleased, since according to Gretchen, they “weren't expecting it to be good.”
Their first attempt at Hamlet ended up not working out when the student players could not commit the time required for the rehearsals and production.
This year will be different. Junior Eleanor Pettus is one of several students who are excited and eager to get involved with tackling the language, emotion and drama of a Shakespeare play.
“I love Shakespeare, it's beautiful,” Pettus said. Her desire is to “get the words and emotions across and portray Shakespeare's characters.”
Twelfth Night is a comedy played out through the themes of disguise, deception and of course love.
“There are some darker elements to it,” Gretchen said, “as well as some real slapstick moments.”
From their grandmother, who was an actress in New York, the Roth sisters found the desire to act. Their love of Shakespeare inspired them to try their hand at production, even though it is time-consuming and ridden with challenges.
They have already planned the set: They will hang white fabric between the trees enclosing the arboretum, and it will double as a background visual and a curtain for the cast members to enter and exit the stage from.
According to Gretchen, the production will have minimal props and costumes, yet enough to distinguish each character and set the tone for the play.
The goal for Gretchen and Madalyn is to “expose more people to Twelfth Night and a love for Shakespeare,” Gretchen said.
And as long as there's a love at Hillsdale College for the Bard, “Shakespeare in the Arb” might very well become tradition.