Troilus Cressida

troilus_cressida

By Alicia Cook

Bloomfield College will present a workshopped reading of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida on November 9 at 6:00 p.m. in the College’s black box theater. This is a multi-divisional, collaborative effort between staff, faculty, and students and alumni, many of whom are members of The Company @ Bloomfield College.

“I have been fascinated with Troilus and Cressida for about eight years. I wrote part of my dissertation on it, which was then published as a book chapter, which argued that an actress playing Cressida could perform certain figures of speech in the play, actually figures of silence, as acts of resistance in a very patriarchal landscape--the Trojan Wars,” shared Dr. Fiona (Freddie) Harris, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Writing and Producing Director of The Company @ Bloomfield College.

The more she read the play, the more she found herself amazed at its relevance in the current political moment, especially in terms of feminist movements such as #metoo.

“All the women in the play are established by metaphors of commodity and value. Not only that, but they are traded as objects. I feel given the uprising of the #metoo movement, highlighting the language that props up the bad behavior is key,” said Dr. Harris. 

It's a notoriously difficult play to perform. It doesn't get performed much because of the many intersecting storylines which can lose an audience. At its heart, it’s a remarkably contemporary play, having been performed more in the 20th and 21st centuries than ever before. Dr. Harris’ adaptation is a truncated version of the play to emphasize its parallels to today’s climate.

The Bloomfield Community is welcome to attend this reading, free of charge, and give feed back as to future productions. The reading is on November 9 at 6:00 p.m in black box theater in the CAT building

The cast includes:

Greeks

Menelaus: Prof. Brandon Fralix (humanities division)

Agamemnon: Prof. Marty La Bare (humanities division, Emeritus)

Ajax:  Prof. Dan Skinner (social and behavioral sciences division)

Achilles: Aiyana Sanabria (sociology)

Nestor: Prof. Julie Morrison (business division)

Ulysses: Naja Long (English)

Patrocles: Daury St Fleur (sociology)

Diomedes: Erick Berrocal (English)

Thersites: Lisa Ruiz (nursing division)

Calchas: Prof. yuichiro nishizawa (creative arts and technology (CAT) division)

 

Trojans

Troilus: Joe Darby (CAT)

Cressida: DeAnner (CAT)

Hector: Edd Brown ’18

Paris: Nattie Casburi (English)

Pandarus: Christina Gales Brookes (CAT)

Priam: Amy Estes (Bard Grad Center)

Antenor: Destiny Alicea (CAT)

Aeneas: Joanne Christiansen (creative arts and technology division)

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