The cast and directors of SoTA’s upcoming play provided audiences with a peek behind the curtain into their exploration of masculine characters.
The School of Theatre Arts (SoTA) hosted an open rehearsal with a Q&A session for their upcoming production of “The Duchess of Malfi” October 12 at 6:30 p.m.
Dean of Students, Kevin Carey was invited to the open rehearsal to speak on themes of toxic masculinity within the play. His research focuses on college male masculinities and the impacts of gender identity.
“We’re told to only be one way. Success, power, control and competition become the only way we can get out of that conflict,” Carey said.
Students acted out scenes from the show with men asserting their dominance over women, analyzing the scenes through the lens of male characters being motivated through unhealthy masculine practices.
“We start to see the cracks in the facade that this character has put up,” said Dramaturg and Associate Professor of Theatre Studies at ISU Dr. Yee-Yoon Nahm. Dr. Nahm aids the actors and director in contextualizing the history of “The Duchess of Malfi” in the Jacobean era of theatre.
In regards to the controversy of performing a play relying on violence against women, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts Chris Connelly said, “The danger of doing these plays as written is that by not condemning the violence against women is that we end up condoning it.”
Michelle Gibbs, Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts, is the director of the play. With concerns about time, Gibbs and Nahm made cuts to the original text and changed the blocking to lift the voices of women in the play.
Finding the importance in exploring themes of masculinity, “There is a way for all of us to uplift healthy masculinities,” Carey said.
